Who are we?

[Mats_A]

I'm a lawyer by vocation.

Does this mean I have to leave APUG now?

Matt

Naaah. You can stay. Variety is good.

This thread sort of confirms my theory. There are an abundance of artistic folks and IT-folks in this community. And not all artists need to work as an artist. Some just like to make furnitures in their spare time.

Or maybe it is as someone pointed out that IT/artistic folks are just the kind of people who participate in this kind of forums.

I still think my idea about digi-cred was a good one. I know people who would not use an old camera out of fear to labelled old fashioned and out of touch. The same people who always run after the latest equipment.

r

 

[removed account4]

im not an IT guy either.
besides photography,i've a background in architecture, planning and historic preservation.
i do assignment work and other stuff ... and it has nothing to do with IT ...

 

[lxdude]

I'm a lawyer by vocation.

Does this mean I have to leave APUG now?

Matt

No. but stay away from the joke thread or you'll get your feelings hurt.

Wait, I forgot-do lawyers have feelings?

 

[Shaggysk8]

Well I am a bit of both, I am an IT Guy but also and arty people, does that mean I can break boundaries?

 

[Chris Nielsen]

Used to be in IT but I get too easily stressed and didn't like the experience.

Am a Mac guy now, have been for several years, my Mac is about the only technologically advanced thing I own. Well, my F5 is fairly advanced I guess. People give me funny looks when I tell them I've going to add a different format shortly, they assume a digicam, when I actually mean 4x5

I shoot my images on film, and will be writing this year's Nanowrimo novel on a manual typewriter!

 

[lightwisps]

For me, it depends on what the need is For our website it is always digital. So much simpler. For exhibiting it is always analog because I think the traditional print is always richer.

We have tried to sell digital prints in our gallery but so far that has been a bust.

I really love the darkroom if for no other reason that if I am in trouble with the wife, imagine that!, I can go in their and disappear for hours as it has a fridge and a private bathroom.

I love printing and have been doing it for about 40 years.

 

[Q.G.]

Looking at this thread so far, i think we have managed to establish that there is no such thing as an IT-er.
Just a lot of different people, having different reasons, to do different things that involve computers.

It was researched once (a long time ago) what people who had studied philosophy did after they finished university.
A very large proportion chose to do something practical (like photography), being fed up with having to deal with mostly abstract thingies all day long, day after day, week after week.

That would contradict, i think, the idea that people come to photography because they want to get away of the strictness of something like IT.

I think that people come to photography, because it allows them to express themselves, to get away from the rigour of the "have to do this today, because someone else demands that i do this today" daily routine. From different things, like IT and philosophy, alike.

 

[Marco B]

This thread sort of confirms my theory. There are an abundance of artistic folks and IT-folks in this community.

I think this thread is hardly a "randomized" scientifically sound sample... If you post assuming artists and IT guys are the main group, it is hardly surprising they are the first and main group to respond, as they can sympathize the best with what you are saying or even ask specific questions about...

I am not saying there might not be truth in your assumption. But if you want to get a better feel for the real diversity, it might be better to simply ask people about their daytime job, or setup a poll with as many choices you can think of and APUG allows.

 

[Mats_A]

I think this thread is hardly a "randomized" scientifically sound sample... If you post assuming artists and IT guys are the main group, it is hardly surprising they are the first and main group to respond, as they can sympathize the best with what you are saying or even ask specific questions about...

I am not saying there might not be truth in your assumption. But if you want to get a better feel for the real diversity, it might be better to simply ask people about their daytime job, or setup a poll with as many choices you can think of and APUG allows.

That sounds like work! Much easier (and more fun) to speculate.

r

 

[Q.G.]

Something like (there was a url link here which no longer exists), perhaps.

 

[gr82bart]

Yawn. I know this thread has proven my point.

Regards, Art.

 

[Ektagraphic]

I think another film shooter category would be old souls. Not even olds people. Old souls. I am a high school freshman and I have been shooting film for a few years now. I write with fountain pens, type with a typewriter, listen to records, use a rotary phone....it's just the way I like things.

