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| iPhone 14 Pro Max. (click to enlarge) Pleasing image but not much satisfaction in making it as the software in the phone made all of the decisions for me. I just pointed the lens and touched the screen. |
Last week I wrote a post about how the technical aspects of photography has fundamentally changed yet the aesthetic aspect of the craft has largely remained the same. I compared being a photographer in the 19th century to being a photographer today. You can read that post here.
That post brought to mind some additional thoughts. Frankly, many of those thoughts raised conflicting feelings upon which I would like to expound.
As I wrote previously, photography is very easy today with the cameras built into phones as well as the automation, computational features and sophistication that comes with even inexpensive digital cameras. It is not nearly as difficult as it was, not only in the 19th century, but even when I started 55 years ago. So I had to ask myself, “Is ‘easy’ a good thing or bad thing?”
Is the craft of photography better now that anyone, with no skills, no training or knowledge, can make a good photo? Are we as practitioners better off and by that matter, is the world better off that billions of people are making billions of photographs daily? Another thought. Is it fair? Does it even matter?
I know many of you have spent years if not decades learning photography, honing your craft until you felt you reached a level where you could almost always bring home excellent images, no matter what the circumstances and no matter what genre of photography you practice. I know I did. Do you resent the fact that novices—individuals with no experience, no background, no education, no technical adeptness, no preparation, no extensive practice, no trial and error, no real expense and/or no long days, months or years of working hard at learning photography that got you where you are today in your photographic journey, can point a phone or camera, without even having to think much, and make good images? (Wow! That’s one heckuva sentence!). Is that fair? Is it right? Or is it the normal course of events that has parallels with other skills and crafts?
On the other hand, do you subscribe to the theory that the democratization of photography is good for the craft and good for all of us now and in the future as more people can enjoy the craft, record their lives, record spontaneous historical or important events, make memories which, in many ways, can benefit us all? How will the rest of us benefit from the democritizaion and proliferation of photography?
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| This very similar image was made after careful thought and use of experience. This was made with my Fujifilm X-T5 and 16-55mm f/2.8 lens. There are differences but the main difference for me is the satisfaction I achieved when making this version. (click to enlarge) |
Personally, I don't resent how easy photography is today. Is it fair? Who guarantees fairness about anything in life? I like the fact that we have photographs (and now also video) that are available for us to view, from which to learn and increase our understanding about many aspects of the world, such as cultures, events, animals, geography, nature—you name it. I am probably one of the most curious people you would ever meet and I want to learn about everything I can—everyday. I hope I never get to the point where my thirst for knowledge is gone. Democratization of photography is one additional resource for my lifelong journey of learning.
As for my decades long journey learning my craft—every day of it was wonderful and I wouldn't trade any of it for just picking up a phone and touching the screen to make a photo. No. For me, it has always been about the journey, not the destination. All those years reading, looking at photos by the 'masters' to understand what a good photograph looks like, then spending hours and hours in my darkroom, honing my craft, was well worth the effort. I cannot tell you how much satisfaction all that brought to my life. In a way I feel badly for the 'phone' crowd as they will never have an opportunity to have that same level of satisfaction. And this goes for just about anything we do in life. Do the work. Make the journey. Enjoy the satisfaction of accomplishment.
So is photography being cheapened by being so easy? Or is it being expanded? Maybe both. Maybe the craft is evolving the same way all art evolves: tools change, standards shift, but passion still finds expression. I don't believe the phones in our hands replace the heart of photography. They just broaden who gets to start the journey. And for that? I think it’s pretty darn good—for all of us.
Thanks for looking. Enjoy!
Dennis A. Mook
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Everyone can make a sharp and well exposed photograph now. However, making a visually compelling image that tells a story and will stand the test of time is still breathtakingly difficult. Creating a body of work that hangs together over a lifetime is an even steeper mountain to climb.
ReplyDeleteAll that this democratization has given us an unending stream of surface level eye candy images that are mostly irrelevant and empty of visual nutrition as a bag of potato chips. The real problem is that the vast majority of people who think they are now "photographers" have no idea of what a meaningful photograph is, and have never cracked a book. All of their influences come from Instagram, Tick-Tok, YouTube and Twitter. They are a-historic and just don't care about the dead people who came before them who created the visual language which they are unable to understand.
But then, it's the same as it every was. I thought I was a genius when I was young. It took me a long time to figure out just how ignorant I really was. I did however work at learning and getting better. Many of the kids (anyone under 50) today is that they don't have the wherewithal to stick with it once they master the obvious. And again, that's how it's always been. And that's good, the used camera market is robust.
So long as people keep buying lots of photo equipment so the camera companies can stay afloat, I'm all for everyone going out and buying stuff.
My ultimate solution to the gigaflops of images is to ignore 99.999% of most of what I see. There are still gems out there, and lots of new people who I never heard of doing excellent work. Fortunately I can find the work of any great photographer, dead or alive, online when I need to satisfy my hunger for good photos.
Your attitude is for sure the high road and is the one that we should all take. What difference should it make if the craft has gotten easy and that everyone is able to produce the quality of images that in the old days it took years to accomplish. There is still learned skill in composition and selection of subject matter but I would be less than honest if I said that it makes no difference to me. I spent so many hours of study and practice to hone my craft giving me immense satisfaction and today it is so easy. But today I even find myself longing for the challenge of film and the wet darkroom but not enough to give up my wonderful new cameras and the control given us with digital darkroom. We can remember the old days as we sit in front of our computer producing technically better images than we ever did before.
ReplyDeleteMy Mother, who was a child during the Great Depression years, once told me about the good ol' days "There wasn't anything good about them". Sometimes I reminisce about the decades of carrying a tripod and view camera around, the hours in the darkroom. There were so many ancillary tasks, and so much to know, and keep in mind as part of the workflow.
ReplyDeleteBut, I am grateful to have the new convenience and capability of today's photographic tools. I am less of a craftsman and more involved visually, intuitively, with the subject in front of the camera.
Another old time camera pal told me it was an "Outrage" that technology does so much for these present day photographers. I am grateful I am still around and active enough to make use of the technology. I think my passion for image making is as high, or higher than it was in the past. Certainly, my stamina is not what it once was.
I would comfortably use my Iphone for photography before I would return to the sheet film days of yore.
It's seemed fairly obvious to me. As a Venn diagram, there are people who find it attractive or easy to get good at the technical side, and people who find it compelling or comparatively easy to learn composition, color, and all the art side. What expanding the circle for the technical side does (which is what making it easier does) is increase the number of people potentially capable of making good photographic art who *also* can make technically competent photographs. This is very VERY good IMHO. People who have the vision but get worn down by the technical difficulties used to mostly move on to something else. More of them will now happily make their home in photography. (And of course always there have been that tiny set of people who are obsessive about it, and bull through any and all problems to get somewhere eventually.)
ReplyDeleteSecondarily, using their cell phones and computers, kids have access to technically competent photographic gear much earlier than nearly anybody managed in my generation. Kids learn things differently than adults. Not being so technically limited at first may well produce great photographers out of people who wouldn't have ended up there if they had to work through film and darkroom stuff first. I remember when film costing a penny a frame (bulk loaded, home processed) was a limitation. Then I got my first job, and not only could I afford all the film I had time to shoot and process, I could also afford my first SLR. Cell phones and digital are vastly more capable than that first equipment of mine, and most people have access to that level today well before I did.