Rongnongno Loc: FL

To me the real issue is not the volume created or even the dubious quality.

The main issue is that while images can go across the world in seconds there is very little trace of them in the 'real world'.

Few folks print. Ephemeral viewing on a screen is not the same, worse, it invites laziness both in picture taking and post-processing as all 'defects' are suppressed due to small size, compression and to be honest, poor display (monitor) quality.

We are really losing something here.

cdayton

My guess (speculation) is that on an average current sunny day on the Colorado Plateau, more photographs are taken than during the entire 20th century. How many are worth printing?

Bill_de Loc: US

A least we aren't loading up the next generation with boxes of photos that nobody wants to look at anyway. We're saving the environment! In time, today's digital photos will mostly disappear because the technology to view them will no longer be readily available. In spite of what our teachers told us, we haven't learned much from history. Better to look forward.

---

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

To your point, habits haven't changed, only the media and scale. I do hesitate to call it an "issue" which implies there is a problem here. I think the great photographers will not be diminished by digital, and the fact that the entry level photographer doesn't have to deal with a box camera or an Instamatic camera and the purely unacceptable quality most of them produced is a big plus - and may likely produce more greats that might otherwise never been discovered. I think it's a win-win situation.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

That's just evolution and life ("better to look forward" as Bill says). How many people younger than 30 are interested in having printed photos hung on their walls as art? But there is a huge social impact with photography on Instagram, Facebook etc.

As for digital vs. film, and technical advances, Gene points out the value of the evolution.

Quixdraw Loc: x

Sounds like a job for King Canute.

rook2c4 Loc: Philadelphia, PA USA

Honestly, what other people do with there images or how they choose to use their camera equipment doesn't really matter to me. The only thing that concerns me is what I do with my images. I have no control over what other photographers do. And if they choose to use their cameras as doorstops rather than use them to take pictures, then so be it.

flyboy61 Loc: The Great American Desert

No; I have BOXES of CDs!

Strodav Loc: Houston, Tx

My first real camera was an AE-1 bought in 1979, did my own processing of B&W, color negative and slide film, had a full darkroom and did my own printing. I still occasionally use my very old Mamiya 645, process the film myself, scan then use PP software. I can more easily share my best images with friends and family with a click of the mouse where I use to have friends and family come to my house to see my prints or slides or take them with me when I went to visit. I like today's pull model rather than the old push model. Family photos will last forever on my kids and kid's kids digital media.

Personally, I think overall quality has improved with digital. I believe I read that digital caught up with film resolution somewhere around 8mp sensors and we far exceed that now and the DR of digital cameras has caught up and exceed that of film and the ISO range of modern cameras is amazing compared to film. Yes, the look is different, but not bad different, IMHO.

I don't believe I have lost anything as I can still shoot film if I want, but I have gained so much. Remember when the highest quality images we commonly looked at was in National Geo, Look, and Life? I can see that level of quality every day on my higher res, calibrated monitor any time I want by visiting my favorite photographer's websites. Having spent most of my career working for a commercial printer, I can tell you the prints coming off of my Epson XP-15000 are better than the 150 line screen images off a sheet fed press.

User ID

Nothing at all new about the ephemeral nature nor the less than perfect modes of viewing. I see nothing lost at all.

One of the great aspirations of predigital photographers was to get regular work from the mass circulation print media ... multimegatons of halftone reproduction mainly destined for the landfill. But that weekly or monthly cycle was job security for those who qualified.

If you wanna make anally exquisite prints to be viewed by 0.00005% of the populace in galleries and museums just join that parade. It’s been marching for over century already.

If you’re gonna post like a disgruntled old curmudgeon then be realistic about the history of “glorious bygone times”.

RWR Loc: La Mesa, CA

May I ask why it matters to you what others do with their pictures? I ask because, while I am very passionate about my own photography, I have zero interest in how anyone else enjoys their work. And only a useless busybody would care what I do with mine. I see nothing wrong with mutual respect.

tcthome Loc: NJ

I don't know the answer to this. And percentage wise , I would think less , but I think more people print today for the wall than ever before. We just don't see it. At least , that is how I think about it.

tcthome Loc: NJ

I don't know the answer to this. And percentage wise , I would think less , but I think more people print today for the wall than ever before. We just don't see it. At least , that is how I think about it

User ID

You might be correct. An interesting aspect of digital is that one single medium, the sensor, serves to replace two rather differently applied color film regimes. With film, if you intended display prints you almost always shot negatives while if you shot for media distribution (mostly print media) you almost always shot chromes.

SteveG Loc: Norh Carolina

I know what you mean and I agree with you. Just about every print I've made that's a wall hanger took a lot of work and being that I had only 36 shots to work with I was certainly more careful about what went into making the shot. Today, I seem to have hundreds of shots dowloaded on my hard drive and maybe printed half a dozen. I just recently decided to put more effort into my images especially with Tim Shields and Serge Remalli to motivate me on my old age. I also downsized from full frame to m4/3rds so I'm not leaving heavy equipment at home