 

[Brian Legge]

Interesting. Reflecting on this over night, I realized something.

I'm a tinkerer and an artist.

I've always liked finding out how thing work. Growing up, I liked drawing and taking things apart to see how they worked. Most of the time, I couldn't get them back together. That made me think more about intent, design and how pieces fit together. It also made me realize the cost of mistakes. As an art, photography somehow fit me better than drawing and I slowly gravitated to it.

My interest in how things work and creating something new lead me to computer programming and shortly into game programming afterwards. This became my career and dominated my time for years.

Eventually I found myself craving an artistic outlet again. Back to photography. I initially jumped back in with my first DSLR. I enjoyed this but once I picked up an F4s for the first time, I was hooked on film again. The tinkerer side of my personality showed up and I started exploring cameras I hadn't used before - TLRs, rangefinders, etc. I'm now having a great time mixing in camera repair and exploring different types of film.

Yes, I could be classified by IT, but I think that misses something more basic. I think there are personality traits may be common to certain professions and interest in photography - particularly analog photography.

 

[Esko]

Who are we ?.

Big and interesting question, I work in my own small book and stationery shop, originally trained as watchmaker and music is the big thing after photography.
So I think I'm in the tinker line. Maybe also old soul.

To me one of the reason's for love the 'old' things is quality, in many cases such quality is really expensive today. Also desing of old classical item's like Rolleiflex
is superior. In the modern products the main problem to me is the short lifespan and the fact that many consumer products are made to break and fast.

I came back to photography ( after 30 years) throug digital and I'm glad I did. ( 4 hour's in darkroom yesterday ).

 

[ted_smith]

I'm an IT guy. Have worked as a digital forensics analyst for government for 8 years, and have just finished an MSc - my thesis was a study of a Linux encryption system.

I don't know anyone in my field who shoots film but I know quite a lot of digital photographers - I don't know if thats because of the digital 'thing' or the art form itself - I suspect the former as I rarely see work that I consider to be anything other than oversaturated point and shoot stuff! Some people who think they are good with computers tend to assume that they will be good photographers because their tool is also digital.

I shot film till 2006 (a late starter to digital), went digital for a bit (and still shoot it for some things) then went back to film early 2008 in pursuit of better black and white work. I noticed many digital shots, when desaturated, looked awful. Thats how I found APUG and now I shoot with hardly anything other than Fuji Neopan 400 and 1600 using my lovelly Nikon F5 that I bought second hand for about £260, thanks to the digital explosion. I also got fed up of the whole "This new camera is the best ever..." followed 1 year later by "This newer camera is the best ever because....it can record movies!"

IN other words, I shoot film because in my limited experience the black and white results "off the bat" of film shooting is superior to digital and both the technology of film and the technology of film cameras have been refined over such a long time period. Though I can mess about (to some extent) trying to enhance a digital image, I'd rather not. My film prints look so much better - tonal range etc.

Also, I like the fact that for any given purpose there is a specific, refined, film for that particular purpose. A digital sensor, by comparison, has to be one tool to all men - that must be an inherant weakness.

Lasltly, I think film shooters tend to be granted a certain higher level of respect than their digital counterparts. Not that I care - it's just what I have found. People assume you must really know your stuff because you don't need to see an instant version of the photo you've just taken. That sounds good in principle but many of my end results look rubbish!! lol...

 

[Ektagraphic]

Lasltly, I think film shooters tend to be granted a certain higher level of respect than their digital counterparts. Not that I care - it's just what I have found. People assume you must really know your stuff because you don't need to see an instant version of the photo you've just taken.

I have kind of noticed this too.

 

[Bateleur]

Being a loner in my environment regarding the use of analogue equipment I’m hesitant to ascribe that to my profession nor to make generalizations regarding that of my friends and acquaintances and their preference for digital, for there is no distinct grouping of profession. Like some previous posts I think it comes from the preference of the vintage tradition of by now old camera’s and processes or the sanctuary that a darkroom gives or the pleasure of crafting by hand.
And as an afterthought, perhaps it’s also a resistance to peer pressure and commercialism? And in my case too an aversion to things digital.

