The question is: why?

I do not reject digital photography. My photographs of holidays or family events are all digital. There are also lots of good reasons for digital photography to exist. People living of photography have gained considerable flexibility and productivity with the advent of digital photography. Imagine the time savings (and therefore money) to a photographer who makes a wedding covering. Imagine the benefit to the sports photographer who can shoot up and then choose the best shots without worrying about the film wasted. Imagine the security provided by digital technology, eliminating the risk of development failure. The benefits are numerous. Does this mean we should forget about analog photography? Of course not.

Analog photography is not, in my opinion, of technical advantages to digital photography. By cons, it brings a lot in terms of emotions and surprises. I really started photography in 1981 with my (always excellent) Minolta X700. My parents have offered it for my 15th birthday and I shot my first film at the tennis tournament at Roland Garros that year. At the time, I was not aware of it but now that I returned to photography after analog abandoned for nearly 15 years, I know all the enjoyment given pending the development of the film and draw pictures. I do not know about you but me, when I send a film to develop, I monitor daily the progress of work in the lab and I can not wait as the photos come back to me. With digital, you see the picture immediately, there is much less excitement.

If it has no technical advantages, it at least “forces” us to be very careful about the quality of shooting. Both in digital photography can rectify the shooting if the result does not satisfy, both in analogue photography should take the greatest care in the composition of the image and the parameters of shooting. We have no room for error. Or rather, one has the right to be wrong, but we pay cash: the picture is missed! In fact, analog photography seems to be ideal for learning photography.

Of course, all this is true for an amateur photographer like me who does not earn money of his photographs. Professional sees something entirely different, and I understand completely.

written by chtiman on 2011-09-20