What would have happened to us as photographers if....

**Mikesul** · 07-07-2018, 05:07 PM

Do you suppose we would have become as enthusiastic photographers as we are if there had been all this automation when we took up the hobby in the 60s, 70s or 80s? Would it have been as fun and challenging as it was then? I fully appreciate and use all the helps modern cameras offer but If I was just stating, I wonder. if I would have been so entranced. Imagine not having to wait a week or later a day to see what we had done. All that and more.

Wheatfield · 07-07-2018, 05:24 PM

For me it was the darkroom that got me into photography. I loved darkroom work, and for that, one must have negatives.
I preferred to shoot my own.
Probably I would have taken up something else had the darkroom not lured me in.

normhead · 07-07-2018, 05:27 PM - **1 Like**

The darkroom was definitely part of the deal. My father had one set up in the basement. I started helping him down there when I was 6 years old. I still remember just barely being able to see into the trays to watch the image magically appear. I'm pretty sure when I started he had a little box for me to stand on.These days it's Photoshop that gets the kids attention if they are keeners.

**boriscleto** · 07-07-2018, 05:44 PM

I dropped photography entirely for about 8 years after I graduated from high school. I didn't really get back into it until I got a Kodak digital P&S about 16 years ago...(My first 2 digital cameras didn't get a lot of use).

Probably because I would have had to pay for my own processing. (My uncle used to be able to process E-6 for me for free)

aaacb · 07-07-2018, 05:53 PM - **1 Like**

I like to think the greatest challenges in photography are not related to technical settings. But I'm a shameless p mode shooter, unless I decide the image requires more input from me.

**clickclick** · 07-07-2018, 06:13 PM

Hard to say for sure, but the darkroom work certainly added a great dynamic. I love darkroom work, and while I don't do much now, I still have one and am surrounded by a combination of digital and film cameras as I type this. Growing up, I had several photography friends, one going back to the 5th grade, where our weekends would entail shooting several rolls of film (started B&W and then added color slide) during the day and then spending the night at one of our houses and developing the day's film. Would it have been as much fun in today's tech world? I'm thinking not. It was quite the ritual, and there was great joy shouting out, "no lights" if we heard the basement door open above. Good times.

**AstroDave** · 07-07-2018, 07:13 PM

Originally posted by normhead

The darkroom was definitely part of the deal. My father had one set up in the basement. I started helping him down there when I was 6 years old.

I might have been a bit older, but I credit my Dad as well, with our basement darkroom, for getting me hooked on photography. He shot a lot of (underexposed!) Tri-X at my school concerts and we spent a lot of time trying to get decent prints from the negatives! We bulk loaded, so film was almost free.

Once I went to school, though, I switched to slides, since I didn't have ready access to darkroom facilities. That made you think a lot more before you pushed the shutter button, at perhaps 30-50 cents a pop for film and processing. Nowadays, the next shot is free - that does help with experimenting with, and learning about, composition and exposure.

**boriscleto** · 07-07-2018, 07:16 PM - **2 Likes**

Originally posted by aaacb

I like to think the greatest challenges in photography are not related to technical settings. But I'm a shameless p mode shooter, unless I decide the image requires more input from me.

P stands for "Professional". Just ask Thom Hogan or Ken Rockwell...

DavidDwight · 07-07-2018, 07:31 PM

+1 for the darkroom.

Both my kids took photo in high school in the last 5 years and the darkroom work in B&W really set the hook for them as well. It really drives home the triad of sensitivity, aperture and time.

I wish there was a darkroom club I could belong to. I think I would get a medium format Pentax.

aaacb · 07-07-2018, 07:32 PM

Originally posted by boriscleto

P stands for "Professional". Just ask Thom Hogan or Ken Rockwell...

Not at all on my first read list

But most of the time it works, and hyper program makes it easy to correct if I want a different shutter or aperture. Sure I can shoot film with a fully manual camera and enjoy it, but is it really that different? More fun in a way, I agree.

**monochrome** · 07-07-2018, 08:58 PM

I never had a darkroom. I waited for the yellow boxes. I have all my negatives and 4x6 the good prints. My daughter rekindled my interest and she encouraged my son. She started in darkroom, taking photography as her HS Art Elective and eventually went to ‘Photography Camp’ for college credit.

What she lacks today is experience with modern digital sensor ISO capabilities. July 4th we had a rather heated argument about the light quality where I was setting up the obligatory family group snapshots. KP, 24~70, f/5.6, 1/125, ISO 1600, a little White Balance adjustment to fix the whites and a nice background in bright, shaded half-light worked. She had wanted squinty-eye full sun. When she chimped my LCD she said “The light’s perfect. How did you do that?” She couldn’t understand how we (my son and I) got such good exposures. Her training and experience has been exclusively with slow B/W films.

