Digital Truth 1 – Digital presents new opportunities for photographers.

In the high tech industry new technology always means new opportunities. The most recent major example is the internet. Now that photography has embraced high tech it is time to also make that shift to embrace the new opportunities.

Digital photographers must stop looking back and using this new technology as a glorified copy machine. Mankind has been recording pictures on paper for two thousand years. Computerized photography has moved on to become a new medium and those who intend to fully embrace it must stop pretending that it is for making pretty pictures on paper.

So what to do? It is easy to be a critic so I would like to make a few suggestions to get those who are truly serious about the new medium of digital photography thinking. Or you can just keep snapping those pics until your batteries go dead...!

Self Publishing: Since all of the digital printing technology is taken from the prepress aspect of the publishing industry the most obvious first stop for serious digital photographers should be the production of your own book. Most serious photographers have dreamed of getting published and now not only is it easy but the choices for creative expression are nearly unlimited. At the very simplest these can now be ordered from most photo-finishers like Apple iPhoto, Kodak, Shutterfly, or your local camera store. In the middle of the range of options are offerings like blurb.com which even well known photographers such as Huntington Witherill are using. At the deluxe end are the beautifully crafted limited edition monographs that Ctein produces. Start by giving yourself an assignment or using a series that you have already created and produce a small book from it. Then give them away to friends and family. Then build on that experience and try something more serious.

Multimedia: In 1981 Ken Burns released a documentary movie, Brooklyn Bridge, which was built from historical still photographs. To me this remains one of the most exciting display formats that digital photography offers. Instead of thinking in terms of how pictures have been presented to viewers for the last 150 years---think again! Think about combining your pictures, historical pictures, video clips, audio clips, pan & zoom to direct your viewers attention, quotes, drawings, in other words dream and put it down on digital not paper. Again, start by giving yourself an assignment and then share the work in story format as a video. Throw in some writing, music, artwork, or ...?

Slide Shows (Slideshow is a modern concatenation): A small but important variation on the multimedia opportunity described above. With gorgeous larger than life HDTV sets showing up in homes these days many of you really should be thinking of presenting your work in a serial fashion on those screens (or to be more traditional, use a digital projector and screen). In the 1950's and 1960's the family slide show could be a magical time, depending on the talents of the creator. From monitoring various forums and blogs I know that some have rediscovered this lost art. The true beauty of a good slide show depends on the strength of the work and your ability to sequence it in an inspiring way. It differs from multimedia in that you traditionally don't use any tricks to jazz up the show. Think of a good slide show as poetry versus prose.

The Web: Yes I know many photographers, like myself, have Web sites but only a very few have taken a look at being truly creative with all of possibilities that this format makes available to them. Most are using this format as creatively as an ad in the Yellow Pages®. In addition to thinking of a Web site as a presentation method consider some of the other possibilities such as geocoding (photos with GPS information or links to maps). Many photographers enjoy being amateur historians, botanist, geologists, and so forth---geocoding offers a way to lead the viewer to the exact spot the picture was made.

Become an Artist: Use the true power of digital tools like Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator to create some art. Take a look at the work of Aaron Goodman or Melody Cassen for example. Also check out the most recent offering from Huntington Witherill.

References:

PBS: Ken Burns
Kodak Archive's: Slide Projectors
Web Site for Third View
GPS Linking Example by Inertia