Followers of this blog know my position on this ever increasing mega pixel race and this whole techie trend toward greater definition. If I need this, I use my eyes. In specialized situations high definition is useful but here are philosophical problems with this trend.
If one is to subscribe to the rather tenuous notion that photography is an art, then the HD model will surely put this matter to rest making photography just a tool and a craft. To be an art, one must interpret and instead of faithfully recreate a scene and one must emphasize and compose. I call this decomposition because one starts with a scene as a given and them must remove items as to emphasize certain points while de emphasizing others. This ideal runs contrary to pixel peepers and counters who are always tempted to buy the latest camera model unaware that the rest of the world is getting by with smart phones that are making everyone a photographer. It's just too easy. The big cameras are usually show off items but this is of course another matter all together.
The images here are all scans from medium format Tri-X Pan. In order to give them a more "artistic" feel. I used a cheap, low quality scanner. What results are more interesting images that are not naturalistic but graphic. This is after all what photography really should be. I have had arguments about this point of view on numerous occasions in photography sites and the replies are at times sanguine. Many just want their cameras to recreate as faithfully as the state of the art applies. One could argue that you first shoot with the greatest resolution and then lower it, The problem is that this usually doesn't work and it defeats the entire purpose because the mind set is such that HD will always come first. What can I do? I can only state my position. You be the judges. I do like theseresults and I hope many of you like them too.
If one is to subscribe to the rather tenuous notion that photography is an art, then the HD model will surely put this matter to rest making photography just a tool and a craft. To be an art, one must interpret and instead of faithfully recreate a scene and one must emphasize and compose. I call this decomposition because one starts with a scene as a given and them must remove items as to emphasize certain points while de emphasizing others. This ideal runs contrary to pixel peepers and counters who are always tempted to buy the latest camera model unaware that the rest of the world is getting by with smart phones that are making everyone a photographer. It's just too easy. The big cameras are usually show off items but this is of course another matter all together.
The images here are all scans from medium format Tri-X Pan. In order to give them a more "artistic" feel. I used a cheap, low quality scanner. What results are more interesting images that are not naturalistic but graphic. This is after all what photography really should be. I have had arguments about this point of view on numerous occasions in photography sites and the replies are at times sanguine. Many just want their cameras to recreate as faithfully as the state of the art applies. One could argue that you first shoot with the greatest resolution and then lower it, The problem is that this usually doesn't work and it defeats the entire purpose because the mind set is such that HD will always come first. What can I do? I can only state my position. You be the judges. I do like theseresults and I hope many of you like them too.
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