I believe that the digital art work, computer age has some what lessened the artistic ability of some artist while increasing the ability of others. I'll give you an example.......
Some people have a God given talent for the kind of stuff that you and your daughters do. It's impressive and I can only dream of having that kind of capability. But with the right training and computer skills it's possible to take an average Joe, like me, and teach me what buttons to push, click and drag to create works of art. Now take that same individual and put a pencil and colored markers in my hand with a blank canvass and the best I'm gonna do is draw a horsey like Art did!
The same thing is happening with the digital photography medium. My Dad was a Professional photographer for 30 years and I still free-lance a little but mostly stock photography like sporting events, sunsets, generic scenes.....stuff like that. I used to watch my Dad study a particular twisted and weathered old tree for 2 or 3 years until he felt that the sunrise or sunset was perfect at a particular time of year or when a foggy morning would cast a gloomy, pale, moody emotion in a particular way that could be captured on film. Then he would crop and have the photo lab burn in the corners to further enhance the subject. I've taken dozens of photos at a race trying to capture that one spot on a track when a car is coming out of a turn.......slowing down the shutter speed until the background is a blur but you can read every detail on the drivers helmet. There was a tremendous amount of satisfaction that I got out of capturing that moment and appreciating what I had to do (everything had to be PERFECT at the time I squeezed the shutter), to freeze that moment in time.
Nowadays the professional camera "artist" sets up a high capacity digital movie camera and shoots for 3 or 4 hours non-stop, then takes the film back to the office and again with the help of the computer age, he is able to download every second of action shot and then go back through it, frame by frame, to pick out the cover shot of this weeks "Sports Illustrated" or "NASCAR weekly." Where is the artistic influence in doing that?
This is one of the reasons why I got out of the professional Photography business because the equipment being made now can turn anyone into a half-way decent photographer. Who wants to buy my creation if everyone else is giving the bride and groom their snap-shots for FREE !
What do you think?
therick
