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Evolution of Photography; Sad But True

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Ask someone who worked as a professional photographer what he dislikes most about photography today, and there’s a pretty good chance he’ll say something about how many people take photos today almost as an afterthought.

You’d never hear someone saying “I’ll just fix that later in Photoshop” (though photographers were ‘shopping even before Photoshop), and each click was respected; it was intended to become a keeper.

Being limited by the number of exposures on each roll of film you could literally put a price tag of each press of the shutter, but today, with 512GB memory cards and virtually free and unlimited exposures, this is far from being the case.

Photographer Mason Resnick pretty much summed it up in the above image.

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Blast From The Past: Retaking an Image With Film

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Ever Photographed any kids? You know that the first thing that happens after you click the shutter is them running over and asking if they can see the photo.

Of course this “show me the photo” pavlovian effect is a completely new behavior. Only a few years ago we shot on rolls of film, and had to wait hours (if not days) between the time the shutter was clicked till the time we could actually see the photo. (and forget blink detection…..).

What happens when we cross our need for immediate gratification with the fact that some of us still shoot film? College Humor tried to find out with a short film that “crosses the beams” between that girl who always wants to see the photo and the fact that the camera is use is a film camera.

+ you know…. Zombies.

[That Annoying “Take Another Photo!” Girl via reddit]

When Common Sense Breaks Down: Why I Bought A Mirrorless Camera And Keep My DSLR (And Bunch Of Film Cameras As Well)

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I read the article by Martin Gillman about moving back from mirrorless to DSLRs which was published on DIYP a while back and had to respond.

To get some background on me, I am amateur photographer, in the original meaning of the word (lover of) and also in the sense, that I don’t shoot paid gigs anymore. I used to work as a concert, event photographer, shooting around 20 gigs a week. For seven years, I’ve been a staff photographer at Prague based tattoo and body mod studio Hell.cz again shooting gigs and shows, at current time I am working with few pantomime theater groups besides doing my own stuff that ranges from building pinholes to shooting and developing 4×5 slide film with a view camera. (see murhaaya.com for yourself)

I mentioned the gigs to give you some idea, that I’ve sort of been around the block and I am not blabbing about something I don’t know anything about. My main workhorse now is still a Canon 5D Mark II with a four prime lenses ranging from 24/1.4 to 85/1.8. No zooms, that’s how I roll. You roll however you like.

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How to Confidently Choose the Right Mat and Frame for Your Photographs

If there’s a downside in the shift to digital photography, it’s the mindless hours we now spend uploading, liking and clicking through endless online galleries. The instant gratification from the immediate applause leaves us with our best photographs buried in online albums, rather than appreciated and cherished up on our walls. It’s all too easy to ‘post’ a photo that you might have framed a decade ago, and then forget all about it.

Worse yet, if you aren’t social media savvy, these photos may sit on your memory cards, hard drive or permanent to-do list, collecting dust until you find the time to upload and share with the world.

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Four Photographers Armed With A Hasselblad Take On The Streets Of Tokyo For A One Roll Of Film Challenge

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What happens when you give a pro photographer a Hassleblad 503cx, a single roll of 120 film, and mission to tell the story of Tokyo in just 12 analog frames? Find out in this 18-minute behind the scenes look at the challenge where Mattias Westfalk, Bahag, Yoshiki Suzuki, and Paul del Rosario almost make it look easy. (It’s actually really difficult.)

The project may not sound like much of a challenge, as Westfalk points out in the opening scene, anyone can go out and shoot 12 frames, but to create 12 images worthy of printing is no walk in the park. The ease of digital photography and image storage allows us to fire off as many images as we like until we are happy with what we have, but ask any film photographer about their process, and chances are you’ll hear quite a different approach. Getting 12 usable photos from 12 frames of film takes patience, understanding, and a little talent and skill never hurt anyone, either.[Read More…]

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