Instant
Gratification
Seeing results immediately is nothing short of miraculous
and is a true timesaver. Knowing you’ve got the image
perfect frees you to go on to the next shot. You don’t
have to keep shooting to play it safe.
 Better
and Faster Yes, but Cheaper?
Most of the photo gear, hardware and software I work with
on a daily basis didn’t even exist a year ago. Like
corporate communicators, visual communicators struggle to
keep up with technology. The latest digicams with ever-increasing
pixel counts and new features are a necessity. Newly invented
anti-vibration lenses are on my must-have list. Endless software
updates and hardware in the form of faster computers, hard
drives with bigger storage capacity and archival quality papers
and printers all need upgrading on an increasingly frequent
basis. And of course, a new specialized cable (never included)
is required for everything you purchase, no matter what. Add
the costs of books and tutorials, classes taught on CDs, workshops,
seminars, consultants and training. Then add the huge investment
in time needed to learn how to use all the hi-tech stuff and
you begin to get a picture (pardon the pun) of what visual
communicators are dealing with.
A survey of full-time working photographers was conducted
by The American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP), the
leading professional photographers association in North America.
It showed that the savings we all thought would happen with
the advent of digital capture just did not materialize. Anyone
who says commercial digital photography is cheaper than film
photography just doesn’t know what he or she is talking
about.
 The
Times They Are A-Changin'
Some days, when I’m frantically searching for the one
right cable out of the dozens tangled under my desk, or when
I’m checking and packing the 41 separate pieces of electronic
gear I must travel with, I get nostalgic for the old days
when my big worry was that there was more film stored in my
refrigerator than food.
As the digital pioneers, we have to expect a few arrows.
But one day soon we will look back and shake our heads over
problems like shutter lag and screen calibration. We’ll
wonder how we survived back in the days when we didn’t
have high-speed Internet access everywhere including cars
and airplanes—wireless of course. We’ll
laugh about paying for LD dial-up charges, and we’ll
wonder how we ever got along with less than a terabyte (equals
a thousand gigabytes) of memory. I can’t wait!
|
There’s
no doubt that there’s no turning back to film. In 2003,
digital cameras outsold film cameras for the first time since
their development. But there is a long road ahead before digital
processes become simple and standardized. In the meantime,
communicators are forced to work with a technology that is
still in its infancy and growing so fast that it’s hard
to keep up with the changes. Much like the pioneer car owners
at the dawn of the automobile age, communicators today must
know the mechanics of the digital process in order to make
the most of its benefits. These are exciting times for photography,
but not easy ones. 
Around
the World in 80 Seconds