Friday 15 August 2008

Keeping up

Pulling a fishing boat ashore - Sheringham, Norfolk, UK

Last weekend, i met up with my friend Matt who I've known since the early 1990's when we were at college together. We talked about our college mates, funny situations we remembered and then we realised how far things have come technology wise since we did that TV, Film and photography course.

Matt works in the video industry which has been as revolutionised by digital technology as photography has. Back at college in the early 1990's it was still videotape and film - Umatic or Super 8mm for videotape and 8mm for film. Now its digital hard drive recording and computer editing tools. For photography during the early nineties, it was just film. Digital was in its first stages of development, not really a viable tool in industry at that time and it was extremely expensive, so we were taught how to use the technology of the day. Things, since then, have moved on fast.

Both of us learned to use digital camera technology in the workplace, long after we left college. Even during the late 1990's, digital cameras were expensive and in short supply- film was still the main medium of choice. This was a transition period from film to digital. Within ten years the medium has reversed with some photographic students, it is often alleged, starting their degrees with NO experience of using film cameras. The only real education for the digital age i received during my years at college was for using Photoshop.... on an Apple Mac.

The digital camera isn't the BIG development of the last twenty years though. The Internet is. For the creative person it is the perfect way to get your work out into the world. We never saw it coming and yet it has significantly revolutionised the way we work.

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