The subject has been discuted many times. Nevertheless, I am going to put my grain to the granary.
Digital photography is a fact today. It is not a novelty or a curiosity anymore. It has become as normal as the fork. I had the pleasure to live in those remote times when a digital camera was just an idea. The Minolta compact camera I have been given for Holy Communion was really something. I am not about to complain about the pass of time, don’t get me wrong. I think it is just a nostalgy I feel about it all. And I am almost sure that the arguments of the both folowers or adversaries of digital photography is nothing but a struggle between pragmatics and romantics.
I am of the second ones. My vision of photography is to capture the moment before it slips away. I like when I can touch the film. It speaks to me. It has some story behind it. It cannot be destroyed by accidently pushing a button but it is kinder and gentler. I cannot get any sensation from a binary code numbers.
I am not as romantic as you may get me. Digital technology has its advantages and it is undoubtedly true. First of all, its practicality. The images stored on your hard disc, quietly, easy to share with your mom or friend hundred miles away in one second and when you want a print – just send it to the web studio. In deed, it is more comfortable than searching for a good and cheap photo studio; specially when it is raining outside. Nowadays, in our global civilization of fast-food and road warriors, it is more comfortable. I just wonder, who has time to shoot all these photos? Knowing, that the 95 percent of a pictures taken in the world is a crap and bedroom non-of-all-ambiguous photos, I can easy imagine that the majority of digital photos ordered through the web serviced labs are buisnessmen’s toes when sitting in a plane.
I am bitter, yes I am. My nostalgy for “remote times [that] are always better” makes me talk like this. I hope that the plurality of today’s world will let us enjoy what we prefer; whether it is old-fashioned or not (the fork is eternal, I believe). What I am affraid of is that my beloved, old-fashioned photography will be too expensive to enjoy it.
I can only comfort myself with belief that the spirit is priceless.