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Top photographers condemn digital age
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/thi...p?story=565781
Top photographers condemn digital age Experts are warning traditional photography could become a museum craft, write Nicholas Pyke and Andrew Johnson, but some greats are up in arms 26 September 2004 Terry O'Neill, one of the world's most published photographers, has condemned the rapid spread of digital cameras for wrecking the art of taking pictures. He believes digital cameras are only fit for "amateurs and paparazzi", and that the technology is turning all pictures into "snapshots". His criticisms follow a week in which Eastman Kodak admitted the film business is declining at twice the speed of previous estimates, while Dixons reported that four out of five camera sales are digital. Ilford Imaging in Cheshire, the world's largest producer of black and white photo materials, went into receivership in July, thanks to traditional photography's decline. Digital cameras take pictures in much the same way as traditional ones, but the image is "captured" electronically and stored in the internal memory. The images can be printed out and saved onto a computer or CD. With prices falling rapidly - digital SLR cameras are available for less than £1,000 and the cheapest costs £15 - the technology is now so popular that Kodak will stop selling film cameras in most of the world by the end of this year. But O'Neill, who rose to prominence with Vogue and Paris Match in the 1960s, is one of many leading photographers resisting the change. They say the quality of the new images remains inferior and traditional negatives are a more reliable record of the past than electronic archives. Millions of photographs have already been lost because most digital camera ownersnever print their pictures out. "You will always get better quality with film. You can talk to any darkroom expert about that," O'Neill said. "I don't use digital, and I'll always use film. Digital is for amateurs and paparazzi photographers. There is a great skill in photography. Digital cameras reduce everything to a snapshot." Lord Snowdon is another prominent fan of old-fashioned cameras, as are the award-winning news photographers Tom Stoddart and Don McCullin. The leading landscape photographer David Parker, currently exhibiting at the Michael Hoppen Gallery in London, relies on film and described its decline as the end of an era. Film will account for less than half of Kodak's profits by next year, and looks set to disappear from non-specialist stores. The digital revolution has also left thousands with unusable "intermediate" technology on their hands, as the APS format is now virtually redundant. Lord Lichfield, the royal photographer who took the official portraits of Prince Charles's wedding to Diana believes film cameras are disappearing so fast that the art of taking pictures and developing them in a darkroom will soon be regarded as a museum craft. He, though, has become a cheerleader for the digital age. "Terry O'Neill is a dinosaur. I love him dearly and he's a mate, but he's a dinosaur," he said. "I haven't shot a roll of film for five years. I'm saving £80-90,000 a year. "Digital technology does have phenomenal advantages and I really can't see any disadvantages. I have no qualms in saying it produces the quality of reproduction that all my clients require. The change will inevitably inspire a new generation of 'art' photographers using traditional methods, like craftsmen." The celebrity photographer Dave Bennett also relies on the new technology. "Film was always a bit of a mystery anyway. There was always the fear that you'd open the back of the camera and ruin the lot," he said. "The romance of film will be lost, but that's about all." David Hockney, who made his name with both paintings and photographs, described the rise of digital technology as the biggest change since the invention of chemical printing more than 160 years ago. He said it would abolish an old-fashioned - and often mistaken - belief that the camera does not lie. "The end of chemical photography is a more profound change than any technical change there's been in photography," he said. In future people will accept digital photographs, which can be electronically manipulated, are no more objective than paintings. All images are made by something and someone. Even with a surveillance camera the boundaries of the shot have been fixed by someone." Mr Hockney, though, has lost interest in photography and no longer bothers with cameras. "The thing is that the camera is a bore in the way it looks at the world," he said. "Picasso and Matisse are far more exciting - and I'm all for excitement." LEADING PHOTOGRAPHERS CHOOSE THEIR FAVOURITE IMAGES FROM THE GOLDEN AGE Family picture an iconic pre-war image Sunday on the Banks of the River Marne was taken by Henri Cartier-Bresson in 1938. Following Cartier-Bresson's death this year, the simple photo of a French family picnicking was described by the Economist as "almost a last pre-war moment of stillness". Nominated by Terry O'Neill, Patrick Lichfield and David Hockney Seascape born out of trickery Gustave Le Gray's 1857 print The Great Wave was captured near Montpellier on the southern French coast. Considered the most important French photographer of the 19th century, Le Gray used trickery to produce this image, combining two separate negatives. Nominated by David Parker Story of corset creation is stuff of legend The Mainbocher Corset (1939) remains the most famous photograph from Horst P Horst's celebrated 60-year career. The story of its creation is the stuff of fashion legends, as Horst himself had shouted abuse at his model until she burst into tears. When the model then turned away, he shot the image. The print has sold at auction for $17,000. Nominated by Dave Bennett |
#2
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I know you're trolling, and the headline is misleading, but...
