A whole new world

I may be a laggard but I'm embracing more and more of the technical side of photography as time marches on. I have now added a link to some photos I took when two of my sisters, my mother and I visited a friend in Istanbul earlier this year. To access them scroll down the side bar on the right. The link is at the bottom. It is to snapfish and you have to join snapfish to see them.

Digital photography is to my mind as much about technical as technique. I read an interesting article today (Still calling the shots, Kaleem Aftab, The National, Arts and Life section, June 13 2010) about the father of Paparazzi, Ron Gallela. A documentary, Smash His Camera by Leon Gast has been made about Ron Galella and it is not just about his life and his contribution to photography and his legendary determination to get the shot. It is also about ethics, privacy and how far one should go to get the shot. I often wonder about this whilst travelling. There is opportunity for some beautiful and interesting shots but what about respect for the people you are taking photos of? Yes it is interesting to document how others live, but that is their life and livelihood. Anyway I digress...The article stated that Ron Galella is an artist, he mixes his own chemicals. And it goes on to say that Leon Gast says that these days you dont need to be an artist, you just need to know how to focus and set up an F stop and snap away and hope you get lucky. Oh dear. What hope then for those of us who grew up in the digital world, or who developed an interest in photography only after film went the way of the record?

I believe that there is room for creativity. We have to be more creative. We still choose when to take the shot and where, what time of day, what expressions or angle. And afterwards in post production the creative choice is still there. You can take a studio shot or a casual shot and it doesnt matter how many times you click if you have thought about it, it will be creative.