It's complicated...

[Thomas Bertilsson]

So what was the excuse pre-digital?

I'm no expert on the market of film photography, but I think pre-digital there wasn't such a plethora of equipment for next to no money to be had. Like enlargers, for example. Two of my three enlargers are 'rescues' that I got for free, and a lot of it was had for peanuts. Today that is possible, but back then probably not as much. That could well be one reason why some people would shun away.
On the other hand, more public darkrooms were available, so maybe my theory is garbage from the get-go. I'm not sure.

I have to add that today the cost of doing darkroom printing is getting to be a very expensive undertaking. A part of me wonders for how much longer young photographers with a desire to learn silver halide photography can actually afford to get into it. Price is always an issue.

 

[SchwinnParamount]

When my wife and I were in Paris last year, we had a conversation with a charming Parisian man who described his current relationship by saying "It's complicated". He said that in un-accented American English while the balance of his speech was in Parisian English. He obviously learned the phrase in a movie and relished using it in conversation. God bless him.

 

[JBrunner]

The entire history of photography is a story of "dominant and entrenched technolog[ies]" being replaced in the space of a few years. Read Beaumont Newhall if you need a refresher on this.

And every single advancement made it easier to make photographs, which is the whole point of technology. While I greatly admire many of the photographers who have sounded in here, by much of the logic we should have stopped at wet plates. "Dry plates? That's sissy stuff!"

There is certainly a great deal of craft in making a fine pigment print on watercolor paper. I've made pure carbon pigment prints on hot press paper that have a higher Dmax (yes, on a matt paper) than any silver print. You know what? It's a bitch! If you are going to do it well, it's a complete bitch.

You might by the same arguments say "anyone can make a photogravure!" Yeah, anyone can smear some ink on a plate, and anyone can create a blog and call themselves a "writer," anyone can grab a DSLR and call themselves a photographer, and anyone can "play piano" however crude it may be. None of this changes the fact that in any enterprise done very well there is craft.

And how many people are making "pigment on whatever"? Answer, not many in contrast to the market. I can shoot a project for a client and correct and deliver it in a couple of hours. By any stretch of the imagination it is far easier than it was. I'm simply sick of people saying that d* is hard. It's not. If someone wants to make it hard by doing stuff with it that it sucks at (print making) and pull their hair out to make a decent print, then yes, that is difficult. It's also non applicable to the majority who are casual or commercial photographers. I get where your coming from, and I buy it in the narrow sense, but I don't buy it over all because I flat out know better. Compared to what we used to do it is easier, far easier. It is also not the quite same thing. Not better, not worse, and not the same. Now what that has to do with the OP I forget.

 

[Mainecoonmaniac]

It's tribalism pure and simple. As I get older, I don't want to alienate anyone by thinking that I'm better than anyone just because of what ever. A lot of people cloak their insecurities with an air of superiority. It's too much work to constantly defend what is better. Dogma is exhausting.

 

[lxdude]

Dogma is exhausting.

Except for some Maine Coon lovers I have known, to whom no other animal measures up.
Actually, it's more appropriate to call it catma.

 

[Worker 11811]

My karma ran over your dogma!

 

[BrianShaw]

A lot of people cloak their insecurities with an air of superiority.

I'm even more arrogant than that... I cloake with an AIRE of superiority.

 

[BrianShaw]

... and before LX has a chance to respond; yes, it is a lot of HOT AIRE and BS.

 

[lxdude]

... and before LX has a chance to respond; yes, it is a lot of HOT AIRE and BS.

Well, those are your initials!

 

[ParkerSmithPhoto]

Except for some Maine Coon lovers I have known, to whom no other animal measures up.
Actually, it's more appropriate to call it catma.

My mom had a Maine Coon that she loved far more than her son...

 

[lxdude]

My mom had a Maine Coon that she loved far more than her son...

Awww....

Of course you outlived it, and then she was stuck with just you!

 

[Felinik]

Back when it was just called 'photography', any idiot would have a go in the darkroom without hesitation or fear of ridicule. Since the principals haven't changed in the last 20 years, why has it suddenly become more complicated? That digital is easier hasn't changed the inherent difficulty level of analog photography - easy - as past generations will testify. Yet, there's a certain smugness we all have in thinking film photography is... hard. Why?

Attitude... It's not a question of that things should've become "harder", the "feed me" society we live in has made people lazy and less interested in putting energy into something, "if there's an easy way, go for it, why make life complicated..."

 

[LJSLATER]

I went from film to digital and back to film. For me, the biggest reason is that I'm maladaptive; I don't like change. As such, I'm always a little self-conscious when I state that I'm "still shooting film", because I'm afraid it makes me sound old-fashioned and behind the times.