How does analog photography fit into the modern lifestyle

[Theo Sulphate]

I can't stop on 8 shots. I ended up with 18 rolls. A mix of 35mm and 120.

Well, if I understood the language Americans use, my remark would've been funny...

Anyway, from my original point: "When I see people at some locale or event tripping the shutter every 20 seconds (be it with film or digital), I think they can't be enjoying, feeling, or sensing what is around them."

You didn't take 7000 shots.

 

[Mainecoonmaniac]

Heavens no!

You didn't take 7000 shots.

I took hundreds of shots within a 2 1/2 week period.

I love the anticipation of processing the film and the eventual print. Shot digital too but didn't get the same thrill.

 

[removed account4]

...

 

[NedL]

I'd agree with others that it fits the same way a bicycle or walking or anything else I do fits.... it's not integral to my life for sharing online or anything like that but a separate hobby that I do for fun. We just got home from a 3 week vacation and I ended up with 3 rolls of 120 film, shot at 6x9 so that's only 24 photos. I'm pretty deliberate so I expect all of them to be "keepers" ( we'll see after they are developed how well reality meets expectations! )

If I'd had a day to go off by myself and just do photography, I would have come home with more, but I was busy enjoying visiting with my relatives and swimming and fishing and being with my family, so photography was not the purpose or focus of the vacation. I probably took 20 or 30 digital photos as snapshots to remember this summer in the future... I thought about bringing a film camera for that but decided against it for various reasons. ( I don't have a film scanner, and I can't print color at home )

So for me, the question doesn't really come into play...

Edit: I also went through about 3 packs of FP-100C instant film in a pinhole camera. That was pure play and I had a lot of fun with it and got some neat pinhole photos in a little album.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Well, if I understood the language Americans use, my remark would've been funny...

Anyway, from my original point: "When I see people at some locale or event tripping the shutter every 20 seconds (be it with film or digital), I think they can't be enjoying, feeling, or sensing what is around them."

You didn't take 7000 shots.

They would enjoy it more if they looked around and saw everything live instead of on a tiny screen.

 

[darkosaric]

Not having time to play is just a first world problem.

Are you watching Louis CK sometimes ?

 

[Wayne]

+1

...

 

[blansky]

In my opinion, lifestyle has nothing to do with serious photography.

Serious photography with whatever medium analog or digital is a calculated pursuit of craft and pursuit of excellence.

It's when we put on our game face.

Lifestyle is really just pop culture and modern living, and we use the tools that are handy.

But when we are serious, well.....lifestyle has to take a back seat.

 

[jscott]

I think it's funny that digital technology is supposed to save us so much time, yet people have less free time than ever.

 

[removed account4]

I think it's funny that digital technology is supposed to save us so much time, yet people have less free time than ever.

i don't think that is because of digital technology, there are other factors and seeing this thread isn't in the soapbox ...

 

[blansky]

I think it's funny that digital technology is supposed to save us so much time, yet people have less free time than ever.

Yeah, remember the "promises" of the futurists of the 50 and 60s.

Machines will do all the work and we'll enjoy all this free time with our friends and families.

 

[Wayne]

The lack of free time may not be because of digital technology (I didn't think that's what he meant) but it also isn't much of a time saver when people spend so much time using it. The average time spent using digital technology 30 years was what? Minutes per day, if that? And now it's easily hours for most people.

i don't think that is because of digital technology, there are other factors and seeing this thread isn't in the soapbox ...

 

[RobC]

Life is only busy if you let it be. If you have thought about it you will find a job near to home or move home to be near work so that you get back all the comuting time you were wasting your life on. For a lot of people that will be an extra 2 hours a day and for some a lot more.
Then you get the right career/job which has regular hours so that you can plan your downtime instead never knowing what days/hours you will be working. Suddenly you have time to do a lot more things whilst working exactly the same amount of hours. That's 100% down to you to organise your life. If you are letting employers organise your life then you need think again. What was the question?

 

[removed account4]

The lack of free time may not be because of digital technology (I didn't think that's what he meant) but it also isn't much of a time saver when people spend so much time using it. The average time spent using digital technology 30 years was what? Minutes per day, if that? And now it's easily hours for most people.

hi wayne

maybe you are right, i don't know ...
but it seems to me the amount of time the average person with an iphone or digital tablet, dSlr or whatever spends editing and working on photographs
is probably the same amount of time the average person spent editing and working on photographs ( or scrapbooking them ) 30 or 40 years ago.
they took them to the lab got them back and dropped off another roll at the drug store. people use their digistuffs/ cameras the same way they used
their instamatics or 35mm decades ago ... and sure some people might obsess about making digital images edited and printed perfectly ( kind of like here? ),
i would guess (probably wrongly) it is around the same amount who spent hours in a basement darkroom printing their b/w or color ( if they did that ) negatives 30 + years ago ( but without the fumes ).
people i know who use the digi stuff have no less free time than people who don't some people like a fast paced life, some don't ...
but the whole lack of time thing is sometimes more that, at least in some parts of the world ...
work is overemcomassing, and has turned most of the people who work for someone else into modern day indentured servants or serfs .. with very little spare time or vacation and very little money
always paying down debt that is looming over their head. and if they live in the far east, it is like the 1870s in industrial new england where people leave their farms
looking for a better life, work in the mills/factories and get paid, some the equivilant of 2 snickers bars worth of wage / month ... probably better than toiling in a field but not by much.

sorry for the rant ...

