Digital technology ruined photography for me, or did people ruin it? (or both)

[bribrius]

I don't know where this fits, but my wife's family's collection of historical B&W prints and negatives were in a shoebox until her eldest brother burned them.

Those pictures are gone.

my catastrophe came more in the form of marriage. My new wife deciding that a married man shouldn't have nude photos of other women took the liberty of discarding much of my prints and negatives of the nudes I shot in my early twenties. Not considering they weren't porn, she didn't quite comprehend that just that it wasn't "respectable", so a lot of my most prized photography went out the door which cant be replaced. I thought i was going to cry when she told me what she did i was REALLY upset. some she ran through my own shredder. I did maintain a few sessions I had scanned in to digital which she didn't know about. I wasn't happy for sure. "you did what?????????"

 

[astroNikon]

Digital ruined it for my soon-to-be-ex-wife. She hasn't shot in 10 years or more. Me, I just enjoy it. Laid-back enthusiast.

Odd because film cameras still work the same and are still available new.

 

[bribrius]

Digital ruined it for my soon-to-be-ex-wife. She hasn't shot in 10 years or more. Me, I just enjoy it. Laid-back enthusiast.

Odd because film cameras still work the same and are still available new.

My sister quit photography with the advent of digital. She just didn't look at it the same again. I don't think It is really that uncommon with the change in the general atmosphere (if that makes sense?) a lot of shooters dropped out I think. she shot pro too (actually for money). EDIT: I think she might have quit because of less money too. in speaking of digital when I started getting back into it she basically told me there is a lot of competition and it doesn't pay jack chit anymore.

 

[pgriz]

Personally, I think photography went downhill when every phone became a camera. And when the phone cameras could display your selfie while you were taking it... that confirmed that the end of the world was nigh...


So who's up for a big Apocalypse party? We had one for the start of the millenium, but the world didn't end on schedule, as we discovered that there were more pages to the calendar. So maybe we can have another one. Although when you party like there's no tomorrow, the next day hangover is pretty wicked.

 

[Braineack]

photography went downhill when people here stopped posting pictures for me to hate on.

 

[bribrius]

Personally, I think photography went downhill when every phone became a camera. And when the phone cameras could display your selfie while you were taking it... that confirmed that the end of the world was nigh...


So who's up for a big Apocalypse party? We had one for the start of the millenium, but the world didn't end on schedule, as we discovered that there were more pages to the calendar. So maybe we can have another one. Although when you party like there's no tomorrow, the next day hangover is pretty wicked.

personally, I don't really care. I don't have a dog in this fight. I do what I do, take some b.s. photos and photos of my kids. I don't do this for a living so it is kind of neither here nor there. If it came down to whether or not I could pay my house mortgage I might be a little more involved and care more. It is interesting banter however.

 

[Didereaux]

Gary how is not looking after your bits and different from not looking after your negs?

A house fire will kill your negs, just like a lightning strike will kill your harddisk. If anything it is easier to now ensure your photos will last longer than ever before. Just use open standard formats, and use redundancy + backup + checksumming to store them, and diversify their locations to protect them from weather and environment.

Oh yeah? Tried to get data off a 8" floppy lately? How about the wee fact that data is continually changing the format that is is written in, and on. Do those backups also store the OS's, and Apps used to create the data?

Oh wait you said keep it backed up on the latest, so in effect to preserve your data it will cost you a small fortune, be a constant effort to convert it to the latest formats, and rely solely on the 'warehouse' to remain accessible. That is the fallacy of the digital age...the belief that data is immortal.

True enough that paper burns, but have you considered the odds of your house burning down vs computer failure? I respect your knowledge of photography, but in all honesty your grasp of technology sucks!

 

[bribrius]

Gary how is not looking after your bits and different from not looking after your negs?

A house fire will kill your negs, just like a lightning strike will kill your harddisk. If anything it is easier to now ensure your photos will last longer than ever before. Just use open standard formats, and use redundancy + backup + checksumming to store them, and diversify their locations to protect them from weather and environment.

Oh yeah? Tried to get data off a 8" floppy lately? How about the wee fact that data is continually changing the format that is is written in, and on. Do those backups also store the OS's, and Apps used to create the data?

Oh wait you said keep it backed up on the latest, so in effect to preserve your data it will cost you a small fortune, be a constant effort to convert it to the latest formats, and rely solely on the 'warehouse' to remain accessible. That is the fallacy of the digital age...the belief that data is immortal.

True enough that paper burns, but have you considered the odds of your house burning down vs computer failure? I respect your knowledge of photography, but in all honesty your grasp of technology sucks!

speaking of which. I have some old home movies, 8mm and the like. Eventually they are going to stop selling the adaptors so I can play them. I really need to figure out how to transfer them to digital. oh, and if my vcr breaks can I still buy another one? Again, more home movies..

