Analog People In A Digital World

radiant · Jan 18, 2021

DREW WILEY said:
In this area, big film camera and real film generally get a lot of respect. TI've never heard anything snarky

Finnish people are quite anti-social to strangers; we don't have any need to discuss with strangers and we are completely fine with that. And that seems pretty weird to other nationalities. I totally understand that

But guess what happens when I go out with my 5x7" large format in Finland. I usually spend more time talking than photographing. And that is great, Finns somehow come out from their shell. They have some real reason to talk to me; probably because they are too curious to be quiet. And people are nice, even those who are a bit drunk. Large format is so "out-of-spec" that people just cannot comprehend that. I usually let them look at focusing glass and they get heureka moment why the cloth is needed. And they clearly appreciate the moment, which makes me feel good too.

But that is so strange thing for me too, like world (well, Finland) has changed in moments. Suddenly people come by and have a chat and good times.. Which is strange for a Finn.

radiant · Jan 18, 2021

Anon Ymous said:
Impressive... I must be the only member of this forum who hasn't been asked why I still shoot film, or if I can still buy it.

That is strange. When the digital cameras breaked out in 2000 I got asked so many times (in negative tone) that I actually stopped shooting film, which I regret. I was so devastated that suddenly film was nothing and only digital photos were worth something..

Anon Ymous · Jan 18, 2021

vedostuu said:
That is strange. When the digital cameras breaked out in 2000 I got asked so many times (in negative tone) that I actually stopped shooting film, which I regret. I was so devastated that suddenly film was nothing and only digital photos were worth something..

Seriously, I've never encountered any of these obnoxious types. And I'm not frightening, intimidating, or whatever. Definitely nobody you wouldn't dare talking to.

Sirius Glass · Jan 18, 2021

vedostuu said:
That is strange. When the digital cameras breaked out in 2000 I got asked so many times (in negative tone) that I actually stopped shooting film, which I regret. I was so devastated that suddenly film was nothing and only digital photos were worth something..

Well you got to digital photography late. I started in 1977 with the Voyager I & II spacecraft. You have some serious catching up to do.

Arthurwg · Jan 18, 2021

ChristopherCoy said:
That's Don... and if you've never been in his store in Dallas, I highly suggest it. Last time I was there was some years ago and it was heaps and mounds of old analog equipment. You could spend three days there and still not go through the amount of items he has piled up in his store.

Do you have a contact for Don? I couldn't find him on the Internet.

ChristopherCoy · Jan 18, 2021

Arthurwg said:
Do you have a contact for Don? I couldn't find him on the Internet.

http://donsphotoequipment.com/

DREW WILEY · Jan 18, 2021

Sirius - interesting. When my nephew lived with me going to UCB, one of the student income jobs he took was splicing satellite shots of the backside of the moon. It was a six million dollar workstation, with a monitor six feet wide, about 35 years ago. It's amazing how much things have changed. Now just about anyone can do splicing on a laptop. Spend a few thousand dollars on a fancy miniature digital camera, leveling gear, take twenty shots and spend two weeks tediously futzing with them, and Voila - one can actually crudely simulate what can be done with a single shutter click of a large format view camera with a 50 year old lens on it.

Alan Edward Klein · Jan 18, 2021

Well, I have to admit. When I shoot with my 4x5 large format view camera, people come up to me and are delighted with what I'm doing. I can see their smiles through their masks. I feel like a real photographer.

Kodachromeguy · Jan 18, 2021

vedostuu said:
I was so devastated that suddenly film was nothing and only digital photos were worth something..

How the times change. Now millions of D button-pushers take a billion digital snaps a day (an hour?), most of which will disappear into the ether, while dedicated film photographers are recording their world and doing some interesting creative work.

