Looking at one of my oldest gallery quality images hanging in my office this morning, I recalled I shot it with my first view camera on 4x5 Velvia. I then got to reflecting about how has the move to digital *improved* my photography? And I realized it really hasn't, at least directly.
Crap. Thinking more about it, the only real certainty is that that I spent a LOT of money on digital photography and a serious amount in just the last year (IQ180 upgrade, tech cam and lenses.) But so far this year (it isn't over yet) I did also create 6 images I am really happy with, images I deem lifetime portfolio worthy. Six solid gallery hangers is actually a pretty productive year for me, probably close to double my typical year. But then I recalled that half of them were out of the P65+ --- so the expensive digital upgrades did not make the difference.
The only real difference with digital is I shoot a lot more frames than I ever did with film. In LF film days, I considered 20 sheets exposed -- which may have only been 7 or 8 unique compositions -- a huge day; and a good year was actually getting one gallery-grade image, getting more than two was a spectacular year. Today, even when using the "slow" tech cam, I frequently shoot 20 frames of the same basic subject, altering compositions slightly before moving to the next subject.
So my photographic mantra for 2012 is simply going to be, "Get out and shoot more." And I hope to see you out there doing the same with me!
Happy Holidays to all!
Crap. Thinking more about it, the only real certainty is that that I spent a LOT of money on digital photography and a serious amount in just the last year (IQ180 upgrade, tech cam and lenses.) But so far this year (it isn't over yet) I did also create 6 images I am really happy with, images I deem lifetime portfolio worthy. Six solid gallery hangers is actually a pretty productive year for me, probably close to double my typical year. But then I recalled that half of them were out of the P65+ --- so the expensive digital upgrades did not make the difference.
The only real difference with digital is I shoot a lot more frames than I ever did with film. In LF film days, I considered 20 sheets exposed -- which may have only been 7 or 8 unique compositions -- a huge day; and a good year was actually getting one gallery-grade image, getting more than two was a spectacular year. Today, even when using the "slow" tech cam, I frequently shoot 20 frames of the same basic subject, altering compositions slightly before moving to the next subject.
So my photographic mantra for 2012 is simply going to be, "Get out and shoot more." And I hope to see you out there doing the same with me!
Happy Holidays to all!