What is photography?
I first picked up a camera in the 1980s when my dad gave me his Pentax K1000 SLR camera. It was a simple manual camera with a 50mm lens. I bought a roll of film and taught myself how to use the camera. I learned everything from metering to manual focus, all through trial and error. In my senior years of high school, I joined a photography class and learned the fine art of processing and developing negatives. During those years, I spent more time under the red darkroom light, than I did in natural sunlight.
My favorite memory is of standing on the beach with a high school friend. We bought some fish, sliced into pieces and my friend fed the fish to pelicans while I photographed their big eyes and gaping mouths. I processed, developed and printed the shots, and I was absolutely in love with photography and the amazing things I could achieve with a camera, film and chemicals.
I still have the negatives buried in a box somewhere. One day I’ll dig them out and remember how much fun I had back then.
For me, photography is about capturing the world through a lens. I consider myself a traveler and, like most photographers, I love to photograph the things around me. Sometimes I experiment with other styles. I like street photography, or I’ll try some studio photography. But travel photography is my passion – people and places, landscapes, nature and the thirst quenching colors that can only be found in foreign, exotic cultures.
Not everyone approaches photography the way I do though. Some people believe that photography is an expression of art or emotion. Some photographers see photography as a way to document events that shape human kind. Either way, to every photographer, our art is a way to capture moments in time that may never be repeated.
The best photographers always capture those moments in ways that inspire us and make us think about life for a moment, a kind of inner reflection. It’s a moment where you’re stunned by the wonder and beauty of life, or sometimes its horrific tragedy.
Without doubt, photography has played a huge part in modern history. Famous photographs have shaped the world and stayed with us forever. They brought us images of war, hope, courage, death and triumph. A picture tells a thousand words and award winning photographs tell a thousand stories.
I think everyone remembers shocking photos of the Vietnam War, the lone student defying tanks in Tiananmen Square, the WTC attacks on 9/11. But there are also the inspiring photos of the Wright brothers’ first flight, the first photo of the Earth from space, the Beatles walking across Abbey Road; did you ever notice that Paul was barefoot?
Steve McCurry’s ‘Afghan Girl’ which graced the cover of National Geographic, is an example of a very modern photo that made international fame. He photographed a Muslim girl in 1984 and her photo appeared on the cover of National Geographic in 1985. She became so famous that McCurry tracked her down in 1992. It’s National Geographic’s most famous cover.
Technology
Despite the changes in technology, and the emergence of video, photography remains as popular as ever. Even though most photographers have made the transition to digital, photography has lost none of its beauty. On the contrary, digital photography has brought with it a revolution. Every mobile phone has a digital camera. Pocket cameras are ubiquitous and digital SLR cameras are within financial reach of novice photographers.
Photography is no longer a lofty ‘art’ for people who know what ‘Velvia’ means. Photography is now the medium of the people. This has been proved by images that came out of Burma during the Junta’s crackdown on protesting monks, and photos of riots against the Chinese government in Tibet. Digital photos, which are really just computerized zeros and ones, are easily smuggled across borders and splashed on the front page of today’s newspapers.
Technology has also brought with it new techniques. HDR (High Dynamic Range) images didn’t exist before digital. Electronic cameras have broken down shutter speed barriers and flash memory means that images can be stored in their thousands on small portable cards.
But not all change has been good for photography. These days, photographers are often suspects and menaced by police or security personnel. In the United Kingdom, advertising billboards warn people to ‘beware of suspicious persons holding a camera’. It’s a sure sign that photography in public is becoming a security threat. Photographers are potential terrorists.
People are also more aware of the exploitative nature of digital technology. An image can be easily modified or changed to tell a different story. People can be grafted into or out of a picture with amazing ease. Recently, a Chinese publication used an image of deer grazing near the controversial railway linking Beijing to Lhasa. The Chinese government proclaimed it a massive success, until the photo was discovered to be completely fake; a composite of two images.
There’s also a third change to photography; one that particularly saddens me. This year, Polaroid announced that it would cease production of its famous Polaroid film and cameras. Gone are the days of instant film photographs. My grandmother loved her Polaroid camera. She’d take my photo, pull the film out of the front of the camera, wave it in the air until it developed, and stick it to the refrigerator with all her other photos. I just don’t think a digital photo will have the same feel to it.
Film is dying but I don’t think it will become extinct. Digital ‘point and shoot’ cameras are killing the film developing industry. Most of the processing stores are gone. It’s harder to buy good film stock. Developing has become more expensive. But what photography has lost, it has made up for with other gains.
Film has always been ‘art’. It will remain the photography fanatic’s greatest prize and digital will become the mainstream medium; a little like vinyl records and CDs.
Repetition
This week, Seoul Photo Club’s challenge was “Repetition”. In photography, repetition is the use of a repeated shape or image within a shot. It’s an echo of a shape that creates an instant composition. When done well, repetition is an amazing technique and can inspire the ‘wow’ factor, thanks to its simple, but striking image style. Repetition within an image is visually strong.
I confess that when the challenge started, I thought that it wouldn’t be well received. However, I was honestly amazed but the number of entries. The quality was outstanding and my job of picking a winner became an extremely unenviable task.
How do I choose one good shot?
This has always been the biggest issue within photography – objectivity. The simple answer is that there’s no true objectivity. People’s tastes and opinions are completely subjective. Opinions about what makes a good composition differ from person to person. However, this is a fair premise. Photography, like all other art, relies on its subjectivity. Ask museum curators which is better, Picasso or Matisse, and they’ll fight for days.
Ansel Adams, a famous landscape photographer, would certainly pick a different image than I would choose. Is his opinion any more valid than mine? Is he more ‘right’? No. Definitely not. This is the beauty of photography; everyone’s taste and opinions are equally valid.
That’s why I love websites like flickr.com, and photographic communities like trekearth.com and dpchallenge.com. It doesn’t matter how good your photos are, or how much you know about photography, people appreciate your work and help you learn more about how to make your photographs better. In the era of blogs, photoblogs, web forums, and social networking, everyone can upload and share their photos with friends, family and complete strangers. Entire industries are devoted to image editing (Photoshop and Gimp) while other industries are dedicating themselves to digital equipment, online storage, and photographic communities.
Photography has changed a lot since I first started taking photos with my Pentax K1000. Now I own a Nikon D200. But I still own a film camera, a Leica, because I think that the old ways are worth remembering. I’ll still shoot film for fun, but the majority of my photographs will be digital. I love editing in Photoshop then uploading photos to my gallery, or my blog, or tending to my flickr group. I also love talking about photography in forums and message boards. Photography has grown up and is embracing the digital age.
So despite the demise of film, photography is definitely moving in the right direction. Film will no longer be an easily accessible medium, but those who are fanatical about photography can learn it and love it. In fact, when I buy a house later in life, I’ll probably build a darkroom in the basement. For everyone else, digital is the way of the future.
One thing’s for sure, there’s no point trying to fight progress.
I guess I’ll just have to buy my grandmother a digital photo frame. I’ll glue it to the front of the fridge and teach her how to upload images via USB. It’ll never be the same as her wonderful Polaroids, but I’m sure she’ll learn to love it.
Send David a message at davidsmeaton [at] gmail [dot] com or visit his website at www.davidsmeaton.com. If you want to be a part of the weekly Photo Challenge, join the “Seoul Photo Club” group at flickr (flickr.com/groups/seoulphotoclub).
although the olpc program is old news, it doesn’t mean there’s nothing to report. rumour has it that the XO 1.0 (the original olpc laptop) is going to be succeeded by an amazing new version which could actually become the prototype for how regular laptops are built.
