Is it normal, that i hate digital photography?

56% Normal
25 Comments

I recently decided to studied photography and I've realized that I hate digital photography. I like vintage photographs (black and white, autochrome). I like those fashion photos in the 90's that had a blurred effect to them, but now all I see is digital. Digital doesn't look "real" to me instead it looks fake and cheap. I hate the clearness of the photographs and I feel like it's too easier to make the photographs. I feel like hard work is not taken with digital and anyone can take a photo. Vintage looks mysterious and complex. I have deep respect for the people that pioneered it.

When I got my DSLR camera, I didn't want it and a part of me still doesn't want it. I was enraged at it and I often felt like throwing it against the wall. I have to take classes before I can go to college and they're only for digital. I understand that I must take them to learn about my camera. However, I don't want to have work with it in college or when I have a career. I understand that I'll have to take digital every now and then, but I don't want my career to depend solely on it. I want to learn all of the processes of film photography. I want to use dark rooms, the "old-fashioned way".

Most of my photography is made from my iPhone. I hope I don't sound like a hypocrite and I know that iPhone is digital, but the photographs still make the "blur" that I like and if something looks too clear then they're apps that can alter the effects, but they only do so much. They still can't make the authentic vintage look and I hate that. Why have people become so dependent on digital? I just don't get it. The only plus side I can see is that you can download your photos on your computer... Is there a way that I can get that vintage look or is it impossible? I would like to buy a film camera, but I'm not sure if they're even still made. IIN?

Voting Results
56% Normal
Based on 77 votes (43 yes)
Help us keep this site organized and clean. Thanks!
[ Report Post ]
Comments ( 25 )
  • shade_ilmaendu
    11 years ago

    I can understand enjoying the old film over the digital, I mostly find it funny you say you prefer your iPhone to your DSLR.

    Since I got mine (Nikon D3100) I've hated my iPhone pictues for having such low quality and horrible zoom and focus. I don't feel that photography with a digital SLR camera is necessarily the easy way out or taking away from, the process at all. I only shoot in manual modes, so every change in scenery, every new room I go into, every change in light will have me sitting down to take practice shots and tweak with the settings to get the shot looking just right. Not to mention the ability to experiment with shutter speeds and aperture and getting different effects through photograhpy alone becomes much easier when using a digital camera, because you can see the finished product and make the necessary adjustments immediately, rather than flick off a lot of shots and hope they come out right in development.

    For that more than anything I love my digital camera. Eaiser to not worry about missing the shot you want.

    Comment Hidden ( show )
    3
    3
      -
    • VioletTrees
      11 years ago

      Same here. You have very little control over your iPhone photographs.

      Comment Hidden ( show )
      1
      1
  • OswaldCobblepot
    11 years ago

    So what I'm hearing is that you don't like good photography?

    Comment Hidden ( show )
    1
    1
      -
    • Francophile22
      11 years ago

      You have obviously never heard of Ansel Adams, the best photographer ever. He died in 1984.

      Comment Hidden ( show )
      2
      2
        -
      • OswaldCobblepot
        11 years ago

        Yes, you're right. I've never heard of probably the most famous photographer. I've never heard of the one photographer than people who know nothing about photography beyond "point camera; click button" can name at the drop of a hat. I've also never heard of Henri Cartier-Bresson or Roland Barthes or Laszlo Moholy-Nagy or Man Ray.

        Certainly none of these people would have used a digital camera if one had been available during their photographic careers because they were REAL artists and real art has to be as hard as possible to be AUTHENTIC.

        Because of this, of course, no REAL art can be made with a digital camera because they do all of the thinking for you. Annie Leibovitz? Bjørn Rørslett? Zach Arias? Jeff Newsom? Sam Hurd? Ryan Brenizer? All utter shit and DEFINITELY not any good because they all use digital cameras. It's ok; I'll wait while you look them up.

        Anyway, I doubt the OP would much care for Ansel Adams because–and this is where my original comment was really directed–they don't like it "if something looks too clear". As you should already know (as a leading Ansel Adams scholar), Adams was member of Group f/64. Seeing as this group was named for an exceptionally small aperture, I doubt the OP would find much of the "blur" that they like so much in Adams' work.

        The point is that it's ridiculous to discount a vast amount of art because of how it was created. Just as there has been much great work created with digital cameras, there have been a ton of utterly terrible photos captured on film. We just have the luxuries of distance in time and–as such–nostalgia soften our collective memory of the latter and enshrine what we have deemed worthy.

        Put either film or digital in the hands of someone who does not understand the fundamentals & artistry of photography, and they will most likely produce very little in the way of "art". Ansel Adams was not a great photographer because his camera recorded images onto film rather than a memory card; Ansel Adams was a great photographer because he understood light & composition, and because he understood how to use his camera to capture it in a certain way.

        The camera is nothing but a tool. Tools are designed to complete certain tasks, and the better they allow the user to complete those tasks, the better the tool is. If you disagree, allow me to disconnect your power steering for a day and we shall see where you stand.

