Become a storming shooter

There are not many photographers anymore that use analog cameras.
Most have switched to digital cameras.
More easy, more options, more economic.

But as always, not everything of what we call progress is that good.
One of the characteristics of a digital camera is that on the back there is a monitor.
A small LCD screen where the photographer can see the results.
Instantly.

This is why that most photographers, after they have taken a picture, immediately look to the back of their camera.
To see on the screen the result.
To check if it is technically OK.
To decide if it is a good or a bad picture.

That is all very fine but besides the huge advantages of having a digital camera there are at least two major disadvantages of this option of seeing instantly the image on a screen on the back of the camera.

One is that the creative process of shooting images is interrupted.
With an analog camera there is nothing to see on the back.
No LCD screen.
Therefore, the photographer takes a picture, possibly looks at the subject, thinks, is creative and shoots again.
And this goes on for maximum 36 images.
However, with a digital camera, the photographer shoots, turns the camera down 45º, studies the result as seen on the LCD screen, turns the camera back in an angle of 90º and pays again attention to the subject.
Hence, for the time the photographer studies the image on the LCD screen, he loses total contact with the subject.
Now imagine the subject is a person.
Each time after taking a picture, the model is left totally alone by the photographer.
Who shifts completely the priorities, the attention and the interaction.
The photographer is going in and out of a relationship.
From being one with the model to being one with the photography.
Most models will not appreciate this approach and way of working.
The model is made a puppet more than ever.

The second vital aspect comparing analog cameras with digital cameras is that with analog cameras no assessment can be made of the pictures that are made until the film is developed and prints are made.
Hence, the photographer shoots left and right knowing that the editing will take place much later.
With this method during the creative process of making pictures no selecting between good and bad takes place.
A lot is made.
Everything is tried.
And later it becomes clear if a successful and convincing picture has been made.

With a digital camera a photographer makes a picture and looks immediately at the LCD screen and gets into the position of an editor.
Who will decide if the picture is good or not good.
We may wonder if editing during a shooting is the best time to do this precarious job.
Is the photographer at that moment cool and objective enough to truly be able to decide if an image is good or bad?
And is it effective to be one moment a photographer and the next moment an editor to return back to being a photographer?
Is that stimulating the creative process?

The approach that is recommended here is to switch off the LCD screen of the digital camera.
And to photograph like it was an orgy by letting go of everything to decide later, after the shooting, what is good and what is bad.
It keeps the photographer in continuing close contact with the model or the subject.
And it makes the photographer a storming shooter.



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