DREW WILEY · Jan 18, 2021

It's still the terminology I find so silly. We have a lot of open space around here, and quite a few people like horseback riding. But all the cars on the freeway are still rated according to horsepower. I hate most of these newer cars and trucks because the dashboard looks like an airplane cockpit with a lot of silly distracting stuff. The car ads boast in the digital capacity of the newest models. But does that mean that someone riding the trails using only one horsepower is atop an "analog" travel device? I don't see any little dials and switches on horses, or vacuum tubes. And there's nothing like that on my cameras either. Where did they come up with this idiotic "analog" label anyway? Two hundred years of photography momentum, and now it's gotta be called something else? Guess all the history books will have to be re-written explaining the difference. Alexander the Great invaded the east riding an analog horse. Twenty Mule Team borax was hauled out of the desert using twenty analog animals. Salt caravans across the Sahara use analog camels, just so nobody will confuse them with a Jeep having a digital dashboard.

Alan Edward Klein · Jan 18, 2021

DREW WILEY said:
It's still the terminology I find so silly. We have a lot of open space around here, and quite a few people like horseback riding. But all the cars on the freeway are still rated according to horsepower. I hate most of these newer cars and trucks because the dashboard looks like an airplane cockpit with a lot of silly distracting stuff. The car ads boast in the digital capacity of the newest models. But does that mean that someone riding the trails using only one horsepower is atop an "analog" travel device? I don't see any little dials and switches on horses, or vacuum tubes. And there's nothing like that on my cameras either. Where did they come up with this idiotic "analog" label anyway? Two hundred years of photography momentum, and now it's gotta be called something else? Guess all the history books will have to be re-written explaining the difference. Alexander the Great invaded the east riding an analog horse. Twenty Mule Team borax was hauled out of the desert using twenty analog animals. Salt caravans across the Sahara use analog camels, just so nobody will confuse them with a Jeep having a digital dashboard.

You'll know it's over when they switch analog sex to digital.

ChristopherCoy · Jan 18, 2021

Alan Edward Klein said:
You'll know it's over when the switch analog sex to digital.

Isn't that what AOL did with chatrooms in the late 90's? I've had TON'S of digital sex, no viruses though.

Alan Edward Klein · Jan 18, 2021

ChristopherCoy said:
Isn't that what AOL did with chatrooms in the late 90's? I've had TON'S of digital sex, no viruses though.

Analog sex and photography are definitely better.

DREW WILEY · Jan 18, 2021

Before I retired, it amazed me to see younger workers texting one another right across a lunchroom table, less than 3 ft away. Sometimes it was obviously an attempt at being flirtatious, and obviously didn't work very well either. The real boyfriend would just walk in, and out the two would go, leaving the cell phone guy behind. There are patterns of courtship that have worked for tens of thousands of years. So I guess we have to consign all of that to some obsolete bin of primitive "analog" human behavior. If the geeks want to reinvent the dictionary and every behavior implied by their fashion of terminology, at least the human population explosion will be slowed down somewhat.

Sirius Glass · Jan 18, 2021

ChristopherCoy said:
Isn't that what AOL did with chatrooms in the late 90's? I've had TON'S of digital sex, no viruses though.

But it will never replace the real thing.

Auer · Jan 18, 2021

Anon Ymous said:
Impressive... I must be the only member of this forum who hasn't been asked why I still shoot film, or if I can still buy it.

+1
Maybe were just not that important.

MattKing · Jan 18, 2021

I run into more curiosity and surprise than negativity.
A fair amount of wistfulness too.

radiant · Jan 19, 2021

Anon Ymous said:
Seriously, I've never encountered any of these obnoxious types. And I'm not frightening, intimidating, or whatever. Definitely nobody you wouldn't dare talking to.

Well, back in the days I smuggled iPhone 3GS from Italy (wasn't available at Finland at all) when everyone was using physical keyboard Nokias. I got really weird reactions; probably envy. People were bashing "you don't have a keyboard, buahahah" etc. while showing their Nokias with proud.

Maybe some day everybody is shooting film like no digital photography ever existed?

removed account4 · Jan 27, 2021

ChristopherCoy said:
Isn't that what AOL did with chatrooms in the late 90's? I've had TON'S of digital sex, no viruses though.

People have been doing it digitally for a long long time probably since before some of the first porn found by archaeologist, The Venus of Willendor, which is 25,000 years old....so at least 25,000 years...

Analog People In A Digital World

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