World Photography Day

[Deleted User 289]

Take a pic today. Of anything. Keep it to yourself. Or share it.
One of the most underrated inventions of all time - the camera.
Or maybe I should say one of the most taken for granted gifts we have is the ability to take a photograph.

I welcome anyone and everyone to share a photo (or multiple photos) they have taken and post it/them on this thread.
I have literally 10s of thousands I could share. I could never choose a favorite or even a 1,000 "favorites" out of my 10s of thousands.

Instead I will share 8 random ones that I have taken in the last 8 days.

[pdub]

"Or maybe I should say one of the most taken for granted gifts we have is the ability to take a photograph."

I'm torn here - at one point, I might agree, because people were capturing memories.

Now I think people spend too much time behind their phones ( which have cameras ) and tend to share a fake idealized life through those images and videos and this, along with other forms of digital communication, continues to distance people from actual human interaction.

Seeing people standing on top of a mountain, beautiful view for miles, with the sun rising, and staring at it through their camera, is sad for me.

I would also point out the advancements in cameras, which eliminate shutter speed/aperture adjustments, developing film, concern for motion blur, make more people think they are artists for clicking a button and then adding a pre-made filter to their photo.

[ousdahl]

This thread has potential.

Hey gutter, what photo hosting site do you use?

[ousdahl]

I was gonna post this picture as just a picture but I’ll just post it hosted on the gram.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CD4UE7Jlaot ... 0lpzj9rrik

[ousdahl]

"Or maybe I should say one of the most taken for granted gifts we have is the ability to take a photograph."

I'm torn here - at one point, I might agree, because people were capturing memories.

Now I think people spend too much time behind their phones ( which have cameras ) and tend to share a fake idealized life through those images and videos and this, along with other forms of digital communication, continues to distance people from actual human interaction.

Seeing people standing on top of a mountain, beautiful view for miles, with the sun rising, and staring at it through their camera, is sad for me.

I would also point out the advancements in cameras, which eliminate shutter speed/aperture adjustments, developing film, concern for motion blur, make more people think they are artists for clicking a button and then adding a pre-made filter to their photo.

lot of truth to this.

and even then, with a digital processer doing all the work for you, lots of folks still suck at photos. No sense of frame or context or anything. Still all blurry and poor lighting, but at least you have that filter that turns your face into a cartoon dog.

[pdub]

I had an old school Nikon FE, 1978 in college, and developed my own film, and was taught by one of my favorite professors at KU, Luke Jordan.

Let's see these kids roll film on a reel in the dark - then let them have their iphones back.

[ousdahl]

dang, pdub was in college in 1978, you're older than I thought bro.

[ousdahl]

although National Lampoon's Animal House also came out in 1978. It all makes sense now.

[pdub]

Gutter was a pledge at my house when I was a 6th year senior.

[Deleted User 289]

"Or maybe I should say one of the most taken for granted gifts we have is the ability to take a photograph."

I'm torn here - at one point, I might agree, because people were capturing memories.

Now I think people spend too much time behind their phones ( which have cameras ) and tend to share a fake idealized life through those images and videos and this, along with other forms of digital communication, continues to distance people from actual human interaction.

Seeing people standing on top of a mountain, beautiful view for miles, with the sun rising, and staring at it through their camera, is sad for me.

I would also point out the advancements in cameras, which eliminate shutter speed/aperture adjustments, developing film, concern for motion blur, make more people think they are artists for clicking a button and then adding a pre-made filter to their photo.

I agree with much of what you say.
Big difference between "photography" today and what it was let's say 25-30 years ago.
You and I understand what true photography was back then - and the process of developing film.
No one could have thought 40 years ago that people would be pressing buttons on their phones and their photos would become "viral".

I have a "camera/video" story that goes back over 35 years. My Father went to Alaska in the summer.
Not sure the exact year but like I said, it was over 35 years ago.
He was on a scenic boat trip. Weather wasn't optimal but it wasn't bad.
He said the majority of the people sat INSIDE on the boat and had their eyes fixed to a VIDEO feed on a monitor of what was outside.
He said he felt the need to ask the people what the fuck was wrong with them.
Clearly the majority had traveled to Alaska, here they were out in the wilderness and the beauty was right there for them to view with their own eyes, and instead they chose to stare at a video monitor.

