Death of photography or why the concept of 'digital photography' is doomed to die soon (November 8, 2003)

Photography has been characterized as 'the art of fixing the shadows'. This is an apt description as the essence of photography is the mechanical reproduction of a scene, illuminated with light and getting shape and depth through the capture of the shadows. We should remember that Daguerre and his contemporaries were trying to invent a mechanical process by which an accurate and durable reproduction of a segment of reality could be made without needing the skills and training of a painter. This reproduction was and is amazingly good its its accuracy and depth of detail as anyone who has seen the original Daguerrotypies can testify. Recently there is a discussion about the fate of the so-called 'decisive moment' as a technique of photography. Reading HCB's autobiography, one should become aware that this decisive moment is not a technique, but a state of mind. The photographer is emotionally immersed in the scene and the actions and wants to find a moment that the spatial grouping of the objects involved in the scene evoke a sense of visual or spatial awareness that represents accurately that emotion.
Photography is a state of mind and much more than a technical trick. The idea that the fixing of shadows or the freezing of a spatial grouping of objects, that dynamically change every fraction of a second shoud be done faithfully and non-manipulatively is the core of the photographic act or art. Even the humble snapshot, made with the Kodak Brownie, is being made with the intention of fixing a visual remembrance that is deemed worthwhile for future joy. Faithful reproduction, and the permanence of the picture from the moment of pressing the shutter are the main characteristics of film based photography. The photographer is of course aware of these basic facts and his mental state reflects these facts. HCB made his pictures, being fully aware that he had only one opportunity. He did not like the classical darkroom work as his focus was the act of making the picture, the darkroom being a trivial procedure.
The core of digital imaging is not the convenience of being able to see the picture immediately (here the Polaroid showed the way), nor the fact that you need no photographic knowledge to make a picture (the Kodak Brownie or Agfa Box were foolproof), nor the fact that digital imaging is cheap (that is just a matter of economics and calculations!). No the true character of digital imaging is its virtual character. The pixelated sensor of a digical camera does create a digital file and we all know that a computer file is a non-entity: a string of zero's and one's, that need to be interpreted by special programs to become accessible. And a computer file is not fixed, you can change every part of it as long as you wish and as often as you wish.
The one-to-one correspondence that exists between the moment of making the picture and the reality that is being recorded is lost. The digital picture has no longer any direct relationship to the scene that has been recorded. The file can be manipulated at every stage of the digital processing of the file content. And the making of a digital picture is very easy. In fact you can make a thousand pictures on one gigabyte memory stick, remove all pictures and start over again, and you learn by looking at the pictures on the screen. The mental state of the photographer then has to be totally different. The famous pre-visualisation of Ansel Adams and the importance of having a photographers eye in order to see the scene photographically are redundant.
The switch from a filmbased camera to a digital camera is a fundamental change in the mental state of the photographer and style of picture taking. The most heard request in the Leica world today is for a digital M. I am wondering why M users crave so eagerly for a pixelated sensor to capture the image projected from the exit pupil of the Leica lens.
It is it convenience? To be able to print the picture immediately after the act of pressing the shutter. That would be a meagre argument. If you know (that is mentally saw or visualized) what you photographed, you can wait a few hours or even days. And going to a lab with your flash card is no less time consuming than agoing with your film to a one hour lab.
Is it cost? Maybe: film is not cheap and a darkroom is not an option anymore. So you have to accept prints made by a lab, which is mostly not so good.
Is it the added value of the digital imaging chain that can improve or alter the original picture with the digital manipulations at the Photoshop and printing stages? This answer has two levels. Yes, this is a very convincing argument, but I can use my film (slide or negative) and scan it and then act as if this digital file is the original file as being generated with the camera. On this level I can argue that a digital M is not an improvement as I can always scan the film and do anything with that file tat I can do with the digitally captured image in a digital camera. So there must be something else or more? And yes, there is! The simple fact that I can take a picture and immediately examine the result and being able to judge the quality of the picture, implies that I can redo the picture in case of failure or non-satisfaction. This seems to be a bonus and has no impact on the style of photography? Wrong!
Referring again to HCB and his style of photography (pictures made during a process that is based on emotional involvement by the stream of consciousness model of visualization and an un-interrupted act of pressing the shutter that should not interfere with the mental state of the photographer) we see clarly that the mere act of breaking off the chain of photography by examining every single picture to see if it is right, kills the whole idea. And if we use our digital camera as we should do in HCB style, we use the burst mode of the digital SLR and capture 9 pictures in quick succession, being saved in a buffer, before being processed by the chip. But then we loose our ability to correct our picture by re-doing the picture.
The basic act of a digital photographer is this and you can observe it everywhere on this globe: the photographer looks not through the viewfinder but at the display, takes the picture and waits to examine the result and if he is in company, shares that result with the rest. And in many cases, throws away the image as the act of sharing it momentarily is the final stage of most digital pictures.
To put this in perspective: I am not being negative about the emerging world of digital photography: it has big advantages and will offer fascinating possibilties when the inherent potential is discovered. But the two basic traits of digital photography: the vast and limitless manipulation of the original file after and even during exposure and the mental state that you do not have to focus on creating the best image in a split second and so do not need to bother with photographic technique will change the world of photography beyond recognition, The bestselling imaging product nowadays is the mobile phone with integrated digital camera and there is much more interest in a smart design than in image quality. The world of digital imaging is focused on image manipulation and instant visual communication. The world of photography is/was focused on the documentary picture and the fixing of the image.
The new style of imaging has its advantages. People take pictures in a more relaxed way as they do not need to worry about cost or technique. But the art of fixing the shadows and the expertise to see beyond the obvious and superficial will be gone. We should be realistic here. The Leica camera in the hands of the best masters has produced images of stunning and lasting value. Most Leica users today produce pictures that are light years away from the fine examples of the great photographers. That is not a question of technique but of mental state.
This mental state is the core of good photography in the classical (film based) way. And you can evoke that state because of the tools and their inherent qualities. If you do a painting, you must go for the qualities of paint and brushes. And if you go for an image generated by a pixelated sensor and an image transformation algorithm, you need to adjust to these qualities.
The idea that you can take digital pictures with the mentality and approach of the filmbased style of photography is as grotesk as trying to drive a modern racing car with the mental state of handling a steam engine.
Going digital implies saying goodbye to the 20th century art of photography and will imply the death of photography as we know it . Does it also imply the death of the Leica camera as we know it?
This is stuff for another reflection.