You should go digital.
Henry Fox Talbot, England. Inventor of 'modern day photography'
A new year is upon us and this one marks my 20th year involvement in photography. The technology has changed radically since I first started, however not everyone has dumped their Hasselblad cameras in favour of the digital revolution.
Lured by aggressive marketing campaigns and misinformation by photographic retaliers and publications, many photographers and students were convinced that we HAD to go digital.
Since the ‘ invention of photography ‘ in 1839 by Henry Fox Talbot, a graduate of Trinity College Cambridge; the technology behind traditional photography has been coming along quite nicely with new film and papers still being introduced. Exactly 170 years later, many photographers prefer to learn new tricks on the computer. Some photographers however, are happy to master their craft using the traditional methods of light and chemistry.
There are many internet discussions battling over which is best, but personally speaking, I prefer the trusted longevity and
unique beauty of handcrafted darkroom prints.
In portrait and wedding photography, digital techniques are often poorly applied leaving the subject looking like a plastic doll, or in most cases, over applied which result in photographs looking very dated in a short space of time. Social photographers, as they are called in the industry, have long been associated with gimmicks (perhaps it sells well??) but personally I prefer to stay well away from poor taste.
Using the the highest quality medium format film cameras, silver based photographic papers; together with the creative use of lighting and printing skills, everyone can look good on film. I haven’t seen anything with digital technology to prove otherwise.
“Can you put my wedding photographs onto disc so I can print them myself?”
Where do I begin with this question?!
I often feel that it is a cop out by digital wedding photographers who are quite happy to take the money and run. Some wedding photographers are also keen to target those people who wish to save some money.
Quality
Whilst working as a lecturer in photography, I would tell my students that printing is half the battle in creating a good photograph. Most peoples’ experience of photography is leaving their memory card or film at the local high street lab and receiving their 6×4 glossy prints. If high street labs were that good, all professional photographers worth their salt would be using them. Unfortunately this method of printing does not come close to professional standards. The discs offered by digital wedding photographers either contain poor resolution images or image files that are too large for people to open on their laptops.
My strong advice is to leave printing to the professionals, that’s what we are paid for.
Longevity
My other reason for not offering disc only wedding packages is for reasons of longevity. Wedding photographs are treasured possessions that should be passed onto future generations. Digital storage devices such as hard drives, recordable compact discs and DVDRs are very unstable and have a shelf life of around 10 years. Assuming these formats are still around in years to come, you will most likely have difficulty transfering your files to the latest technology. Ever had a hard drive crash, corrupt discs? A photographic negative will last for generations.
Traditional photography has a trusted and proven track record. It may take a little longer to produce, however the beautiful results and the enjoyment I have in creating fine art photographs in the darkroom are certainly worth it. It also takes me away from the computer!