Losing the foundation of photography

With the coming of new technology comes the loss of the foundations of photography. When I watch new photojournalism students, I have started to see a new generation of uneducated photographers. These new photographers are ignorant when it comes to film (the basic foundation of photography.) Film and film development is one of the most important aspects of photography(or the history of.)

It's not the person who has jumped into digital imaging, it is the fact that technology can easily kill old techniques for ease of use. The digital camera is a great learning tool because you are able to see your picture right after you adjust your manual settings. This ability gives a person feedback immediately to understand what settings work together. Again it is a wonderful tool that would normally take an individual that uses film months or years to figure out.

With that said, there is still this wonderful feeling of seeing your film in action. The process is long from start to finish after hard work of shooting, developing, and printing. Even though it is long there is something that is lost from the film to digital conversion. Say the printing process, just like a camera you need to adjust the aperture of your enlarger and like the shutter speed of the camera you are able to control the amount of light that goes on the paper.

These basic fundamentals are transferred to the digital age as they did for the prior century that harbored the birth of photography. Digital still requires the ability of aperture and shutter to create a single photograph (unless you only use program, then there is very little knowledge about photography.)

Anyone can pick up a digital camera and get a good image, but the ability to create an image through a vigorous process seems to give the ability to master light and the surroundings you wish to control.
- Shawn Kringstad