on digital photography, visualization and investment

I think only now we are seeing the impact of digital photography on photography... how digital photography is making a change in the timeline, in the history of photography. That impact is seen in the absolute explosion in the popularity of photography. Still, and video images too, are possible wherever there is a cell phone. ...and that is everywhere. Photographs are everywhere, publishable, shareable with the click of a mouse.

This has confirmed the fears of many photographers back in the early years of the digital revolution. There has been an overwhelming wave of really pretty mediocre, if not just bad, photography. But, there are a lot of people having a lot of fun.

As a serious photographer, however, there is a subtle, but profound effect. That is because of the process, the ease of creating an exceptionally high-quality image with a minimum investment of time, money, and effort.

Here's the thing... a friend of mine was talking to me about what it's like to shoot with an 8x10 camera. He said, "man, when you take a picture with an 8x10, you know you've taken a frikkin picture!" Well, here is my problem with that. After you've gone to the effort of setting up the camera, and making the exposure, and processing the film, if you don't think there is a good image there, then you feel like you've wasted your effort. You've invested too much in the image to see it for what it is... and that may well be just a bad image.

There's an old joke about high-maintenance cars... if you spend a ton of money buying, and then maintaining a car, you're going to either believe that car is the best thing on the road, or feel like a sucker. Shooting most film cameras is much the same... after you've gone to the effort, you have a hard time dismissing it as a poor image.

Let's look at shooting with my little pocket Canon G9. I have it with me everywhere. It makes an absolutely remarkable 16x20 print. I have shot gigabytes with it since I got it, and some of the images are, well, quite good. There are two major things at play here... first, I am shooting everything and anything, pretty much at the drop of a hat. If in doubt, I shoot. Second, I edit ruthlessly.

I am not overly invested in any one image. This frees me to see the images for more what they are... and allows me to pull only the best, and set the rest aside.

After all is said and done, this is really, for me, the most significant change... I am free to explore and imagine, to try and experiment, and to see and learn, and am objective and dispassionate enough to make a good cut.

...once I have made that cut, then I get passionate.