New stuff sucks

[Ken Gigliotti]

All those gizmos and fancy features will ruin photography . The skill and knowledge is traded away, making everyone  lazy  and thinking they are  all news photographers .Then there is the quality ,  the new gear just can't match the old . You couldn't make a 16x20 with no grain at all , impossible .
  Photographers needed real skill  , they live and die for the decisive moment , they had to really see and anticipate  .
  When a photographer went to a crime scene , the cops just knew they were supposed to be there by the equipment they carried . The new stuff looks like a toy  no one would take seriously .
   Of course  this was the time time when photographers spent much of their time  in the dark , in a world where their reality was mostly  upside down and backward . This is the ethos of our unique view of all things  that matter.
  When I first heard these  arguments about the virtues of the 4x5 Speed Graphic  Press Camera , I thought ,” gee , I hope I never get like that. ”
  The  4x5 press camera was  a dominant , durable , all American made camera in use from 1912 to the early 1970's . It was considered standard equipment  for news photographers until the mid 1960's. This is an iconic  camera that will be for ever  remembered . It also represents a way of thinking ,and a caricature  of the newspapering . When photographic  equipment began changing , and the  reflex  from the eye to the exposure became shorter and  more reliable , the photographers  spirit  forever embraced   change .

[Kenneth Armstrong]

I was having a conversation with a gentleman in his 80's about when he went to University in Halifax and Queen Elizabeth (at that time still a princess) made a visit.

He took his Speed Graphic and blended in with the poolies covering the event. As the Queen was mingling amongst the crowd he stepped away from the pool (and away from all recognized royal decorum) into her direct path and took a photo... with flash.

As soon as his flash went off he was escorted into the back seat of an RCMP cruiser. Luckily for him it was discovered that he was a student and he was sent on his way... with a perfectly decent, well-lit candid shot of the Queen.

So really this has been going on as long as there have been pro photographers, but I agree it's much more prevalent now.

[Ken Gigliotti]

The funny thing about succession ,one generation  thinks the  last had it easier than the next. Some may think that it was easier to be a photographer 25 , 30 years ago .Many think that autofocus , auto everything makes it easier today.
   Love that story about the Princess and  the 4x5,how many young shooters just never got that start .
One thing that  stays the same  ,there are no jobs in  photography . I was told this  when I was in high school in the 70's. Just like there are no jobs in graphic arts , or novel writing  , or advertizing.
  A person has to believe in themselves  , a person has to have some talent , perseverance , someone has to like what you do , you have to be lucky . Being around at a time of great change  helps.
  I started at two news papers that were moving into new offset plants . New buildings , new systems  that took at least two years to get control of . Large volumes of copy would just disappear , and pictures just got bigger and bigger the closer to deadline . Great days.
   4x5's were only used as copy cameras , the last of the 2-1/4's were still around .There was Black & White at it's zenith , traded for colour in it's infancy . Just shoot both was how it started.   Finally getting the last component  to the  perfect 35mm system was completed  with a reliable flash for a last film system   , the imperfect march to digital began . Again back to no reliable flash and capture delays , and hatch marked viewfinders .  Now video , just shoot both is how it started , still the way it is .
  The last generation had fewer opportunities as media was a small club .  That club had to be very adaptable . That adaptability  is ingrained  , so just bring it.