I just bought a canon 5d mark II; my first digital camera. I am in the process of getting to know it and understand its features. Last night my good friend Burnell sent me two websites that feature a lot of what is available to the digital world.
I started browsing these websites around 5 AM this morning. One website that I explored in some depth was Rick Sammon’s section on plug-ins and specially Color Effects pro. Check them out if you are not familiar with them.
The challenge that this early exploration of the plug-ins presented to me was a surprise. Rather than the typical response to an overwhelming amount of information and capabilities I was sent into a existential dilemma. I found my philosophy, that is the basis of what and why I photograph, deeply challenged.
What follows is the text of an e-mail I sent to Burnell after exploring the plug ins. I wrote it about 7AM this morning. It is an early response and maybe even a naive reaction to this art form. I hope may develop into a conversation about the digital world and where I think it may take us. I hope I can clearly articulate my thoughts and ideas. So here it goes : Thoughts on the digital world!
“Burnell, I went to those websites and spent hours browsing around especially at the plug ins. I am overwhelmed, and the philosophy behind it all is strange to me.
Of course this is my first serious exposure and reaction to what control there is over the image. It is truly a serious existential challenge for me. If I may be so reactionary; I know it is a matter of degree how much control and influence over a subject one has with film and with digital. I always opted for the least control and influence. One film one paper and the subject( the combination varied over the years but the formula remained the same). I always worked to eliminate choice and therefore limiting my own influence on the image.
After seeing the plug ins, various controls and other software; what is photographed seems almost made irrelevant given the changes one can make with these various controls. If I want to photograph a warm wonderful sunset on the beach, I go to the beach and wait for the life experience. I then work within my parameters to convey the experience.
I know I sound “old school” but digital photography is closer to painting. For me it is making the world the way I want to see it. It is much more about what is on the mind of the artist than what is outside the artist. And to be even more reactionary, here we go again controlling nature. I know that all photography does that, but film seemed to be a good balance. I have to wait and see if I can attain that same balance with digital or will I become a digital painter. My fear is if I do become a digital painter my world will become more and more 2 dimensional and experiencing the world will become more and more irrelevant. It is akin to my early reaction ( 1970′s) to IBM’S first ad for the PC depicting a rabbit. I was afraid then that the world would become more and more 2 dimensional and that the third dimension would disappear. Captain Kirk had this same fear when he encountered the aliens that were heads in the glass jars!
That is it for now. So I am going to spend some time thinking about the digital world. I am at the beginning of exploring it in a broader sense and its effects on us.
Armond
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
I agree with everything you said. The difference is that I like the number of options and the painterly approach. I get a real rush from taking a “bad” photo and making it into a good intriguing and printable image. Different strokes, as they say. And there is always a place for “old school.”
I’ve read that Ansel Adams would sometimes spend days working with a single negative, dodging and burning in the darkroom to get just the effect he wanted. When we look at that photograph now, we might be tempted to think we’re seeing exactly what we would have seen had we been standing next to him when he took it. But that wouldn’t be true.
Bottom line is that you are a photographer not just to take and share photographic images, but for the total holistic experience of capturing light. Digital photography begins with the capturing of light, but offers the manipulating of pixels as well. It can be overwhelming if you consider all the choices and the sheer power of ones and zeros. But you can also use the digital camera to do exactly what you’ve been doing with film: waiting with nature till the light is just right and then taking the shot.