"DM" wrote in message ... http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/thi...p?story=565781 Top photographers condemn digital age Experts are warning traditional photography could become a museum craft, Of course it will, just as oil painting is now a museum craft. That doesn't mean it's dead, or that it's not good art, just that it's no longer the most common way to make pictures. Terry O'Neill, one of the world's most published photographers, has condemned the rapid spread of digital cameras for wrecking the art of taking pictures. Who's he? Perhaps he merely objects to having to master a new technology. He believes digital cameras are only fit for "amateurs and paparazzi", and that the technology is turning all pictures into "snapshots". Nonsense. I do careful product photography regularly with a Coolpix 990 on a tripod. I have done a good bit of careful nature photography with the same camera. There's not much difference in the way I work, but I get feedback a lot sooner with the digital camera, and I have a lot more controls available when making the print. His criticisms follow a week in which Eastman Kodak admitted the film business is declining at twice the speed of previous estimates, while Dixons reported that four out of five camera sales are digital. Ilford Imaging in Cheshire, the world's largest producer of black and white photo materials, went into receivership in July, thanks to traditional photography's decline. It is always sad when something we have enjoyed starts to die out. But do we still drive horse-drawn carriages? They say the quality of the new images remains inferior Debatable. The average "snapshot" in the film era was pretty awful. and traditional negatives are a more reliable record of the past than electronic archives. Millions of photographs have already been lost because most digital camera ownersnever print their pictures out. What about people who throw away their negatives, or lose them? Digital images are *much* easier to organize and preserve. Perfectly lossless copying is possible. "You will always get better quality with film. You can talk to any darkroom expert about that," O'Neill said. He is displaying an amazing ignorance of how photography works. With enough bits, there can be a digital image that outperforms any film image. "I haven't mastered digital" doesn't mean "nobody will ever master digital." He probably sees an awful lot of published digital photos without realizing they're digital. Lord Snowdon is another prominent fan of old-fashioned cameras, as are the award-winning news photographers Tom Stoddart and Don McCullin. I *like* old-fashioned cameras. I'm going to keep doing black-and-white darkroom work, as a craft, for the rest of my life. But that does not blind me to the fact that digital technology *does* work, and that it's a better way of doing a good many things. In particular, I think color negative film was a misconceived technology -- I'm amazed that it ever worked, given the basically impossible problem of coordinating three color layers independently on both film and paper -- and it deserves to bite the dust soon. Digital color control is *much* better. Conventional black-and-white photography is the most different from digital (in terms of ability to achieve high quality). It is the one most worth preserving as a craft. And now we hear from the other side: Lord Lichfield, the royal photographer who took the official portraits of Prince Charles's wedding to Diana believes film cameras are disappearing so fast that the art of taking pictures and developing them in a darkroom will soon be regarded as a museum craft. He, though, has become a cheerleader for the digital age. "Terry O'Neill is a dinosaur. I love him dearly and he's a mate, but he's a dinosaur," he said. "I haven't shot a roll of film for five years. I'm saving £80-90,000 a year. "Digital technology does have phenomenal advantages and I really can't see any disadvantages. I have no qualms in saying it produces the quality of reproduction that all my clients require. The change will inevitably inspire a new generation of 'art' photographers using traditional methods, like craftsmen." The celebrity photographer Dave Bennett also relies on the new technology. "Film was always a bit of a mystery anyway. There was always the fear that you'd open the back of the camera and ruin the lot," he said. "The romance of film will be lost, but that's about all." Hear, hear! -- Clear skies, Michael A. Covington Author, Astrophotography for the Amateur www.covingtoninnovations.com/astromenu.html |
#3
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Who cares. For me photography is about communicating with my audience,
whomever that happens to be at any given moment. .... "DM" wrote in message ... http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/thi...p?story=565781 Top photographers condemn digital age Experts are warning traditional photography could become a museum craft, write Nicholas Pyke and Andrew Johnson, but some greats are up in arms 26 September 2004 |
#4
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Who cares. For me photography is about communicating with my audience,
whomever that happens to be at any given moment. .... "DM" wrote in message ... http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/thi...p?story=565781 Top photographers condemn digital age Experts are warning traditional photography could become a museum craft, write Nicholas Pyke and Andrew Johnson, but some greats are up in arms 26 September 2004 |
#5
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On Sat, 02 Oct 2004 20:29:54 GMT, "DM" wrote:
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/thi...p?story=565781 Top photographers condemn digital age Experts are warning traditional photography could become a museum craft, write Nicholas Pyke and Andrew Johnson, but some greats are up in arms 26 September 2004 (SNIP, SNIP, , ,) This is a VERY odd story -- it seems about ten years late. Are these guys just NOW becomming aware of digital photography and it's impact on traditional photography? They complain that most pictures these days are "just snapshots?" When was that NOT true -- before George Eastman invented the Kodak? And Lord Snowdon is still alive? Don't tell these guys that you can get camera-phones now. |
