I don’t know if this is a new trend or if I’m just one of a kind, but my photographs and snapshots seem to have a shorter lifespan than they used to. I don’t print out my photos anymore. Instead I text message them or email them to my friends and family. I upload them to Flickr and I share them on Twitter. It used to be a big deal to print out all your photos and archive them into an album. People do that digitally now using iPhoto I guess, but I don’t even use that.
I would LOVE to comment on this and would LOVE to give my rebuttal. In many ways, my opinion on this matter is simply out of left field because, each year changes things in our industry. Back in the day, there were two kinds of people; Those who shot with professional SLRs and those who shot with Point & Shoots (wind up the film, charge flash, click button)
The inception of high end point & shoots followed by the high end smart phones has made everyone a photographer. Who knows if I would have gotten into photographer had the technology been accessible. If my first camera cost $500, I probably never would have picked up the hobby.
These days, anyone with an iPhone can produce a photo that is worth staring at. That’s what this is about. Is the image worth staring at? Some people take great shots. They know angles and they expose them. Others rely on software to make their cameraphone pictures look great.
There will always be professionals and their professional cameras but this has really turned into such a low barrier of entry that I simply cannot convey my utter disgust in camera phones well enough to offer a good argument against them. The simple truth is that I took my photography to another level while everyone else enjoyed the fact that one tap and a few filters and you have a photo that makes people go “oooohhh”
I’m not bitter. Just learning to get over this harsh reality.
In other news, I just acquired my second film camera and ordered dark room supplies. I’ll be printing out photos the old fashioned away. Enjoy Instagram.