So that happened..

It’s hard to imagine a world without the internet, but I still hold on to the belief that the world was better off without it. As foolish as it may be to dwell on the past, reminiscing about photography in the 90’s is something I do often, probably because it was the beginning of my career in photography and a world of film and smelly darkrooms, which I loved (and still do). My Forte of Fine Art Photography changed with the introduction of online sales. Many galleries paying rent could not compete with online competition with their lower prices and little overheads. Thanks to the internet and digital photography, you could now have images online in minutes (seconds now). You could also click and print which in turn affected the hand print, (color and black and white) which I was also part of. The prints got cheap, but the work got big, and expensive.

As for teaching photography! Having gone from fully in-person to eighty percent online, I am left with a bitter taste in my mouth. Admittedly, mentoring Masters students works quite well, but actual teaching online really sucks. There’s this idea that teaching photography online is efficient, something I can only imagine comes from those that know nothing about photography. Things that take a couple of minutes in person, like showing someone how to compose an image, read an exposure, hold a camera, hold a print, now take hours. Establishments will have you believe there are so many benefits to teaching online; “The Students can be mobile” actually they are still in bed. “The students have access to so much information online” That’s why there’s so much plagiarism….

I think the saddest part of online teaching is that It will bring an end to the black and white darkroom. I was fortunate enough to have a darkroom at school and made my first black and white print as a teenager. Had it not been for that darkroom, I would never have gone to college where everything was hands on and in person. Yes, Photography was better in the 90’s.