Comments on Fluffytek Art Blog: The Commonality of the Digital Age

If I can pitch in, my view point in this is really...

2007-12-28T22:34:00.000Z

If I can pitch in, my view point in this is really simple: everybody should approach things the way they see fit for themselves. As long people are enjoying themselves, I don't see the harm. Sure, photography has become much more accessible to the general masses, but why deny other people the joys of expressing themselves, even if it doesn't meet other peoples **perceived** notion of how things **should** be done. Let each do what they want to do for themselves. Laissez faire, laissez passer, and the world would be a much happier place. What other people create really doesn't take away from what you do or vice versa. I think as an artist you should create to express yourself for yourself, and not for others. If your work is exceptional, it will get noticed sometime, somehow. The cream always rises to the top. I don't want anything to do with people who have elitist viewpoints about their work, or people who think it's OK to bring others down because they do things differently.

Short and Sweet....I think the Digital age is fant...

2007-12-28T13:55:00.000Z

Short and Sweet....I think the Digital age is fantastic!! It allows many the opportunity to express themselves, without the drawbacks of the Darkroom experience..or lack of. I quit with photography due to the time involved before the digital age. I did not have the time to spend in the darkroom..NOR the opportunity to use one (after leaving the Marine Corps). So I was left with the Photo Lab option..and quite frankly...a bit embarased to have my film developed and printed (knowing my subject matter). So I walked away. Digital resolved that issue about 12 years ago.

Cameras are tools...simply put. I prefer the "instant gratificaion" I get with Digital (I have no patience)..and funny enough...95% of what I will exhibit, and offer as my new work will be Polaroids. Afterall, is it not about the final image presented for the viewer that matters?..and not the medium or photographic type that matters? We must do what is best representitive of our vision. None better or superior to the other...simply different.

I have been shooting both Digital and Polaroids over the last few weeks..but will only frame and present as my work Polaroids (as well as transfers and perhaps a few emulsion lifts).

So it goes in full circle...I shot polaroids 35 years ago...and now I am back.

Long Live Digital...and Long Live Polaroids.

Ahh..is it not wonderful that we have so many different views and opinions?...think how boring the world would be if we were all the same.

Sorry for any misspelling..in a big hurry...so I typed live.

regards
bt

Oh c'mon Jimmy. You know I love your twisted cynic...

2007-12-28T08:39:00.000Z

Oh c'mon Jimmy. You know I love your twisted cynical side :-)

Seriously, my posts are to stimulate juicy debate. I really would like to know your point of view....after all, as a professional photographer, you are directly affected by this. So please, a post on your blog perhaps???

Yes, Lin, it does have it's good points and bad po...

2007-12-28T04:30:00.000Z

Yes, Lin, it does have it's good points and bad points. I've got a pocket digital camera myself - and I love that I can make videos with it - but ultimately, for my serious work, I still use film and have no desire to switch.

As for the effect on the masses, I'll recount two stories told and written by a very good photographer that I have studied with.

1) In the pre-digital era, she wrote, students at her workshops used to talk about why they made photos and how they felt doing so. Now all they seem to talk about is bits and bytes.

2) At a workshop in Italy, she took her students out for three or four hours one morning to photograph. Back at the ranch that afternoon, when the students were editing their morning's work, she asked one participant if she'd gotten any good images.

"Well, I've managed to edit it down to about 270," the girl replied.

"Really," the instuctor said in return. "Then I guess you should be teaching this workshop - because I only got three."

Not only is it much easier to take many more photos with digital, it apparently has become much more difficult for people to know what a good photograph is.

Some people want uantity. Others prefer quality, I guess.

I'm resisting the urge to jump in on this subject....

2007-12-27T21:45:00.000Z

I'm resisting the urge to jump in on this subject. I'm afraid it would bring out (a little too emphatically) the cynic in me. It's nicely written although I don't quite see it as (seemingly) optimistically as you.

Richard's lighting for Syd is gorgeous. It just i...

2007-12-27T20:13:00.000Z

Richard's lighting for Syd is gorgeous. It just illustrates the "fine art" you talk about in this post. I studied the nude oil painting tradition in art history and again post-doctoral, and I see glimpses of this tradition in fine arts nude photography. It's a privilege to work with our digital artists today.