Why you should escape the digital world
As modern-day photographers, we spend most of our time in the digital space. Staring at EVFs (Electronic View Finders) or LCD rear screens of cameras. We download images onto computers, import them into digital editing software where we add artistic garnish with sliders and buttons - buttons and sliders that are not actually physical. The end product? A digital representation of the original subject, manipulated digitally and displayed digitally on either a computer screen or shared to social media. Sometimes devalued to less than a couple of seconds of attention.
When I first started out, film was the only option. Physical prints - “photos” - were the end product. You could hold them in your hand. Tangible, these prints often adorned walls as art or daily reminders of a special moment. They added to our environment. They revealed part of the character of not only the photographer, but of the owner. Similar to their book or record collection. One could peruse the artistic choices of another. Conversations were generated. Stories were told. Connection to others, to places, to times, all conveyed via physical medium. Permanently displayed. Not forgotten amongst thousands of images on a phone.
You might now be asking, after such an endorsement of “photos”, why I shoot digital. Well, there is certainly value to both and industry demands dictate. But it hit me, how many years it’s been since I last developed or printed one of my own shots. So, I bought a photo-specific printer. I‘d long forgotten how much joy there is in holding a physical product that you, and only you could have created. It truly is, I believe, the essence of photography.
I rushed the first print to my wife. It hits different than texting someone a photo. There’s another dimension to it. Seeing someone’s eyes move across an image large enough to require two hands, the change in their facial expression as they register the detail. Special. And selfishly, real-time human feedback. No ambiguous, thumbs up emoji. Mutually rewarding. Shared.
Whichever creative space you’re in, if it’s digital, I urge you to explore opportunities to shift it to the physical. Find others to share or collaborate with. It’s intoxicating and reenergising. I guarantee, the different approach and mindset will help your regular digital work too.
Look out for limited edition prints on the website soon.