Has Photoshop Made Real Photography Boring?

Today I want to share you some insight from a very special artist by the name of David Hockney. David was born in 1937 in the UK and has been buried deep into art and photography for most of his life. He has probably seen more change in technology with respect to cameras and imagery than most any other person alive. He has dedicated his life to the arts through painting and photography. In a recent interview he says they the use of modern tools like Photoshop have taken a toll on the arts in general, but in particular painting and photography.

David Hockney was invited to the official launch of Photoshop many years ago. He was invited because of his devoted interest in photography, but he says Photoshop has ruined many of things that used to be unique. Things like magazine covers have all started to look similar and boring because everyone is using the same tool, “Photoshop”. He says creativity has been lost and a certain staleness has begun to flourish in the art of displaying imagery. He also says there is a disconnect in the human experience. He says this because of digital imagery, but in particular Photoshop which has made it common practice to produce flawless images without blemish, and perfectly rendered shadows and highlights. The images, we look at them, admire them, but the fact is they just don’t allow us to connect with them.

I tend to agree with much of what he is saying. As wonderful as Photoshop is, the imagery is digital and the prints yielded are also digital. I will always have a place in my heart for analog imagery. There is noting like a silver gelatin print in your hand, and a platinum print is just out of this world. Fiber based papers and textures from chemical based dark rooms just cannot be replicated with today’s digital offerings. When I listened to the David Hockney interview with Christian Lund, it got me thinking about all of the incredible analog imagery that is all but lost. All of the skills that I spent over half my life perfecting are all gone and pretty much useless. I can’t even buy the film, paper, and chemistry to make the images that I used to make. I for one think it is a shame that my kids wont ever get to play in a real darkroom and see first hand the magic happen. There’s noting like the smell of fixer, hypo clearing agent with that subtle smell of photo-flo mixed in for good measure. Some of my best memory’s of photography were spent in a darkroom making the magic happen.

I guess we have all just become too impatient. We want everything now and we want the best the world has to offer. I hear people say all the time, “I buy the best lenses, the best cameras because I want to create the best image possible”. Let me let you in on a little secret, for over 160 years photographs have been made in a chemical way, using analog systems and procedures. The best image quality comes from film cameras, the lowly 4×5 view camera can make a picture with such detail and resolution that if scanned properly would yield a 300-400 megapixel image with ease. A 4×5 camera with a single sheet if film can do things a digital camera can only dream of. The problem is, it takes way, way, way, more money, effort, skill and time to make pictures with it. Digital has spoiled all of us, we aren’t willing to work so hard to make pictures. We are all just as happy to press the shutter button and chimp to see if we got what we want. Compared to my film days digital photography is like playing with my kids fisher price toys, it’s just too easy. I guess that’s why I like Lighting so much, it’s all analog.

Sorry for the rant, David Hockney really made me start to think about what it is I am doing these days. I haven’t decided how I really feel, all I do know is I love photography and the trade offs in digital do have many benefits. I wish I could still have my Kodachrome too! Thanks for reading this post. I hope you have a great day. Sincerely, Thomas Shue