I heard it again yesterday for the billionth time: “Digital Photography”. Isn’t it time we drop the word ‘digital’?
Seems we’ve managed to drop the “electric” from “electric guitar” in common parlance.
We found it easy to drop the word “acrylic” from “acrylic painting” when that came on the scene with oils.
We quickly ditched the “digital” from “digital music” when it took the lead over records and tapes and CDs.
I suppose by-and-large our industry has dropped the word, but given that digital and analog photography are fundamentally the same thing, isn’t it time we implore the rest of the world to assimilate the term “digital photography” back into “photography” as a whole?
I agree, Chase.
I call what I do SPECTACULAR PHOTOGRAPHY. Though many may disagree. No “film” or “digital” prefix necessary.
Seriously, Chase, come on. Were you bored today or just trying to tweak us film people into defending our mode?
There is a place for both, the end result is art. If you choose to capture digitally, you have a camera that makes decisions on computations, and you get to make the decisions on how you saw things later.
If you choose film, there are certain decisions you make before capture and during that affect the outcome-and other than a few things in the print process, (contrast, color cast, dodge and burn) you get what you get.
The end result is what you are after….. which is the response to what you saw that made you want to take the picture in the first place.
The need to define one from the other may come from our desire to trust that what we see is what is actually there. And in some cases, it is hard to look at an image without being hit in the face with the technology that was used to enhance it….
not at all. i LOVE film. I shoot a lot of film with old nikon rangefinders and hassie’s and pen’s.
this is not a digital versus film thing becky. It’s a vernacular thing.
why are there books called composing for digital photography?
why isn’t it composing photographs?
i want us all under the same roof of photography. let’s chill on the purity of film and let’s evolve the digi nerds into the same fold. when we get together online we call all segment like mad… but when were talking “photo” “graphy” as in “writing with light”, aint’ we all doing the same thing?
You are right-it should be about composing, not the technique.
Art is art, however you get there…
Pressed for time, are we?
Photography is how I choose to create images. The camera is the tool I begin with. Whether that camera is digital or film is not important. Thank you for shedding some more light on this subject.