        Comment Hidden ( show )
        1
        1
          -
        • satrain18
          7 years ago

          Henri Cartier-Bresson quit photography before digital, and Roland Barthes, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, and Man Ray were dead long before digital cameras were invented. In fact, Roland Barthes isn't a photographer at all. He's a philosopher.

          Comment Hidden ( show )
          0
          0
        • Francophile22
          11 years ago

          Do not think for a moment that Debussy would trade his piano for an electronic keyboard any more than Whistler or Pollock would have used cameras.

          Conlon Nancarrow created music by shooting bullets at player piano rolls which he played.

          New technology is not de-facto better than old.

          You are wrong, and if you can't see it, I feel sorry for you.

          Comment Hidden ( show )
          0
          0
            -
          • OswaldCobblepot
            11 years ago

            I do believe you've missed (or refused to understand) at least one of the points of my last comment. Have fun under your bridge.

            Comment Hidden ( show )
            0
            0
      • VioletTrees
        11 years ago

        A friendly warning: you do not want to play "I've heard of photographers/film makers you've never heard of" with the Penguin. Don't do it, man. Your family needs you.

        Also, I don't recall Ansel Adams doing his photography with an iPhone.

        Comment Hidden ( show )
        0
        0
          -
        • satrain18
          6 years ago

          That's because he died before the iPhone was invented.

          Comment Hidden ( show )
          0
          0
        • Francophile22
          11 years ago

          I am afraid of nobody. I was referring to pre-digital.

          Comment Hidden ( show )
          0
          0
  • Murun
    6 years ago

    I spent years seeing great pictures but not being able to afford film and developing. Digital has made photography free. A ten year old decent camera is peanuts and it's obviously virtually free to run. It given me the photography hobby I could never afford. I don't use a DSLR or a 'phone but an old Sanyo swivel-screen camera. Composition is everything to me and you can see the screen clearly with the lens anywhere.. Down on the ground, over your head etc.
    Digital camera design has been really held back by trying to make them look like film cameras!

    Comment Hidden ( show )
    0
    0
  • cookie_monster
    11 years ago

    Theres photographers out there working with film. Look up Ryan Muirhead.

    Comment Hidden ( show )
    0
    0
      -
    • satrain18
      6 years ago

      He's a hipster.

      Comment Hidden ( show )
      1
      1
  • Dulse.
    11 years ago

    I feel like digital is more clear and exact, "real" I guess you could say.

    But I think film is more like a memory, it's hazed over with time, often blurred and grainy. I think there's a little more nostalgia to old film photos and that makes them more charming.

    Comment Hidden ( show )
    0
    0
  • zeeermeno
    11 years ago

    And you shouldn't be throwing cameras at walls, those things are expensive :x
    I could barely afford one, it's would be rude to destroy it.

    Comment Hidden ( show )
    0
    0
  • zeeermeno
    11 years ago

    I study photography, the country where I live is not the richest or famous or got the brandest things in technology.

    We started learning photography with film cameras, it's really easy, harsh at first but it's really basic, you can get awesome effects which Photoshop or Instagram are based on. It's nothing to be worried about, it's art. Of course it may be a little expensive having to buy the chemicals, equipment, films and such, I doubt they are still made but you can still buy them, that's for sure. I recommend you brands like Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Minolta. I use a Canon EOS 300, it's really good, and it's accessories are still available, or any of the EOS series.

    I don't dislike digital photography, I think it's saves a lot of time, You don't like a picture? Erase. Take a new one. With a film there are thousands of things that could go wrong (and you don't get to know until you reveal it just to find out it didn't turn out as you wanted) but that's the point, experiment with it.

    Hope it helps ;) and yes, it is normal. I prefer films over digital.

    Comment Hidden ( show )
    0
    0
  • sega31098
    11 years ago

    A solution is to get a cheap digital camera.
    I have one from China, and the images look like they were taken in the 80's or before.

    Comment Hidden ( show )
    0
    0
  • Couman
    11 years ago

    So THAT'S why Instagram is worth $2,000,000,000!

    Comment Hidden ( show )
    0
    0
  • sweetpea29
    11 years ago

    http://www.urbanoutfitters.com/urban/search/search.jsp?searchPhrase=camera&listViewSize=&indexStart=0&sortBy=&sortOrder=&categories=&categories2=&categories3=&categories4=&skucolor=&priceLow=&priceHigh=&skusize=&brand=&maxPrice=&minPrice=
    Try these?:)

    Comment Hidden ( show )
    0
    0
      -
    • Avant-Garde
      11 years ago

      Thanks:)

      Comment Hidden ( show )
      0
      0
        -
      • VioletTrees
        11 years ago

        Don't, though. Don't give your money to racists.

        Comment Hidden ( show )
        1
        1
          -
        • Francophile22
          11 years ago

          Wow, you know everything, you know every LAST person who works for them is one, and you know them all personally??? get a life , fuckhead.

          Comment Hidden ( show )
          -1
          -1
            -
          • VioletTrees
            11 years ago

            That's, uh… that's not even remotely how boycotts work.

            Comment Hidden ( show )
            0
            0
              -
            • Francophile22
              11 years ago

              You don't know those people, so why are you judging them all en masse?

              Comment Hidden ( show )
              -1
              -1