Dust off your old film cameras and starting creating 'real' images
Some 15 years ago I changed careers from a budding semi-professional photographer to that of another profession. During this period I have kept a loose interest in photography, but it is only within the past year that I have decided to attempt to become a professional photographer once again. Oh, how things have changed - and for the worse!
Having been taught photography using film, 35mm to 10 x 8 cameras and darkrooms. I am used to pressing the shutter release when I am confident I have the shot I want, processing the film carefully and methodically, and then, if the image is to be printed, spending time in the darkroom or lab producing a quality print. All-in-all, it was a well-thought-out, well-prepared exercise that filtered out the technically good and artistically gifted photographer who would go onto forge a successful career.
Nowadays, well, where do I begin? Many of today's breed of photographer (amateur or professional) do not deserve the title of photographer, in my opinion - a more accurate description would be 'graphic designer with a camera person'.
I am astounded at how often I hear, or read, about how much a modern image is Photoshopped: to hear a 'photographer' say he is not concerned what the shot will come out like because he can fix it with his computer - or to have my photographer friend tell me of a conversation he had at the Olympics where a young student was filming the event with his DSLR and intended to obtain his photograph from a video still - is shocking!
Where is the skill in today's photography? Worse is the fact that I no longer know if what I am looking at is actually real, because the vast proportion of images have had varying degrees of cosmetic surgery. If I were to give a roll of Fujichrome Velvia 50 and my Nikon 50 and my Nikon F5 to many of the new breed of photographer, they would not be able to draw with light, hence they would not be a photographer.
I think now is the time for the industry to start publishing 'real' images (images that could be created in a darkroom is the limit) and to label them as authentic, so we can see what can be produced in the camera and not in the computer.
As for me, I can assure you that while I am in Katmandu, Nepal for a few weeks, I will have my light meter with me and I will press that shutter when I think I have a shot - and the resulting images will not be booked in for a nip and tuck.
From an article in the Back Chat section of the Amateur Photographer magazine 9th March 2013 issue. By AP Reader Ian Shore.
An edited version appears here.
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