The Modern Camera and the Dilution of Effort

[CMoore]

In this case, quite reasonably, the answer is someone new to the site who is wandering through what they might find here.
In general, I think that is a good thing, provided people pay better attention to the age of some of the threads.

I guess there is no real way to "Combat" that.

If i search for info and revive a 9 year old thread, i suppose i could mention its age. But probably only the first 1, 2 or 3 responders would even notice my "warning"
BTW............... Matts quote is almost 2 months old now.

 

[Juan Valdenebro]

Some of us forum members consider threads and posts have no age, only ideas that remain valid through time, and ideas that don't.
I've even told moderators (in the past), I find interesting to rescue old threads when I want to: not doing it is just like not reading or not talking about books or paintings or photographs made by people who already died.
Just like ideas, there are people who live to die, and people who live to live.
I feel comfortable surrounded by ideas and people who live to live.

 

[dbottaro]

Juan is dead on accurate - posts like these are timeless. Especially now with a proliferation of camera phones and the explosion of sites like Instagram the world is flooded with images that carry little meaning, little thought and even less effort than the film days and early days of digital.

Today a "guy with a phone" can come close to producing images that even a few years ago would have been technically challenging to produce using the tools available at the time. Sadly, this has devalued the real power in photography, conveying feeling and emotion, capturing the essence of "you had to be there." We are inundated with mediocre photos on a daily basis so much so that even recognizing a real work of art has become difficult.

There will always be images and their creators that stand out for those with the eye to see it, appreciate it and learn from it.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Juan is dead on accurate - posts like these are timeless. Especially now with a proliferation of camera phones and the explosion of sites like Instagram the world is flooded with images that carry little meaning, little thought and even less effort than the film days and early days of digital.

Today a "guy with a phone" can come close to producing images that even a few years ago would have been technically challenging to produce using the tools available at the time. Sadly, this has devalued the real power in photography, conveying feeling and emotion, capturing the essence of "you had to be there." We are inundated with mediocre photos on a daily basis so much so that even recognizing a real work of art has become difficult.

There will always be images and their creators that stand out for those with the eye to see it, appreciate it and learn from it.

Note to self: Start using GWP instead of GWC. Thank you

 

[Prest_400]

I really like to end up in such old threads. Back in 2009-2010 I spent some time in film related articles at photo.net, content from 1996-2000 which already seemed way long ago to my younger self. Those articles changed format but after quick googling, I was still able to find them.

I honestly did not know APUG existed in 2002. I joined in 2007 as soon as I discovered it on the internet. I would have had more to share in the 2000-2002 time period because that is when I built my current darkroom and acquired most of the equipment that I still use now.

I noticed this as well! I can't remember film and processing being that cheap, but of course it was. Now I can't even get my film scanned here in Japan since it costs more than the development (!) - I just do it myself (or would, if my scanner was working properly).

Also feeling a bit nostalgic over some of the posters who used to be quite prolific here on APUG (at least in the years after I joined) and haven't been around for many more since then.

My heyday of browsing here was 2009-2019, being now a working young adult, I am much more limited in time and not doing proper darkroom much; picking it up during free time.
I am with the camp that a lot of discussions are timeless, and this thread reads very well considering how much of a breakthrough smartphones were after 2010s.

Juan is dead on accurate - posts like these are timeless. Especially now with a proliferation of camera phones and the explosion of sites like Instagram the world is flooded with images that carry little meaning, little thought and even less effort than the film days and early days of digital.

It has become an age of big huge data, but still, to a photographer there is an advantage. I am still amazed that tech (veering digital, and computational) allows us to capture images in a much wider envelope than before. Where for example, Medium format cameras already do not allow candids, and a 35mm with high speed film barely pushes through. Together with that there is the availability of video.

During the shift of the year 2021-2022 my flight home entretainment were phone pictures and videos of the events I went for during the reopening between two corona waves (I imagine how this would read in 16 and 20 years). Albeit just good enough quality, there was a very strong emotional coupling to the images, which would not be available with slower methods.
The importance of these I mostly think when it's about loved ones and fleeting moments. Then these daily moments are invaluable. I do sometimes wish I hadn't been so strained in shooting earlier on, as with the slow philosophy I also happened to cull many moments and scenes that became valuable with time.

Perhaps that portrait of a loved one in bad light comes to be a warm memory from a summer day, after their passing; sometimes life does not wait for better light or situations.

 

[PrairiePhotographer]

My daughter took a time lapse video of me setting up and taking a single photo using my Graflex 4x5. Actual time: 15 minutes. Not efficient when measured against an iPhone’s efficiency, but worth every minute from my vantage point.

And I appreciate the extended life a good thread can have!