Week Five: Personal Images/Cannon Beach, Oregon

Thought I'd post a series of photos for my week 5 post. Geez, are we already going into week 5? That is crazy. Anyhow, these photos were taken a couple of years ago at Cannon Beach with my first digital camera- a little Canon point & shoot with only a 4 MP capability. I have to admit, I was quite resistant to the whole digital thing- being from the old school of 35mm film. I loved shooting black & white film & spending hours in the darkroom dodging, burning... watching the images slowly develop before my eyes. Digital photography seemed to be cheating somehow. I've learned you can take some pretty crappy photos, but with the use of digital manipulation, you can end up with a pretty decent shot... which seems almost unfair. I guess I felt it took away from "the art" of photography. Back in the old days, you could do some pretty cool stuff too, but you really had to start with a decently exposed & composed image. It seemed there was more technique & skill involved. That being said... I have now learned to really be able to appreciate the technology of digital images. One thing I have to admit enjoying is the instant gratification. In the past, it took some time to develop your images, and you never really knew if you captured the moment the way you wanted until much later. With digital, the ability to see the image immediately lets you know if you need to change the angle slightly, zoom in/out and so forth, allowing you to get exactly the image you want without going through rolls of film, hoping to have captured that one good shot. Also, you can simply delete the ones that are no good, versus having to go through & store tons of negatives. I was also amazed at how decent some of these shots were that I took with the low MP point & shoot. I went back & forth with my little digital camera and my old 35mm for about a year before I invested in a digital SLR, which I absolutely love. Sadly, I haven't used my film camera much since that purchase. It is stored safely away with my negatives & slides from the past... stored away, but not forgotten. Looking forward to sometime in the future where I can slip away into a darkroom somewhere & into the nostalgia of film & delayed gratification.