Hey all, This Sunday at the Meadow Brook Concours d Elegance there appeared to be a geometric increase from the previous year of people using digital cameras. I, with my film supply exhausted and my tripod and pan camera stowed, joined in and was soon employing the new snap-shooting style made necessary by the ergonomics and other peculiarities of the cameras that it seems everyone now carries. Making a photograph no longer requires deliberation but rather a tentative outward gesture towards the general direction of the subject, arm extended with the camera held between thumb and index finger. No notice is paid to the view screen until after pressing the shutter at which time the digiographer looks to see if anything was caught, or the effort which is really no more exertion than a shrug or a wave howdy should be undone releasing space for a luckier moment. Freedom to cast about without a priori investment of composure, correct exposure, or cash for film should result in greater numbers of enjoyable images for everyone. I bagged my limit of chromed and enameled metal and seeking a cheap thrill took my flash card in for twenty-nine cent prints. It being my virginal attempt, I watched so that I might learn as the person ahead of me jabbed at the touch screen to produce satisfying snaps of her family all correctly exposed and tweaked into shape with a little zooming and cropping. I told her that she must be a real expert and that I hoped I could do as well and she said no it was her first time too. If you believe as I do that images are all out there and that their subject is in effect the viewer who has learned the conventions of casting about for them you will appreciate what an advance digital cameras bring to the process. They offer a fool-proof means of snagging highly corrected examples of what was expected to be caught and not a blurred and mis-aligned facsimile. AZ Build a Lookaround! The Lookaround Book, 2nd ed. NOW SHIPPING http://www.panoramacamera.us
