The Ellipse Arts Center was please to welcome back expert fine art photographers David Applegate and Jim Steele for their discussion “Analog to Digital Photography, the State of the Technology.” With over 85 photographers in attendance, most of whom shoot a combination of both film and digital, they discussed photographic technological advances since they last visited the Ellipse Arts Center in 2006.
David and Jim explained how 2 years ago Kodak was the top manufacture of digital cameras while today Canon holds the #1 spot. Since digital cameras keep getting better, faster and cheaper, Kodak has stopped making black and white film and Nikon has limited their production to only two film cameras. Although, film is still available and since the problems that go along with digital photography are not easily solvable, there still remains a major difference between the final results of digital verse film photography.
When making the switch from film to digital there is a large learning curve. Depending on a photographers comfort level with computers, switching to digital can be impediment. Books by Bruce Fraser are a brilliant resource to assist those making the switch.
David and Jim went on to explain that the main thing to remember is that there is “there is no substitute for vision!” Once one has that vision, a photographer should figure out the most appropriate technique to achieve their vision in the final print.
PHOTO 08 Juror, David Griffin, Director of Photography for National Geographic Magazine, spoke to a crowd of over 85 attendees the evening of Thursday, March 6th, 2008 about his experience choosing work for the Ellipse Art Center’s current exhibition, on display through Saturday April 12th.
When selecting work, it was first most important for the photograph’s subject matter to make an emotional connection with David. Second, he was impressed with works that were able to make ‘order out of chaos' and transcend what the average eye sees to discover patterns and rhythms in the world. Third, he choose work in which the photographic technique was ‘transparent,’ meaning that the photo processes the artist used did not distract him from viewing the work.After these three main ideas, David went on to explain that there is a balance to this criteria and 100 other little things are considered when editing photographs. Moreover, since David’s background is in journalism, his eye is trained to edit for print publications. Thus he is not as concerned with framing and presentation issues.
Above: David’s favorite work in the show was Min Enghauser’s By the Light of the Moon. David was thrilled by how this image made him feel as though he could “see in the dark”. Min, who was present at the discussion explained how she was able to capture the stars in her seascape by exposing her film for 45 seconds.Below: David talks about Andrew Katona's Tomato.
