A view of the future of photography (from 1944)

[JohnC]

http://www.rit.edu/~andpph/giants/PO...ture-1944.html

[Paul Shields]

Great link! I love these 'predict the future' essays - particularly when they're so old and so we have the wonderful benefit of hindsight.

I found the predictions of finer grain and increased tonality are just like current wishes of 'more megapixels and lower noise'.

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose


Oh - and didn't photographers talk so much more eloqently and philosophically in 1944? :P

[Alice Morrison]

Good stuff.

[Gaelan]

This article was published when I was 3years,5months old. Two years later Santa brought me my first camera.
How many of you have dabbled in the diazo process or made a print on gold chloride paper?
How many of us old timers have enjoyed loosing the smell of rotton eggs on the family while attempting sepia toning in the bathroom/darkroom?
I remember envisioning these same improvements and designing cameras with do-everything features in grade school.
By the time I got to high school and became the nerd with the camera I appreciated the skills of the early tin type artists and actually worked with an 8x10 studio camera on my first job with a real studio photographer.
My first newspaper job was wagging around a six pound Crown Graphic and using 4x5 plates. The strobe was 18# with the battery pack, (not rechargeables either so I learned to depend on available light).
Over the years I have owned/used everything from the 8mm Minox spy camera to a 5x7 antique which taxed my patience and caused me to return to the 35mm format.
NIKON uber Allis!
I never wanted to go electronic but the cost of setting up and buying supplies forced me to go digital.
Reading this article brings back a lot of memories and produced a tear or two.
Future evolution of photography equipment? Every day I get magazines and catalogs with new developments and toys. We are in an age of accelerated refinement and invention.
I hope I live to see the return of the tripod mounted 16x20 view camera.
This time with a built in bar and hot tub.
I have come to enjoy the creature comforts and as long as there are no creatures, I'm comfortable.

[Alice Morrison]

Gaelan, you're a card.

[ditto1958]

Originally Posted by Gaelan

I never wanted to go electronic but the cost of setting up and buying supplies forced me to go digital.
Reading this article brings back a lot of memories and produced a tear or two.
Future evolution of photography equipment? Every day I get magazines and catalogs with new developments and toys. We are in an age of accelerated refinement and invention.

Great points. I think we sometimes forget, amid all these new toys which are being introduced on an almost daily basis, that back in 1944 people actually could take excellent photographs. In many cases, the quality was better than that of the average run of the mill photo today. The bordered black and white glossy prints the drugstore my grandfather used to get from the corner drugstore from his Brownie look better to me than most of the 4x6 prints we can get today from the local 1-hour minilab.