You are probably correct in the first instance...it is because you are taking time to set up the 8x10.
Don't get me wrong, digital is great but this comes at a cost, and that is a lowering of standards. I run photographic workshops and recently have found a few strange trends.
1. When I was teaching on film cameras - now I never see one in a class - people battled to finish their 36 exposure film on the assignment. Now with digital they can't take enough pictures. I have had people arrive at an assessment session with up to 100 images when the assignment was to shoot less than twenty.
I had one guy who went to Dubai and bought a digital SLR - we South Africans do things like that because equipment is SO expensive here - anyway, he calls me and wants me to sit with him and go through the 1500 pictures he shot in the week he was there and tell him where he was going wrong.
2. The focus of the lessons has shifted - it has become more about the camera - than it is about picture taking. So much so that I now offer two separate workshops, one for people wanting to learn about the camera, its menus and quirks; and another where I teach 'photography'. I answer most camera related questions on the second workshop by saying "Read you manual".
3. There is a perception that Photoshop will save the day and fix any bad or mediocre image. When shooting landscape with students and I will suggest they walk 20 metres to remove some litter or something, the answer is invariably "I'll take it out in Photoshop". Also people tend to shoot arbitrary stuff saying, "I'm sure I can do something with that on the computer."
I have now added a module to my workshop on pervisulisation, and they - here I am talking about digital users- are gob-smacked. Often when I show some of my own images to illustrate the lectures I get asked, "Is that what you intended when you took the picture?" There is the assumption that you shoot as much as you can on an outing, go home and sit for hours in front of the computer scrolling through your pictures trying to find something to do with them.
I would be interested to know if anyone on the list has experienced the same.
Cheers for now Harry----- Original Message ----- From: "Shannon Stoney" <sstoney@xxxxxxx>
To: <pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Friday, May 04, 2007 3:43 AM Subject: [pure-silver] Re: photography teachers top 3
Hey, this is about my ratio too! Maybe there's something to that 80 sq in rule.I find that my 8x10 negs are consistently better than any others. I thought that is because I take longer to carefully set it up, given the cost of the film, and the fact that I only have two holders so I can only shoot four negatives per outing.But maybe it's also because I am using up all my 80 sq in at once! --shannon
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