----- Original Message ----- From: "Andrew Davidhazy" : On the other topic raised by Karl ... technical photography is an : endangered "species". On the other hand some very sophisticated high : speed digital cameras have become available and great motion studies are : being done with them. The scope of technical photography however extends : way beyond PHD (push here dummy) high speed systems and the technical : basis for many of these specialized activities is being largely lost. IMO. in the last 5 years of this advanced science diploma course, we've had only a single student submit anything remotely resembling a technical subject for their final presentation, everything else has been of an artistic bent - and the industry judges, drawn from the ranks of art and wedding photographers did not know what to make of it. Model shoots, commercial work, art photos, polaroid lifts - these are what has been judged of late - often a simple collection of 2 or three images in frames, when in past years it was UV examinations, medical projects, a rather wonderful device for capturing *deep* dof macro subjects, electronic projects and triggers, hand built full rotation panoramic cameras, oil immersion underwater housings, critical and methodical experiments in IR photography and applications - all manner of technical things usually resulting in a body of written work illustrated by the odd smattering of images. The judges of past times were from the museums, universities etc, but those old-style photographers have all left the system been replaced with the new style people who almost all use digital exclusively and fare not into unknown territory. We lost our electron microscope, the 8x10 enlarger was sold for scrap, the electronics areas were closed, the 60+ microscopes sent to auction (we kept one to show students what a microscope was). There's not a calculator to be seen in any class, chemistry has been elimated, the optical bench is a curiosity that resides in a cupboard.. it's been very hard to watch this 'progress' ..and when I get sms's from former students who've been out working in industry professionally for 2 or 3 years and they've found themselves in a critical situation, asking whether they should take reflected or ambient meter readings of a certain scene(!) I really wonder . k <grumble>
