Professional Photography and Digital
A portrait client said something funny to me a few weeks
ago. She said that she was surprised that there were still professional
photographers around since we now have digital.
I am still trying to figure out what assumptions she had
that would cause her to say that. After all, professionals were the first to
adopt digital photography in the mid-nineties. Would she suggest that since
there are now Walgreen’s on every corner we don’t need doctors, or that there
is no need for architects or contractors now that we have Home Depot and Lowes?
I think she was assuming that photography is mainly a
technical pursuit and that a photographer is mainly a technician. If that were
true the biggest challenge to professional photography would have been the
original Kodak and roll film introduced in 1888. The Kodak ushered in the idea
of the casual snap-shooter and also the photo-finishing industry. All of a
sudden, anybody could make photographs.
But it also was the beginning of a new visually literate
culture and the golden age of magazines and photo-journalism.
Film improved over the next century until it was about as
good as it was going to get and a totally new approach was needed. Digital
photography came along at just the right time. The continually improving
quality has benefited both amateur and pros alike.
Professional photographers don’t just have better equipment
or know a little bit more about technique; they bring a well-trained eye and
usually years of experience. Buying an expensive camera doesn’t mean that you
will be able to make photographs as good as a person who has taken their
natural gift and developed it through study and years of practice, to the
point where they can make pictures that convey feeling and emotion or move
people to change the world.
I have spent most of my waking hours for the past fifty
years trying to make better pictures. I don’t consider better cameras in the
hands of casual snap-shooters a threat.
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