3/8/2010 10:55:00 PM
Editorial: Passing of an era makes some sad
| |
|
The Daily Courier
Anyone who took up photography before the digital age can describe what an exciting feeling it was the first time they saw an image emerge on the photographic paper in the developer tray.
The newspaper business phased into digital photography in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Gone were the stinky chemicals, darkrooms and enlargers. The digital camera captures the images, computer software adjusts and enhances them and they move on to printing plates as groups of electrons.
But the change seems truly complete and irrevocable when the local repository of historical images shuts down its darkroom.
The Sharlot Hall Museum has announced that March 22 is the final day the public will be able to place an order for a historical print made from a photo negative. And on March 31, its darkroom will close for good.
Thereafter, those ordering historical prints will receive them through digital printouts.
The museum has scanned more than 10,000 historical photos and negatives into a digital database, and soon the entire collection of 120,000 images will find their spots on disc drives.
The darkroom will remain, and so will the glass negatives and other historical media, because they are priceless artifacts. Photography was one of society's great advances and it's vital we keep the treasures that show us how far we've come.
Little did legendary Civil War photographer Matthew Arnold Brady or pioneer Arizona lensman C.S. Fly ever think that one day their work would fit in a few lines on a hard drive.
Digital photography has brought us infinitely greater image quality and speed.
But like the closing of the Sharlot Hall darkroom, it saps the art of some of its magic and romance.
So it is with progress.
|
Posted: Thursday, March 11, 2010
Article comment by:
tom 1
I think pictures are better than digitals, I still have a polariod and like it. the tea party will make laws to protect jobs like those in the picture industry. Thank you paper for still taking pictures.
Posted: Thursday, March 11, 2010
Article comment by:
UN popular
How about giving the photo developer the position of comment approval and submission. As the person doing it now playing god with freedom of speech and or sleeping on the job. Hey editor stop refusing the comments you don't like.
Posted: Tuesday, March 09, 2010
Article comment by:
Christine Dana
to Clement, digital files can easily be opened no matter how advanced the programs become.
as for the article, I don't find it very sad at all. Yes, technology can be scary, with all those new-fangled computers. But lets face it, the old ways of developing photos is messy and slow. Anyone with a good digital camera, some PhotoShop or GIMP can reproduce such photography and in fact be better at it.
Posted: Tuesday, March 09, 2010
Article comment by:
Clement R
It is indeed sad to see the darkroom go, but what concerns some people is the ability of future generations to access the photos that have been digitized. Technology will change and will it be necessary to go back and redo a lot of the records?
|
Article Comment Submission Form
|
|
