1. photographyVoter.com  June 24, 2008 1:44 am

   PhotoNetCast #6 - Some Thoughts on Analog and Digital Photography…

   One of the most interesting discussions going around the photography world is the differences between shooting analog or digital. Both have advantages and disadvantages, and in this episode we dwell into this discussion and share some of our thoughts o…

2. PhotoNetCast Episode 6 is Available  June 24, 2008 2:59 am

   [...] Listen to PhotoNetCast Episode 6 Share This Post Related Posts on Epic Edits [...]

3. Recommended Listening: PhotoNetCast Episode #6 | JMG-Galleries - Jim M. Goldstein Photography: travel, landscape, and nature pictures - stock photos and fine art prints  June 24, 2008 4:41 pm

   [...] PhotoNetCast #6 - Some Thoughts on Analog and Digital Photography [...]

4. Der Njuus Mikkz | Digitale Fotografie Lernen - KWERFELDEIN - Martin Gommel  June 24, 2008 5:08 pm

   [...] läuft gut an. Und heute ging #6 raus, bei welchem das Thema Analoge vs. Digitale Fotografie war (wie beim fotografischen Quartett, [...]

5. dawn  June 27, 2008 1:42 am

   I’m an analog and digital person. I shoot in both and find that each has its place and purpose. To me, it’s more akin to saying I only shoot with an SLR or a point-and-shoot. Each is good in its own right and has a place (so I have film SLRs, film point-and-shoots, DSLRs, and digital point-and-shoot).

   A few comments on the podcast itself:

   The sound has been fine for me since day one. I haven’t had any problems with this.

   I think, though, that you should limit the podcasts to one topic. In the first few, you went from topic to topic to topic. Find one and focus on it each episode.

   Please limit the time. An hour is a lot of time to devote to one listening period. There are few podcasts that I will listen to for that long (ok, there are only 2, but that’s because I was listening to them on the radio before podcasting was ever considered).

   The topics are great. There is some interesting subject matter. It’s coming from respected members of the community. I think, with time, it will get better and better.

6. podcasts  June 27, 2008 8:09 am

   podcasts…

   Excellent post. Could not have said it any better myself. Hat’s off to a post well said….

7. around the net: volume 11, inspirational photographs and film vs. digital | pro photo life  June 27, 2008 8:32 am

   [...] This evolution (devolution?) has led to the interesting analog (film) vs. digital podcast over on PhotoNetCast (episode #6). You’ll also find a nice collection of related links to accompany the [...]

8. Antonio Marques  June 27, 2008 8:48 am

   Hi dawn,

   Thanks for the comment.
   I’m glad you are enjoying the shows.
   We usually tend to have two main topics besides our “From the web” regular feature. But sometimes, and due to the nature of the show, discussion tends to expand a little.
   As for the time, ah yes… Believe me that it’s always a fight to keep it short. We try, we try… Let’s see what comes out of the next one. Probably it will be shorter.
   Again, thanks for your words and keep coming back.

9. Hugh Look  June 27, 2008 4:55 pm

   I enjoyed the podcast discussion on analogue and digital photography very much, and I’m glad that you are prepared to give things space to breathe.

   However, I thought that overall you were rather unfair to digital photography, and mostly because of the “digital makes you take too many photographs” argument. Gary Winogrand, a great photographer and photographic innovator, took thousands of photographs and selected from those. The results are remarkable. What I think you missed is that for some photographers, the ability to shoot and shoot and shoot as you work your way into something is an important extension of the repertoire of tools and techniques available to them. Digital can bring a fluidity, an almost dance-like quality, to one’s relationship with the subject.

   Before digital, when I did a lot of my own B&W film processing and printing, I’ll admit to being a static, self-conscious photographer, much more a wannabe Adams than a wannabe Winogrand. Now, having come back to photography in the digital era, I “shoot first and ask questions later”. Liberated from the need to worry about the cost of exposure, or even if I might run out of film, I find that when I sit down to review what I’ve shot, often weeks later, I see things in frames I would never have even pressed the button on in my analogue days – and that’s not just a happy accident, it’s because I knew something would come out of that particular dance, even if I couldn’t tell what at the time. The choice was the occasion, the music, the partner, not each single step. I also see things that I took a lot of care over at the moment of exposure that are simply going to get thrown away because they are dull, dull, dull.

   It’s about the use of time. That moment when one has something in front of one’s eyes will never come again, in that form, with the light, with those faces, with that juxtaposition of elements. That is the precious moment, the one to use to dance with the subject. With enough pictures from that “in the bag” one can come back to meditate on what has been, to select, to edit, to tune. This is the gift of digital.

   Pre-visualising is /not/ a substitute for this.

   The corollary, as Winogrand demonstrates, is brutal self-editing afterwards. That can happen at the print stage, when one re-engages with the physical world. I agree it’s harder if you only ever distribute and see your work digitally.

   Now, it’s possible to argue that all this says is simply that I am a bad photographer who manages what little he can get in the way of merit by using the imaging equivalent of a machine-gun. In the end, that’s unknowable, and so such a response is rather pointless. It doesn’t matter. Any one of us might become better with a different discipline: I can certainly think of photographers who might be better if they were much more liberated and kept pressing the button until something emerged. There’s possibly a point at which I will need to go out and scrounge a 5”x4” or even an 8”x10” and spend half an hour making a single exposure, to become a statue and not a dancer for a time, if my photography is going to get any better or if I’m to achieve a particular objective I have in mind (although it’s easier to develop 8×10 habits of work with a digital camera, a tiny capacity memory card, a heavy tripod and diving boots than it is to flow gently through a city street with an 8×10).

   But I’d always argue that you have to look at the /whole/ journey that someone takes when they make a good photograph, and not just concentrate on the mystical moment of exposure.

   I’m sorry, this is too long. But you see, you did get me thinking.

10. Saxi  June 30, 2008 10:35 pm

    great episode - thanks ;o)

11. Is Film Dead?  July 8, 2008 5:55 pm

    [...] questions, but I’m curious to hear the thoughts of other photographers. As I stated in a recent PhotoNetCast episode, film is probably more popular in the artistic community rather than stock, wedding, corporate, [...]

Leave a Comment

If you would like to make a comment, please fill out the form below.