The Portland Metro Photographic News

by Tom Hubbard, PMPN, April 9, 2009

The signs are clear:

• Kodak employment drops from 145,000 in 1988 to an expected level of less than 30,000 in the spring of 2009.
• Fuji reduces film production capacity.
• Rapidly decreasing suppliers of traditional film and darkroom materials
  
• The demise of Polaroid.
• The steady technological improvements in all aspects of digital photography
• The broad-based acceptance of Internet photo sharing
• The stark reality of the consumer "digital versus traditional" sales numbers
• The minimizing of corporate R&D dollars in traditional film technology
  

They all point to one inescapable conclusion:  The newest Alternate Photographic Process is traditional film and wet darkroom.

Regardless of any photographer's argument expounding the virtues and "look and feel" of traditional film compared to digital capture, the truth is that digital photography is here to stay.  It has, not so quietly, displaced film-based photography as the photographic technology of choice.  Those film cameras and wet darkrooms are being relegated to "boutique" status -- just as platinum printing, albumen prints, pin-hole cameras, cyanotypes, tintypes, Daguerrotypes and others now classified as Alternate Photographic Processes have done in the past.  None of these processes have disappeared.  But none are the choice of mainstream photography.

So, we have to get over it.

The reality is that mid to high-end digital cameras combined with digital imaging software produce results that far exceed what could have been accomplished using traditional film and darkroom technology.  As if that wasn't enough current digital imaging technology throws in a few extra gems:

• Water resistant color prints using pigment inks with life expectancies exceeding 250 years
• The ability to produce prints on hundreds of fine art and specialty papers
• A non-toxic digital darkroom environment (but still just as addictive)
  
• Image manipulation and enhancement possibilities never before possible (consider even the digitally simple tasks of "dust busting" or perspective correction)
• The ability to deliver images (high and low resolution) around the world in an instant -- even directly from the camera during a shoot.
• No 36 exposure limitation.  Data cards can hold hundreds of images.
• More on-camera controls to provide on-location technical and creative flexibility
  
• Digital images are more space efficient and more easily organized, stored, archived and recalled
  
• And on and on.....
  

Colleges, even small community colleges, are taking the wrecking ball to their wet darkrooms and building elaborate, state-of-the-art digital labs.  Soon, it will be rare to find photographers who have ever experienced "old school" film-based photography.

Those who say digital photography technology is too complicated to learn, or that you "can't teach old dogs new tricks", should realize that the "new ways" are no more mentally challenging than everything we were obliged to learn in traditional photography.  Even better, most of the lessons carefully learned and practiced in film-based photography are transferable.  Color theory, color balance, depth of field, shutter speeds, f/stops, metering, lighting and compositional guidelines have not changed.

Certainly there are new digital tools to master.  But similar difficult photographic tasks were tackled when we first learned to use a gray scale, dodge, burn in, mask, etc.  It still requires time, hard work and commitment to the craft.  And it's not "rocket science".  It's just as doable now as it was 30 years ago.

More importantly, those who manufacture today's digital photography products, educational institutions and photo instructors realize the need not only for educating new customers but also for re-educating traditional photographers.  Schools, seminars, workshops and Internet training abound and are readily available to those willing to learn.

Bottom line:  Film-based photography is the newest Alternate Photographic Process. If you've been reluctant to join the digital revolution, it's time.  It's not going away, and it promises new levels of quality, creativity and artistic expression.  I cannot imagine Ansel Adams or any other photographic pioneer not rushing to explore and exploit the promise of digital photography.  In large part, their willingness to examine, master and implement new imaging technologies is what made them visionaries in our industry.

Someday, us old-timers will sit with a grandchild on our knee and hear the question, "Grandpa you mean you really worked in a dark room?" -- and smile.