I think the process of learning exposure is the same for digital as for film - take photos, look at photos, ‘develop’ photos and take more photos. Eventually you know how to set the camera for the exposure.

Kozlok · 07-07-2018, 09:32 PM

Had film cameras long before digital was around, never took a shine to them much. Digital is what sucked me in. Maybe it was just the thrill of the DA15.

Sandy Hancock · 07-07-2018, 10:38 PM

I was fascinated with photography in my teens (late 70's and early 80's), and was lucky to have intermittent access to almost free darkroom facilities.

But it was my first DSLR in 2008, and more recently this Forum, which really got me going.

**Alex645** · 07-07-2018, 10:52 PM

Originally posted by Mikesul

Do you suppose we would have become as enthusiastic photographers as we are if there had been all this automation when we took up the hobby in the 60s, 70s or 80s? Would it have been as fun and challenging as it was then? I fully appreciate and use all the helps modern cameras offer but If I was just stating, I wonder. if I would have been so entranced. Imagine not having to wait a week or later a day to see what we had done. All that and more.

Good question. When I started to drive a car, it was a stick shift, with a manual choke, and almost nothing had power (brakes, steering, windows, etc.). Young people today, in my perspective, don't enjoy driving the same way I do. I think they see it more as an appliance to get from point A to B and the most important thing is syncing with their cell phones.

Barry Pearson · 07-08-2018, 12:11 AM

Originally posted by Mikesul

Imagine not having to wait a week or later a day to see what we had done. All that and more.

In 1963 I was doing some physiograms, using a 35mm camera. I needed to see the results within minutes, not days!

So I used orthochromatic film, (insensitive to red), and cut the film into strips about 2 inches long. Then developed and stopped, (not completely fixed), each strip immediately after exposure.

This worked every well, for this highly specialised form of photography. Lots more here:

Physiograms

Physiogram techniques

Original Physiograms

07-07-2018, 05:07 PM	#1
Mikesul Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Phoenix, AZ Posts: 7,594	What would have happened to us as photographers if.... Do you suppose we would have become as enthusiastic photographers as we are if there had been all this automation when we took up the hobby in the 60s, 70s or 80s? Would it have been as fun and challenging as it was then? I fully appreciate and use all the helps modern cameras offer but If I was just stating, I wonder. if I would have been so entranced. Imagine not having to wait a week or later a day to see what we had done. All that and more.

07-07-2018, 07:32 PM	#10
aaacb Pentaxian Join Date: May 2016 Photos: Gallery Posts: 3,726	Originally posted by boriscleto P stands for "Professional". Just ask Thom Hogan or Ken Rockwell... Not at all on my first read list But most of the time it works, and hyper program makes it easy to correct if I want a different shutter or aperture. Sure I can shoot film with a fully manual camera and enjoy it, but is it really that different? More fun in a way, I agree. Last edited by aaacb; 07-07-2018 at 07:38 PM.

07-07-2018, 08:58 PM	#11
monochrome Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Working From Home Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 26,276	I never had a darkroom. I waited for the yellow boxes. I have all my negatives and 4x6 the good prints. My daughter rekindled my interest and she encouraged my son. She started in darkroom, taking photography as her HS Art Elective and eventually went to ‘Photography Camp’ for college credit. What she lacks today is experience with modern digital sensor ISO capabilities. July 4th we had a rather heated argument about the light quality where I was setting up the obligatory family group snapshots. KP, 24~70, f/5.6, 1/125, ISO 1600, a little White Balance adjustment to fix the whites and a nice background in bright, shaded half-light worked. She had wanted squinty-eye full sun. When she chimped my LCD she said “The light’s perfect. How did you do that?” She couldn’t understand how we (my son and I) got such good exposures. Her training and experience has been exclusively with slow B/W films. I think the process of learning exposure is the same for digital as for film - take photos, look at photos, ‘develop’ photos and take more photos. Eventually you know how to set the camera for the exposure. Last edited by monochrome; 07-08-2018 at 03:49 AM.

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07-07-2018, 05:24 PM	#2
Wheatfield Moderator Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: The wheatfields of Canada Posts: 15,986	For me it was the darkroom that got me into photography. I loved darkroom work, and for that, one must have negatives. I preferred to shoot my own. Probably I would have taken up something else had the darkroom not lured me in.

07-07-2018, 05:27 PM - 1 Like	#3
normhead Pentaxian Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Near Algonquin Park Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 40,451	The darkroom was definitely part of the deal. My father had one set up in the basement. I started helping him down there when I was 6 years old. I still remember just barely being able to see into the trays to watch the image magically appear. I'm pretty sure when I started he had a little box for me to stand on.These days it's Photoshop that gets the kids attention if they are keeners.