 

[Steve Smith]

Driven and worked on trucks for many years,all of them are analog

I much prefer analog trucks over those new digital types!


Steve.

 

[ricksplace]

I'm about as left brain dominant as they come. Logic and type A personality some naturally to me. I have worked on my right brain thinking for many years, and analog photography is a way to do that. Besides, I like the physicality (is that a word?) of film. Using my hands and my brain to make a print beats the hell out of pushing the button, and trusting the electrons zipping around in there to eventually tell a printer where to spray ink. I have an IT background, sort of. I had a minor in sytems in my undergrad degree, but I never worked in the field. Hell, we used punch cards and fortran!! Do I use digital? sure. I eat at McDonalds sometimes too. To me, digital is the fast food of photography.

 

[perkeleellinen]

I don't think I fit into the 'IT' or 'art' categories.

I'm a toolmaker by trade who was pushed into metrology when toolmaking stopped being a hand craft. Metrology then became computerised and I became a programmer of measuring machines. The industry I worked in transferred to China and I went to university where I still am doing teaching and research. I sit in front of a computer all day - it's no fun if you sit in front of one during your time off too.

 

[Prest_400]

Well, still no profession. Just a student.

I think another film shooter category would be old souls. Not even olds people. Old souls. I am a high school freshman and I have been shooting film for a few years now. I write with fountain pens, type with a typewriter, listen to records, use a rotary phone....it's just the way I like things.

Oh, man. Nostalgia. At times I get some.
It happens when you look at 30 year old slides and music of the same age, strange.

Though, I'm not as much old soul as you. Classic stuff that is, film and records from time to time, I don't have a turntable in my house. I did try to use a typewriter, but what a pain! Great for exercising the muscles of the hand.
One gets tired of the same whizz new stuff. LCD's, computers and all.

 

[mike c]

I much prefer analog trucks over those new digital types!


Steve.

Analog trucks have more of a driving by the seat of your pants kind of feel than the newer electronic engines,but they are being replaced by the more fuel efficient electronic type engine's. That's progress,love it or leave it.
Mike:rolleyes:

 

[mrred]

My wife claims that I have an old soul. As we are a Christian family and we don't ascribe to the Shirley-Maclane-Which-Life-Am-I-On-Now train of thought, it is the only soul I have and it will be about a old as I am. But you are familiar with the phrase.

I have an analog watch. I conceded to the automatic pendulum winder, but it shows the gearing and makes the noise. No batteries. I shoot black and white film with a 70 year old camera. I drive a Jeep and yearn for a really old one. I keep a journal, written with ink on paper.

If it old I gravitate towards its use. It suits me. The only 'modern' thing I use on a regular basis is the very thing I type this post on. Were it not for some modern things I would not have met you fine folks.

Why do I kick it old school whenever possible? I guess because it suits me. I just prefer things that way. And now, back to 'To Kill A Mockingbird'.

What would you have done if that 'old' thing was new? Would you profess that you had to go back to painting? At some point everything is new and should be embraced accordingly. Just beceause it's old, is not a recipe for better.

 

[gr82bart]

I received a typed (as in typewritter) thank you letter from a 93 year old friend I home visit once a month with this charity. It's pretty neat to get something like this today. It's a keeper.

Regards, Art.

 

[SilverGlow]

I'm an IT guy; having developed computer software systems for going on 30 years.

I'm a film and digital shooter, and I am one of the minority because I will not jab one or the other, nor will I say one is better then the other. Both require talent, technical acumen, camera workflow, darkroom skills (yes both do), and both can take a lot of time, patience, both can cause a frustration, anger, and satisfaction too.

I shoot 90% film, 10% digital.

Film and digital are both fantastic ways for one to express themselves artistically. Both can be used to make awesome pictures or craaap pictures.

Film shooters are not "better" then digital shooters, and the reverse is true too.

I really wish this us-versus-them polarity would cease because as long as one is polarized, then disrespect, irrationality, and close mindedness will color their thoughts.

A pattern I have found is that film bigots believe outright lies about digital, and digital bigots believe outright lies about film.

Both film snobs and digital snobs are closed minded fools.....