Film vs Digital

"Computer photography won't be photography as we know it. I think photography will always be chemical". Annie Leibovitz

Sorry Annie, but I do not agree. The whole film vs. digital thing has always amazed me. To think that normally smart people could get so goofy. Over the years the method of capture has always been an issue with some folks. The first newspaper photo director I worked for hated 35mm. Did not want us to use anything but medium format cameras. He was a great photographer, I learned a lot form him. He cut his teeth on a 4x5 camera, so I guess taking up the medium format was a challenge for him. I hate 4x5's, never really liked meduim format cameras. The larger negative does give a better large print, but I never minded a bit of grain.

He was out of work for about eight weeks for surgery, I bought a bulk roll of 35mm Tri-X film, some Accufine developer(for doing push processing) and started shooting. Our editors loved the available light and candidness of 35mm, so when he came back, it was too late. That episode really changed me. I realized what dinosaurs a lot of older photographers had become. The old ways were always better to them. I didn't want to fall into that mindset.

Back in the early 80's when digital was being first talked about, I knew some shooters who just knew this was the end of the world as we knew it. We would all be replaced by robots with cameras, just pointing and shooting. Well, it ain't the capture method, Waldo, it is still the eye and the heart that makes a great photo. Either God gave you that gift, or He didn't.

I still shoot some film, gets less and less each year. I will always keep a film camera available. There is look that you get from black and white film that is hard to duplicate with digital. But at least I have not become that dinosaur.
If any of you young folks don't understand some of the references to some of this old film technology, shoot me an email aand I will explain