Analog Photography Makes a Comeback

[Alex Benjamin]

it took much more than wearing bell bottoms and granny glasses to constitute a lifestyle.

Having been an adolescent in the 70s and thus having worn my share of bell bottom jeans, I can testify to this. You also had to have the Bee Gees, KC and the Sunshine Band and Barry White as the soundtrack of your life in order to make it a lifestyle.

Admit you liked "Disco Duck" and you were immediately kicked out of the lifestyle.

Since "digital" did not exist back then, we mostly argued about "disco" vs "prog" - two different lifestyles, to say the least. I'm so thankful YouTube did not exist back then. I can't begin to imagine how much time would have been wasted on such ridiculous debates. I'm glad we're past that 45 years later .

That's the way, aha, aha
I like it, aha, aha

 

[George Mann]

Since "digital" did not exist back then

The world was a much better place without it!

 

[markjwyatt]

The world was a much better place without it!

It is a matter of technology (of course, so are nuclear bombs...). Learn to live with it. One of the more popular avenues for photography in digital channels (Flickr, IG, etc.) is "film" or "analog". This activity does help keep film alive. Wishing that technology would stop progressing really is unrealistic. Technology drove film to very high levels, and produced amazing produscts, some which are still available today.

 

[removed account4]

The world was a much better place without it!

why would you say that ?
no technology at all ? or just digital "photography"? or go back before Eastman invented consumer photography?
no difference between digital imagery we are flooded with today and box camera images** the world was flooded with for 120 years before, anyone who thinks otherwise seems to be wearing blinders.

** from brownies, bullseyes, folders, instamatics, disc cameras and every other consumer grade device that was sold to sell film and processing between the early-mid 1880s and IDK 2000

 

[Alex Benjamin]

The world was a much better place without it!

I think it's pretty easy to argue that while photography has had, and still has, a huge impact on how we view the world (it's events, how people live, etc.), the actual means by which these photographs are taken are totally inconsequential and have absolutely no impact on the state of affairs of the world.

And I remember the 70s enough to say it was a pretty bad place for a lot of people.

 

[dutchsteammachine]

Technology is the greatest of human achievements, but could also become its downfall.

Oh well.

Back to cuddling people on the opposite side of the globe in VRChat.

 

[George Mann]

why would you say that ?
no technology at all ? or just digital "photography"?

As I see it, digital devices have helped in change for the worse.

 

[George Mann]

And I remember the 70s enough to say it was a pretty bad place for a lot of people.

The '70's had it's share of problems. But I believe that today's world is far worse for most.

 

[Sirius Glass]

The '70's had it's share of problems. But I believe that today's world is far worse for most.

Sometimes it just sucks to be right.

 

[removed account4]

As I see it, digital devices have helped in change for the worse.

digital devices are a whole host of things; exactly which digital devices are you talking about—telephones? computers? television? radio? still and video cameras? jacquart looms?
living life as if it was pre-Babbage ?

 

[George Mann]

digital devices are a whole host of things; exactly which digital devices are you talking about—telephones? computers? television? radio? still and video cameras? jacquart looms?
living life as if it was pre-Babbage ?

The ones that have fundamentally transformed our societies.

 

[MattKing]

The ones that have fundamentally transformed our societies.

The abacus?

 

[removed account4]

The abacus?

no kidding, and the invention of the number ZERO.

"society" has been a mess since we lived in caves. digital technology has had nothing to do with it.

 

[BrianShaw]

"society" has been a mess since we lived in caves.

Society has been a mess since Cain and Abel.

 

[Pieter12]

no kidding, and the invention of the number ZERO.

"society" has been a mess since we lived in caves. I digital technology has had nothing to do with it.

Should have stayed in the trees.

 

[George Mann]

no kidding, and the invention of the number ZERO.

"society" has been a mess since we lived in caves. digital technology has had nothing to do with it.

It's men like me who invent and make things possible for the rest of you. My claims aren't idle ones.

 

[Don_ih]

It's men like me who invent and make things possible for the rest of you. My claims aren't idle ones.

That's interesting. Go on.

 

[Pieter12]

That's interesting. Go on.

Well, we wouldn't know any different. There would be no fear of eventual death, maybe no language and no religion. Ignorance is bliss. And we wouldn't give a damn about what we might be doing to the planet. You're born, if you survive you procreate, you die. Punctum finale.

 

[Alex Benjamin]

That's interesting. Go on.

Wait! Let me get the popcorn!

 

[Bronson Dugnutt]

That's interesting. Go on.

I'm guessing velcro and instax wide. Speaking of which, Fuji just announced a wide printer to go along with their similar offerings in mini and square: https://instax.com/link_wide/en/

Not sure if that counts as analog but is interesting timing with their other LF discontinuation announcements. Between that and the LomoGraflok instant film just got a lot more interesting. The SP-2 has been my format of choice for distributing 16mm prints of late so the additional area should be well suited to 35mm.

 

[Pieter12]

Let's zoom into the 70s...

• Average life expectancy was lower (in Africa, it almost doubled since early 70s)
• % of world's population living in poverty has decreased (China in particular lifted hundreds of millions out of property)
  
• Crime has gone down (world-wide and in the US)
• Number of armed conflicts has gone wa-a-a-a-ay down
• The entire Eastern Europe got unfucked
• Numerous incurable diseases have treatments now.

TBH I can keep going and going. "we are circling down the drain" attitude has always been common among enunciated elderly. Stop watching bad news and snap out of it.

Boy, I miss the good old days in the USofA. The draft, fear of nuclear war and Communist takeover, none of this climate change or domestic terrorism BS. Of course, there was terrorism in the rest of the world, poverty, disease and oppression, but not all of the has improved, just moved around.

 

[Pieter12]

@Pieter12 you're forgetting a shit ton of little details that we don't even think about anymore. Does anyone remember the state of dental tech back then? The thought of sitting in a dental chair in 1977 is enough for me to never put my foot into a time machine! I am not even talking about bad music, bad movies and bad TV of late 70s and most of the 80s.

I guess irony is dead too.

 

[George Mann]

I am not even talking about bad music, bad movies and bad TV of late 70s and most of the 80s.

You must be from an alternate dimension.

 

[MattKing]

I just wish I had the youth and the hair I had in the 1970s.
My experience with digital back then involved punch cards and an IBM 360.
Things are way better now then punch cards and an IBM 360.

 

[mshchem]

Boy, I miss the good old days in the USofA. The draft, fear of nuclear war and Communist takeover, none of this climate change or domestic terrorism BS. Of course, there was terrorism in the rest of the world, poverty, disease and oppression, but not all of the has improved, just moved around.

LBJ and Vietnam. Then Nixon went and played ping pong with Chairman Mao. Game, set, match.