Modern / traditional / children.

[zedin]

A week ago I heard a guy complaining that his son takes pictures with DSLR on manual mode becuase it took him to long to set all the settings and the "models" (his eldery aunt) got bored waiting...

I couldn't help but relate to this. I have stopped asking friends if they want to go camping/hiking with me if I am taking my camera due to this fact. They can't understand why I might take 15-30+ min to take a shot or 2. But I also think this shows that no matter what the technology as long as you have the option for controlling all aspects of the shot then photography will never die. While some are trying to caputure 'reality' for the most part I feel photographers are taking a scene and via the camera transforming it to whatever they envision. Its the same as painting on a canvas except we are a bit more limited due to having to have the basic outline out there for our canvas.

As for folks I think digital is a great way to get them started in photography since the instant gratification does 'reward' them each time they get a shot with good composition. Most folks that like photography end up learning the technicals and how to use the camera to make the scene you want rather then just capturing a snapshot.