26 December 2010
End of year
31/12/10 17:12
December 29, 2010 has been the last day that Kodachrome films could have been developed. The small company in Texas has used the last chemicals and shut down the machine on that day in the aftrnoon. This event is significant for two reasons. The marginalization of film as a medium for image recording is a fact, but more importantly the world has lost the ability to see reality as it is. The Kodachrome colors were not only unique but represented reality in an optimistic and truthful way. Most photographers do not want to accept the proposal that the medium is the message. The technical means to record and manipulate the images do influence the resultant picture and in presenting a picture with certain characteristics the image maker will change the viewer’s opinion about what is being viewed. The power of photography has always been that what is being recorded is real and when the truth hurts as is the case with some Mapplethorpe pictures we cannot deny the fact that what is being recorded has really happened. I know that I fight a rearguard action, but digital capture with all its technological advantages and marvels has effectively killed this link between record and reality. The chemical processing of silver halide emulsions offers less manipulative actions than a computer program. The link can be restored when using programs like DCraw that try to extract as faithfully as possible the information from the original file. Quite often when I show a viewer a picture that presents information the viewer is not expecting, the now classical reaction is that the image must have been photoshopped.
It does not make much sense to stay in the nostalgic mood and we must accept that every revolution eats its children and the digital revolution is no exception. A recent analysis of new lenses for the movie cameras indicate that more and more designers assume that digital capture will also be the norm in the movie industry. The virtues and distinctive advantages of film are evident but the digital technology will offer its own advantages and these are huge for the movie maker and the distributor. A second recent study about technologies that will not survive the next decade notes that film will be extinct in 2020 and so will be analog television and analog radio. Given the dazzling speed of progress and innovation in the digital realm this is a safe prediction. The resurrection of the LP album is a stalk of straw for the aficionados of film technology. There is some activity in the black and white film market, but ten years is a very long time now that revolutions happen every six months.
The dominance of the internet has been the most conspicuous fact of 2010. Collective thinking is ubiquitous and individualism, once the hallmark of a civilized society is disappearing. The triumph of the Borg (resistance is futile) is complete. If thousand persons agree on a fact than is it more true than if a hundred persons do. Not only individualism is an endangered species, but the single lens reflex as we have known it, is also in danger. The Sony A55 (with fixed mirror) and the mirror-less cameras Panasonic, Olympus, Sony and Samsung and many others threaten the existence of this classical camera type. For a long time the art of the photographer and the moviemaker were based on separate philosophies. A still camera that does not offer full HD movie recording features cannot be sold anymore.
Canon, the industry leader, is rather quiet at the moment. Expect a revolution here. Perhaps the SLR will become a niche product as is the Leica CRF camera. Both technologies had its peak long ago and technological progress has no eye for nostalgia. Otherwise we still would use steam locomotives.
The best attitude for 2011 might be to cherish individualism again and resist the forces of hype and commercialism. New technology will be certainly seductive (who does not have an iPad?), but does this fact make you more creative or more happy? Perhaps it is best to resist the idea that more pixels and more features will give you more pleasure, more insight and more expressive power. It might be a good idea to stop browsing sites in the hope that there the holy grail can be found or the best information or the comparison that will end all comparisons. Why pay for information you do not need? Trust yourself and be yourself.
It does not make much sense to stay in the nostalgic mood and we must accept that every revolution eats its children and the digital revolution is no exception. A recent analysis of new lenses for the movie cameras indicate that more and more designers assume that digital capture will also be the norm in the movie industry. The virtues and distinctive advantages of film are evident but the digital technology will offer its own advantages and these are huge for the movie maker and the distributor. A second recent study about technologies that will not survive the next decade notes that film will be extinct in 2020 and so will be analog television and analog radio. Given the dazzling speed of progress and innovation in the digital realm this is a safe prediction. The resurrection of the LP album is a stalk of straw for the aficionados of film technology. There is some activity in the black and white film market, but ten years is a very long time now that revolutions happen every six months.
The dominance of the internet has been the most conspicuous fact of 2010. Collective thinking is ubiquitous and individualism, once the hallmark of a civilized society is disappearing. The triumph of the Borg (resistance is futile) is complete. If thousand persons agree on a fact than is it more true than if a hundred persons do. Not only individualism is an endangered species, but the single lens reflex as we have known it, is also in danger. The Sony A55 (with fixed mirror) and the mirror-less cameras Panasonic, Olympus, Sony and Samsung and many others threaten the existence of this classical camera type. For a long time the art of the photographer and the moviemaker were based on separate philosophies. A still camera that does not offer full HD movie recording features cannot be sold anymore.
Canon, the industry leader, is rather quiet at the moment. Expect a revolution here. Perhaps the SLR will become a niche product as is the Leica CRF camera. Both technologies had its peak long ago and technological progress has no eye for nostalgia. Otherwise we still would use steam locomotives.
The best attitude for 2011 might be to cherish individualism again and resist the forces of hype and commercialism. New technology will be certainly seductive (who does not have an iPad?), but does this fact make you more creative or more happy? Perhaps it is best to resist the idea that more pixels and more features will give you more pleasure, more insight and more expressive power. It might be a good idea to stop browsing sites in the hope that there the holy grail can be found or the best information or the comparison that will end all comparisons. Why pay for information you do not need? Trust yourself and be yourself.