An Ode to Digital Photography

The other day, as a friend complimented some of the photographs I had put up on this blog, it occurred to me that if it were not for digital photography, I would probably have never had the confidence to even consider photography as a hobby. Indeed, how many of us weekend photographers had actually thought of a camera as anything other than a tool to click photographs of garishly made-up relatives at wedding receptions? Beautiful photographs, of nature or everyday life, were things that started at us from pages of coffee table books and National Geographic Magazine. They still do, of course, but at least some of the mystique behind the craft has been taken off. As with any art form, the aesthetic quality, appeal and beauty of photographic imagery is still completely dependent on the creativity of the artist, but technically at least, some of the wizardry seems to be achievable by us mortals.

The social impact of digital photography cannot be overemphasized. It has done for the appreciation of the art of photography what the walkman did for the appreciation of music. Maybe the comparison isn’t so apt, because the walkman did not really encourage millions of people to spontaneuosly start creating music, as in the case of the digital camera and photography, but the scale of the impact was certainly similar.
With the walkman in the early 80’s, suddenly, music was personal, and could be appreciated on-the-go, with stunning clarity, and without the need for sophisticated tape decks and speakers. It brought about a huge increase in the number of people who listened to pre-recorded music, a proliferation of music on tapes, and resulted in opening people’s minds to different kinds of music which they would have probably never taken the trouble to check out if it were not for the walkman’s easy use and portability and the easy availablity of taped music.
With the digital camera, photography was demystified. For newbie photographers, it slowly changed from being an exact science to a more forgiving one of trial and error. Ordinary people could actually afford to make mistakes while taking photographs without fear of paying, literally, for their follies. For most people, digital photography and its affordability and ease of use completely changed the way they stored memories of their lives. For others, it changed the way they thought about still imagery itself, from a simple means to store memories, to actual art. The thrill I feel on seeing results from my camera are akin to what you feel when you finally crack that guitar lead that you’ve been trying to play for ages. It’s that same kick you get out of the feeling that you can also produce results like the pros!

With digital cameras becoming more and more advanced (and I don’t mean just the exponential increase in megapixels, which really has very little to do with the aesthetic appeal of a photograph), more and more of us are beginning to dare to call ourselves photographers. Endless resources on techniques on the internet and exposure to the work of extremely talented and creative photographers, thanks to online photo sharing websites such as PBase and Flickr, are attracting more and more people to this wonderful and addictive activity. I, for one, would love to see the tribe grow and grow. For, that first characteristic of a photographer, that ability to see beauty in every thing around you, is but the first step towards the love of all life itself.

My current favourite online gallery? Got to be Claude Renault’s masterpieces on India, though Gil Azouri’s nature dreamscapes would come a close second.

~ by Shubho on April 27, 2007.