Growing Older (2005-Present)
In 2005, I went kicking and screaming into the world of digital photography. I don't often make technological changes easily, and always seem to put them off until I absolutely have to, but when I finally made the transition from film to digital the results were both thrilling and revelatory for me. I put my beloved Leica into the closet, bought a couple of digital Nikon D100's and some new zoom lenses, and made the switch from shooting my personal work in black and white to shooting it in color.
I had spent a lifetime on my feet breathing chemicals in the darkroom, and as I got older the amount of time I could now spend in that toxic, glowing red room was diminishing, so the switch from film to digital came along at just the right time for me. With digital I now had the ability to shoot in almost any lighting situation I found myself facing, I could change exposure speeds and color balance with the turn of a dial, and I could see my images immediately on the camera's monitor, which allowed me to make adjustments on the fly, and was especially helpful in the midst of shooting commercial assignments. Digital also gave me the push and inspiration to once again return to photographing longterm projects. For my everyday shooting, I began to expand the range of subject matter that I was seeing and responding to, and the overall body of work got stronger as a result.
As I look back on my life in photography I often think how truly blessed I have been to have learned photography during the age of film, and that I was around to reap the rewards of the medium's transition into the digital age.
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