 

[limr]

speaking of which. I have some old home movies, 8mm and the like. Eventually they are going to stop selling the adaptors so I can play them. I really need to figure out how to transfer them to digital. oh, and if my vcr breaks can I still buy another one? Again, more home movies..

There are labs out there that will digitize 8mm. There's a few of them around - can't bring their names up from memory at the moment. I've actually got an 8mm camera and projector that I was thinking of reviving. The film is still sold and developed.

It appears that my personal response to each advancement in technology is to go further into the past and explore older and older technology.

 

[Braineack]

I've gone back to magnesium flash lamps and flashcubes catridges.

 

[Ysarex]

Gary how is not looking after your bits and different from not looking after your negs?

A house fire will kill your negs, just like a lightning strike will kill your harddisk. If anything it is easier to now ensure your photos will last longer than ever before. Just use open standard formats, and use redundancy + backup + checksumming to store them, and diversify their locations to protect them from weather and environment.

Oh yeah? Tried to get data off a 8" floppy lately? How about the wee fact that data is continually changing the format that is is written in, and on. Do those backups also store the OS's, and Apps used to create the data?

Oh wait you said keep it backed up on the latest, so in effect to preserve your data it will cost you a small fortune, be a constant effort to convert it to the latest formats, and rely solely on the 'warehouse' to remain accessible. That is the fallacy of the digital age...the belief that data is immortal.

True enough that paper burns, but have you considered the odds of your house burning down vs computer failure? I respect your knowledge of photography, but in all honesty your grasp of technology sucks!

Numbers (digital) can be copied with zero loss. Analog data can not. This is the one crucial difference.

Assuming you're like 99 plus % of film photographers, you have color film and prints. Your color film is fading. You can't stop it from fading. You can freeze dry it (can't imagine that will cost too much to do and maintain right) and that still won't ultimately stop it from deteriorating. Your color prints are fading. You can't stop them from fading. You can freeze dry those and enjoy them in your walk-in freezer gallery -- well not really because if you open the door you'll let in moisture. If you have a color film original and print from that film then that image has a fixed and short life and it's demise is guaranteed. The only way you can potentially extend it's life would be to digitize it.

If I had data previously stored on an 8 inch floppy I would have transferred it by now to other media with no loss to the data. Something impossible to do with film. Yes, that's a maintenance job but at least it's possible and at a fraction of the cost involved in just trying to extend the life of a color film image. Your color film and prints come with an expiration date and they start to fade the minute they're created.

Joe

 

[Ysarex]

speaking of which. I have some old home movies, 8mm and the like. Eventually they are going to stop selling the adaptors so I can play them. I really need to figure out how to transfer them to digital. oh, and if my vcr breaks can I still buy another one? Again, more home movies..

There are labs out there that will digitize 8mm. There's a few of them around - can't bring their names up from memory at the moment. I've actually got an 8mm camera and projector that I was thinking of reviving. The film is still sold and developed.

It appears that my personal response to each advancement in technology is to go further into the past and explore older and older technology.

 

[PixelRabbit]

If you love photography you will find a way to continue to enjoy it whether it is go back in time or keep up with time or a combination of the two. If there is a will there is a way.

The more you lament about what other people are doing the less time you are spending on something you claim to love.

Is it harder to stand out? Yes, absolutely, and that puts the onus squarely on your shoulders to do it since everyone has the ability to take a picture and boy do they take pictures!

 

[pgriz]

I'm going to agree with Joe. Over the years, I've had stuff on 8" floppies, then on 5-1/4" floppies, then 3" floppies, then tape, then ZIP discs, and now on various capacity HDD external drives. As long as I take the time to backup up the digital stuff onto newer media, I'm good (oh, and as long as the programs can read the legacy file formats). The analog stuff is not so portable. I've been looking through my slides and negatives (stored in a dry, cool place, in sealed boxes), and yet, some of them have been supporting fungus growth despite the precautions. The photo albums are all changing colours and fading, despite being supposedly "archival" in terms of the backing paper and the covering acetate. Interestingly, I've a lot of paper prints from the 1890-1915 period, and another batch from the 1930-1950 period that have aged rather gracefully. My solution is to digitize everything (well, as I have time, which is another issue), and to copy the digital copies onto CD's and DVD's although these too are not "permanent", and pass them on to various family members.

 

[Buckster]

I don't understand where this idea comes from that suddenly, practically overnight, technology will change so drastically that the files, media, machines, formats, etc., etc., etc., will change so drastically that we will lose all our digital images. Similarly, that it's so difficult or expensive to just copy them over to new systems whenever we upgrade.

Can someone name an image file format from the past that can't be read or converted in any way today?