 

[blansky]

Life is only busy if you let it be. If you have thought about it you will find a job near to home or move home to be near work so that you get back all the comuting time you were wasting your life on. For a lot of people that will be an extra 2 hours a day and for some a lot more.
Then you get the right career/job which has regular hours so that you can plan your downtime instead never knowing what days/hours you will be working. Suddenly you have time to do a lot more things whilst working exactly the same amount of hours. That's 100% down to you to organise your life. If you are letting employers organise your life then you need think again. What was the question?

I agree with a lot of this. And the other main thing is to not get too caught up in the consumerism that is constantly seducing people into buying shit they don't need.

Not easy and takes a lot of discipline.

 

[RobC]

When I was freelancing I did one job in Fleet Street London commuting from 70 miles away. That was a car jouney to rail station, walk into station, wait for train, an hour to hour and half into Paddington, walk into tube, wait for tube, tube ride, walk into office and repeat in reverse at end of day. Then another contract in West London involved driving round part of M25 which on any day could involve an hour or more in a traffic jam so you have leave home very early just in case.

And people wonder where their lives go and why they haven't got time for themselves. The real problem is urbanisation. Far better to pick small to medium sized provincial towns to live and work in. Big enough to have a decent choice of companies to work for but small enough that traffic and parking is not a problem. And residential housing is nearby and not expensive like it is the big cities. Then you'll get your life back and have some time for your hobbies such as photography.

 

[darkosaric]

consumerism that is constantly seducing people into buying shit they don't need.

consumerism that is constantly seducing people into buying shit they don't need to impress the people that they don't like .

 

[RobC]

consumerism that is constantly seducing people into buying shit they don't need to impress the people that they don't like .

which model iPhone do you have ?

 

[4season]

Not everyone knows what to do with a bunch of unstructured time. Mostly we shop.

 

[4season]

which model iPhone do you have ?

I bought my sister's old iPhone 4, and my co-workers already know that I've got my eye on their newer models I love it! Every few years for around $150 I get a nice clean unlocked GSM phone which just happens to be a couple of generations old. But they're beautifully made and supported by everyone.

 

[Mainecoonmaniac]

But...

consumerism that is constantly seducing people into buying shit they don't need to impress the people that they don't like .

Folks are buying stuff to save time and save the drudgery of life. But people have to work longer hours to pay for it

 

[Wayne]

I agree entirely with your assessment of the underlying causes that mean less free time for many...when I'm not working in order to barely survive I'm working at finding better work or fighting policies and forces that make scratching out a meager "modern" living today so hard. And so are many others.

hi wayne

maybe you are right, i don't know ...
but it seems to me the amount of time the average person with an iphone or digital tablet, dSlr or whatever spends editing and working on photographs
is probably the same amount of time the average person spent editing and working on photographs ( or scrapbooking them ) 30 or 40 years ago.
they took them to the lab got them back and dropped off another roll at the drug store. people use their digistuffs/ cameras the same way they used
their instamatics or 35mm decades ago ... and sure some people might obsess about making digital images edited and printed perfectly ( kind of like here? ),
i would guess (probably wrongly) it is around the same amount who spent hours in a basement darkroom printing their b/w or color ( if they did that ) negatives 30 + years ago ( but without the fumes ).
people i know who use the digi stuff have no less free time than people who don't some people like a fast paced life, some don't ...
but the whole lack of time thing is sometimes more that, at least in some parts of the world ...
work is overemcomassing, and has turned most of the people who work for someone else into modern day indentured servants or serfs .. with very little spare time or vacation and very little money
always paying down debt that is looming over their head. and if they live in the far east, it is like the 1870s in industrial new england where people leave their farms
looking for a better life, work in the mills/factories and get paid, some the equivilant of 2 snickers bars worth of wage / month ... probably better than toiling in a field but not by much.

sorry for the rant ...

 

[Alan Klein]

I retired 2 years ago and sometimes get bored. Even though work can be stressful and often drudgery, it also can provide a sense of accomplishment for a job well done. Knowing your work feeds you and your family is another benefit. Some people have to travel longer distances and have to work a second or third job to provide enough income to feed their family. Not everyone has a choice in this matter. Being able to shoot, whether film or digital, is a hobby. It's wonderful if you can afford it and have some time to do it regardless of whether it's film or digital or how expensive your choices of equipment or processes. We should be thankful we have this nice thing we do and can share about it so easily on the web. Be happy.

 

[Mainecoonmaniac]

We should be thankful we have this nice thing we do and can share about it so easily on the web. Be happy.

Yes. Life is too short not to be happy. Especially us folks living in countries with such material abundance.

 

[Bob Carnie]

My whole photographic body of work is based on the shit people buy but don't need or use.

I agree with a lot of this. And the other main thing is to not get too caught up in the consumerism that is constantly seducing people into buying shit they don't need.

Not easy and takes a lot of discipline.