[Deleted User 289]

This thread has potential.

Hey gutter, what photo hosting site do you use?

Not the right one.
I don't "share" my photos other than occasionally on Facebook, Instagram, and on here.
I use Smugmug but don't use it to the best of my and its ability.
I have a hodgepodge of a lot of shit that is poorly organized.
I do keep all my memory cards so I guess it wouldn't hurt for me to really do some proper organizing off all my photos and get rid of shit I don't like/need/want.

[Deleted User 289]

Gutter was a pledge at my house when I was a 6th year senior.

A) I wish I was a pledge at your house back then.
B) I wish I was currently a 30th year Senior.

[chiknbut]

I had an old school Nikon FE, 1978 in college, and developed my own film, and was taught by one of my favorite professors at KU, Luke Jordan.

Let's see these kids roll film on a reel in the dark - then let them have their iphones back.

Senior year at the Kansan, it was explained to me that one might have to take a job at a smaller newspaper when you first get out. One where you have to take your own pictures and develop your own film. A very nice gentleman at the Kansan named Ray taught me how to roll film on a spool in the dark room and "soup" the film.

Seems like an ancient practice now, but it was a great education. Made me a much more valuable hire when I went on to that small newspaper.

[pdub]

I had an old school Nikon FE, 1978 in college, and developed my own film, and was taught by one of my favorite professors at KU, Luke Jordan.

Let's see these kids roll film on a reel in the dark - then let them have their iphones back.

Senior year at the Kansan, it was explained to me that one might have to take a job at a smaller newspaper when you first get out. One where you have to take your own pictures and develop your own film. A very nice gentleman at the Kansan named Ray taught me how to roll film on a spool in the dark room and "soup" the film.

Seems like an ancient practice now, but it was a great education. Made me a much more valuable hire when I went on to that small newspaper.

Yup.
The first couple times was pretty tough - ruined some rolls of film actually.

[chiknbut]

I had an old school Nikon FE, 1978 in college, and developed my own film, and was taught by one of my favorite professors at KU, Luke Jordan.

Let's see these kids roll film on a reel in the dark - then let them have their iphones back.

Senior year at the Kansan, it was explained to me that one might have to take a job at a smaller newspaper when you first get out. One where you have to take your own pictures and develop your own film. A very nice gentleman at the Kansan named Ray taught me how to roll film on a spool in the dark room and "soup" the film.

Seems like an ancient practice now, but it was a great education. Made me a much more valuable hire when I went on to that small newspaper.

Yup.
The first couple times was pretty tough - ruined some rolls of film actually.

Ruined portions of rolls for years. There was a real art to it. When you got a completely clean one it was pretty awesome.

[zsn]

Lots of old school folks! I thought I was going to be the last guy on the planet shooting film! About 6 years ago my took photography in high school and used my still-working Canon A-1 with a full set of filters to shoot B/W for her class!! Her teacher thought I was a lunatic for teaching her the term “compose on the enlarger”. I was taught (if you’re doing your own processing and printing to just get everything on film and worry about the composition in the dark room.

Never heard of “soup” - is it a midwestern term? As mentioned before my formative years were from my home country where static electricity is not usually a problem in everyday life. However, when spoooling film from a large roll into 35mm cassettes you can see the spark jump if you unspool too fast and you end up with zombie streaks on the developed roll! Cool effects if that’s what you want but not if you’re trying to shoot landscape.

I had a friend who was two years ahead of me in college who ended up in the film industry as a cinematographer. These were days when color film was expensive and was imported. He would have me come over to the processing lab and take the last few seconds worth of cine film (it’s one 24-frame roll for every second!) and roll them onto recycled film cassettes. It was a little higher contrast than print film due to the reversal process but it worked for what we were doing.

I agree with ousie. People have a terrible sense of lighting and composition. Whenever I hand my camera to a random person to take a picture of me in front of a scene they invariably centre me in the picture, have a huge area in the foreground and cut off the top of whatever is behind me!! I have to point out to them to frame in such a way to cut me off at the thighs and get the maximum of the background.