The Digital Dilemma

"For some time, my loathing of cameras has been bubbling away on a low heat. The other day it finally boiled over". So said Nigel Farndale in his column in last week's Sunday Telegraph.

You can read the article on the Telegraph website, but, in a nutshell, Mr Farndale was relating the tale of being plagued by a snap-happy tourist on the Barcelona cable car. Apparently the tourist managed to rattle off over a hundrd shots in next to no time, never stopping once to admire the view first hand. In other words, his only recollection of the magnificent aerial views over the spires of Barcelona will be second-hand, some time later, if he indeed bothers to look at the pictures at all. Mr Farndale did refrain from pushing the tourist out of the cable car but you can imagine his irritation.

Over the past week the various comments added to the article (on the Telegraph website) have ranged from 'get a life and leave people to do whatever they want' to messages of support and further tirades against video cameras and people using mobile phones in public places.

My take on this is that the issue lies not with photography as such (I am rather biased of course), but with the invention of digital photography (of which I am also a fan). Suddenly photography is perceived to be easy. "You can take hundreds of photos at no cost only keep the good ones". And if they don't turn out as well as you'd hoped, "you can improve them later on the computer". There is an element of truth in both of these statements about digital, but the art of photography, and the thought processes that go into making a good photograph are the same as they ever were. Mr. Farndale bemoans the fact that photography is no longer a 'noble art'. But in my view it still can be. Photography has not changed, only the tools.

My advice is to treat your digital camera as if it were a film camera (if you remember film of course), with a cost attached to every frame. Consider your image before pressing the shutter and resist the urge to machine-gun your subject in the hope that you'll get one great image. But most importantly, put your camera down for a while. Take in the view. Soak up the atmosphere. Enjoy the moment. In the present, and not 'sometime later'.