07-07-2018, 05:44 PM	#4
boriscleto Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: North Syracuse, NY Photos: Gallery Posts: 16,476	I dropped photography entirely for about 8 years after I graduated from high school. I didn't really get back into it until I got a Kodak digital P&S about 16 years ago...(My first 2 digital cameras didn't get a lot of use). Probably because I would have had to pay for my own processing. (My uncle used to be able to process E-6 for me for free)

07-07-2018, 05:53 PM - 1 Like	#5
aaacb Pentaxian Join Date: May 2016 Photos: Gallery Posts: 3,726	I like to think the greatest challenges in photography are not related to technical settings. But I'm a shameless p mode shooter, unless I decide the image requires more input from me.

07-07-2018, 06:13 PM	#6
clickclick Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: May 2016 Location: East Coast Posts: 2,904	Hard to say for sure, but the darkroom work certainly added a great dynamic. I love darkroom work, and while I don't do much now, I still have one and am surrounded by a combination of digital and film cameras as I type this. Growing up, I had several photography friends, one going back to the 5th grade, where our weekends would entail shooting several rolls of film (started B&W and then added color slide) during the day and then spending the night at one of our houses and developing the day's film. Would it have been as much fun in today's tech world? I'm thinking not. It was quite the ritual, and there was great joy shouting out, "no lights" if we heard the basement door open above. Good times.

07-07-2018, 07:13 PM	#7
AstroDave Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: May 2007 Location: Flagstaff, Arizona Posts: 1,648	Originally posted by normhead The darkroom was definitely part of the deal. My father had one set up in the basement. I started helping him down there when I was 6 years old. I might have been a bit older, but I credit my Dad as well, with our basement darkroom, for getting me hooked on photography. He shot a lot of (underexposed!) Tri-X at my school concerts and we spent a lot of time trying to get decent prints from the negatives! We bulk loaded, so film was almost free. Once I went to school, though, I switched to slides, since I didn't have ready access to darkroom facilities. That made you think a lot more before you pushed the shutter button, at perhaps 30-50 cents a pop for film and processing. Nowadays, the next shot is free - that does help with experimenting with, and learning about, composition and exposure.

07-07-2018, 07:16 PM - 2 Likes	#8
boriscleto Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: North Syracuse, NY Photos: Gallery Posts: 16,476	Originally posted by aaacb I like to think the greatest challenges in photography are not related to technical settings. But I'm a shameless p mode shooter, unless I decide the image requires more input from me. P stands for "Professional". Just ask Thom Hogan or Ken Rockwell...

07-07-2018, 07:31 PM	#9
DavidDwight Forum Member Join Date: May 2014 Location: Pittsburgh Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 74	+1 for the darkroom. Both my kids took photo in high school in the last 5 years and the darkroom work in B&W really set the hook for them as well. It really drives home the triad of sensitivity, aperture and time. I wish there was a darkroom club I could belong to. I think I would get a medium format Pentax.

07-07-2018, 09:32 PM	#12
Kozlok Pentaxian Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Albuquerque Photos: Gallery Posts: 3,148	Had film cameras long before digital was around, never took a shine to them much. Digital is what sucked me in. Maybe it was just the thrill of the DA15.

07-07-2018, 10:38 PM	#13
Sandy Hancock Moderator Site Supporter Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Adelaide Hills, South Australia Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 11,275	I was fascinated with photography in my teens (late 70's and early 80's), and was lucky to have intermittent access to almost free darkroom facilities. But it was my first DSLR in 2008, and more recently this Forum, which really got me going.

07-07-2018, 10:52 PM	#14
Alex645 Site Supporter Join Date: May 2015 Location: Kaneohe, HI Photos: Albums Posts: 3,527	Originally posted by Mikesul Do you suppose we would have become as enthusiastic photographers as we are if there had been all this automation when we took up the hobby in the 60s, 70s or 80s? Would it have been as fun and challenging as it was then? I fully appreciate and use all the helps modern cameras offer but If I was just stating, I wonder. if I would have been so entranced. Imagine not having to wait a week or later a day to see what we had done. All that and more. Good question. When I started to drive a car, it was a stick shift, with a manual choke, and almost nothing had power (brakes, steering, windows, etc.). Young people today, in my perspective, don't enjoy driving the same way I do. I think they see it more as an appliance to get from point A to B and the most important thing is syncing with their cell phones.

07-08-2018, 12:11 AM	#15
Barry Pearson Veteran Member Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: Stockport Posts: 964	Originally posted by Mikesul Imagine not having to wait a week or later a day to see what we had done. All that and more. In 1963 I was doing some physiograms, using a 35mm camera. I needed to see the results within minutes, not days! So I used orthochromatic film, (insensitive to red), and cut the film into strips about 2 inches long. Then developed and stopped, (not completely fixed), each strip immediately after exposure. This worked every well, for this highly specialised form of photography. Lots more here: Physiograms Physiogram techniques Original Physiograms