#6
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DM wrote:
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/thi...p?story=565781 Top photographers condemn digital age Experts are warning traditional photography could become a museum craft, write Nicholas Pyke and Andrew Johnson, but some greats are up in arms 26 September 2004 Terry O'Neill, one of the world's most published photographers, has condemned the rapid spread of digital cameras for wrecking the art of taking pictures. He believes digital cameras are only fit for "amateurs and paparazzi", and that the technology is turning all pictures into "snapshots". Maybe Mr. O'Neill is simply stuck in the past, the difference between a photograph on film and the same photograph taken on digital is the method of capture. This however is nothing new, every time new technology has come out, the same argument has taken place. It occured when AgBr replaced Dugariotypes, the new style wasn't considered "real" photography either. Then when colour film came around, same thing, and now the same deal with digital. For me, I don't care, it's easier to download a photo, then to soup films, and it's easier to balance it, and post process in PhotoShop, and print on inkjet, then it is to spend the day in the fume room, making test prints. One issue, if you know the fume room, it's easier to learn about digital. Same process, different methodology. W |
#7
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Isn't it illuminating when contemporary news media makes the same kind of
screw-up that goes on all the time here in Usenet? Somebody lamenting the past makes a case, someone else (the media interviewer in this case) makes a quote and all goes to hell and nobody, but nobody has a feel for what the interviewee really meant? Leave it be. He's a photographer. He's living. Got life? |
#8
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We condemn a lot of things when it does not seem to fit into our way of
doing things. I beleive that if one can live with the old or conventional way of doing things and are more comfortable that way, like hitching up the team of horses and heading into town to pick up your groceries and supplies, I suppose this is what one should continue to do. Of course this would make great subject matter for photography (Film or Digital). I always thought I would like to set up a town that would be from the 18th or 19th century, and everything would have to be the same as the era, no hydro, no air conditioning, no TV, Radio, computers etc., but there is only one big problem no Cameras? We would have to learn to paint pictures to keep the memories of our visit. Getting back to the real topic modern photography, now, the so called "real photographers" shun digital cameras. Going back to the seventies the "real photographers" did not want to accept the automatic cameras, before that Medium and Large format cameras were the only accepted cameras, then came Autofocus in the mid '80's, that was also not allowed, until the early to mid '90's the real photographers are getting older and seeing the autofocus cameras were getting better and our eye-sight getting worse, so we gladly accept the new Autofocus cameras. I suppose we will also accept digital photography eventually. Like the old saying "If it's not broken don't fix it" That's my opinion and I'm sticking with it, "Digital Photography is "GREAT". Helge DM wrote: http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/thi...p?story=565781 Top photographers condemn digital age Experts are warning traditional photography could become a museum craft, write Nicholas Pyke and Andrew Johnson, but some greats are up in arms 26 September 2004 |
#9
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We condemn a lot of things when it does not seem to fit into our way of
doing things. I beleive that if one can live with the old or conventional way of doing things and are more comfortable that way, like hitching up the team of horses and heading into town to pick up your groceries and supplies, I suppose this is what one should continue to do. Of course this would make great subject matter for photography (Film or Digital). I always thought I would like to set up a town that would be from the 18th or 19th century, and everything would have to be the same as the era, no hydro, no air conditioning, no TV, Radio, computers etc., but there is only one big problem no Cameras? We would have to learn to paint pictures to keep the memories of our visit. Getting back to the real topic modern photography, now, the so called "real photographers" shun digital cameras. Going back to the seventies the "real photographers" did not want to accept the automatic cameras, before that Medium and Large format cameras were the only accepted cameras, then came Autofocus in the mid '80's, that was also not allowed, until the early to mid '90's the real photographers are getting older and seeing the autofocus cameras were getting better and our eye-sight getting worse, so we gladly accept the new Autofocus cameras. I suppose we will also accept digital photography eventually. Like the old saying "If it's not broken don't fix it" That's my opinion and I'm sticking with it, "Digital Photography is "GREAT". Helge DM wrote: http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/thi...p?story=565781 Top photographers condemn digital age Experts are warning traditional photography could become a museum craft, write Nicholas Pyke and Andrew Johnson, but some greats are up in arms 26 September 2004 |
#10
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Ok what do you need a darkroom for then?
In article , Helge Buddenborg wrote: That's my opinion and I'm sticking with it, "Digital Photography is "GREAT". -- LF Website @ http://members.verizon.net/~gregoryblank "To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public."--Theodore Roosevelt, May 7, 1918 |
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