I have passed through the trauma of the digital conversion, and sometimes I take the stance of the converted zealot. What I like about digital is the greater risks I can take visually. With no per-unit cost (only a considerable cost of admission), I can whack away at a situation until I feel it's done, and more, through to something new I would never have allowed myself to visually investigate before. I take a lot more photographs. I take a lot more bad ones. But, in that vat of new imagery are hints and suggestions, evidence of where I will grow as a photographer.
But today I am reminded of what I don’t like about digital. This latest assignment, for a specialty magazine for lumberyards (I drove down to Salem, Oregon and back this week), is illustrative. Previously, I would have sorted the slides, thrown out the bad ones, and FedExed the rest. With a bill. It would take me an hour, maybe two. I’d be done. Now, I have probably a full day ahead of me, in addition to the hour and a half I was able to steal for the task today. Assessing images is harder on a screen. Processing the RAW files takes time and judgement of a sort I still lack some confidence in. This job is not work that is my creative zenith, and thus it feels like a chore. And there are so many more photos to sort through than there would have been with film.
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