I have seen 4 decades of photography. From my perspective the journey from my perceptions in the 80’s to now seems to be a century long or more. I might try to sum it up better though, partly because a trip down memory lane is always cathartic, but also to remind us all, me and you the reader, just how far we have come, what we have learned and equally, what we have forgotten.
1980’s
The vibe at this time was one of “everything is new", everything is cool and confusing”
My first camera (T80 Canon) was a birthday gift to myself with little inspiration other than an awareness of a father and grandfather with photographic interests, but they were only memories for me, so I will assume it was a personal choice.
Cameras at this point were a mix of metal-manual everything with shutter and aperture priority available in some form, or the very first “modern” cameras with curvy plastic grips, full auto, little screens and built in motors.
The main cameras at the time were the Canon T90 (x3), F1 (x2), F1n, A-1 and Olympus OM-1 and OM-4ti (x2). I had plenty of lenses, favouring primes, because we needed the speed (see below) including long glass like a 300 f2.8 Tokina, Olympus 180 f2.8, Canon 200 f2.8 and 135 f2. Wish I still had most of these.
Film stock was Kodachrome 64, Fuji Velvia 50 slide films, most black and white films, Tri-X (rated at 250), XP-2 and APX 25 being favourites and occasional Fuji Reala print film. Film speed was the major control point at this time, fast glass was not only cool, but often necessary at ISO 50! The big issue with print film was actually lab processing, something I did not fully realise at the time and when I did the answer was prohibitively difficult, so I used mono and slide film for more control at exposure or processing.
I went to enormous lengths to get medium format quality from 35mm using APX 25 and heavily diluted Rodinal (200:1- low agitation) with consistent if difficult to achieve success and even dabbled with mixing my own chemicals.
I learned to develop black and white prints, spending some time in the dark room, but not that much as I hated it to be honest. My father in law helped me build two excellent darkrooms, but no matter how I tried, my darkroom work is mostly memories of cleaning dust of surfaces, bad smells chemicals and expensive, disappointing results.
I learned a lot of theory and could enable others, something I realise is a thing with me, which was handy as I was working in the industry in some form. I developed a skill for making hard things sound easy, but for me, photography was mostly sporadic mono prints from a vast catalogue of unrealised negatives, a collection of slides with little chance of being seen (the reality with slides) and lots of coffee table books of others’ work.
Highlights were a trip to Prague in the post Communism 80’s with 100 rolls of film, which felt like living the actual life.
My inspirations were contemporary black and white photographers like Salgado and Michael Kenna and National Geo colour shooters.
Late in the decade, I started to look at auto focus more after the ludicrous T80, helped by Canons ascendency here with the EOS cameras, but I did not jump at this point as I felt AF was not there and nor was the system.
1990’s
General vibe for me now was one of self assured exploration.
The 1990’s were much the same as the 80’s, but with more mature expectations focussing on quality, so I dabbled in medium format (Bronica, Pentax, Fuji) and dreamt of formats large and small. Ironically, the two cheapest formats were 35mm and large format (4x5” or 8x10”), medium format was a killer in every way.
I also discovered the wonder that was a Pentax Spot meter.
I was employed by a firm that used Olympus, Nikon and Hasselblad as well as Sinar large format cameras, so I had some exposure to many brands and processes. We did commercial and wedding photography in the era of few professionals and not many more amateurs, so being a photographer, which it dawns on me now I actually was (more an apprentice I guess), was something back then.
We still shot Polaroids before portraits, studio lights were a major process, everything was done with a risk to return formula as film, paper, batteries and time were expensive.
AF came into my life in the form of a pair of EOS 50’s, then an A2 (EOS 5 without eye focus) and a full system switch. This hurt and in hindsight, I could have as easily switched to Nikon at this point, but Canon loyalty reigned and in AF they were in front thanks to a new mount.
It is important to remember here, you are only buying the body and system, the colours and look were in the film or print stock, so there was no loyalty to a “look” only form factor, options, performance and reliability.
I dreamed of a life travelling, so manual cameras that did not need batteries were still on my mind, the Nikon FM2 a favourite, but I stuck to plastic fantastic EOS.
Film brands were slowly offering slightly faster options like Velvia 100 (50 was the original), but mono films were losing their mojo a little with reduced silver content and mono processed through colour print soup was popular (XP2 and the like).
The first serious digital cameras were emerging, but cost a house for sub-par performance.
I shed Olympus, Canon FD and my medium format did not last long as photography at this time went from a maximum quality obsession to a need to just record my life.
The 2000’s
General vibe, confused apathy.
With the 2000’s I had a decent AF kit, including 100 macro, 70-200 f2.8, lots of L and regular primes, lots of cameras.
To be honest my photography was on the wane with the looming monster of digital and a feeling of apathetic confusion regarding the what, why and when of it all. I was not a computer user, so that side of things felt like starting all over again, with bells on and the “Photoshop manipulation” train was full steam, making it feel like the province of tech nerds, not photographers.
We travelled a bit, often being the main driver for my imaging, but it was clear I was dropping away from the fold, jaded by a change I felt was killing the soul of photography.
A friend at the time sold me a third hand EOS 10D, an excellent camera and reasonably compatible with my kit (wide angle lenses were an issue for everyone at this time, my 17-40L being the widest) and taught me Lightroom 2 before I had even sent an email!
It made sense and I picked up the basics quickly, but the whole computer thing did my head in.
Even with my still and digital shift, I was still a very occasional shooter, not very productive, but digital was effectively free to do. I had a Deviant Art site and feverishly added images as they came.
I became “like” obsessed, something I have rejected since.
This decade was the big shift, film becoming ever less popular and digital, often with little reason, but it was the new horizon. Most films were still available, neg scanners were being used by papers, printers etc, but the shift to cameras with digital sensors was clear.
My obsession was the EOS 5D, but the cost alone made it a professional camera only ($4000+ twenty years ago). I remember saying to a friend once that “the 12mp on the 5D is enough for anything!”. Probably more true than not, but things moved on.
Mid decade I got a job in the cities top camera store, after a long period out of the industry (my third camera store job), right when the last big camera bubble hit. We did literally millions in sales per year (per salesman some years), selling the now “more than enough” EOS, Nikon, Sony (ex Minolta), Pentax and Four Thirds SLR’s and compacts, then the early mirrorless movement emerged.
The 2010’s
The 2010’s saw many major shifts in my life and the industry as a whole.
Sales were still strong through the early years, a true high point for the industry, exciting and fun and it seemed something new was constantly arriving, but also a frustrating time really as mirrorless emerged into a fairly hostile environment.
The big two Canon and Nikon and the oldest maker Pentax were sticking to DSLR’s, while most others were exploring mirrorless with mixed success. I personally tried a few (Sony, Fuji, Panasonic and Olympus all at once), aware of the advantages and fuelled by direct comparison to older SLR designs.
I went with Olympus in the end, the only brand with a viable semi-pro camera and system, if mirrorless shortcomings in AF were accepted. My needs were for a travelling companion, a perfect fit.
Thank heavens for Japan. It kept the flame alive and no better place to gain context of time.
Film was dead, very cool film cameras effectively worthless. I scored all sorts, most of which I later sold for as much as they originally cost when the resurgence came (next decade). Interestingly the whole film resurgence thing was a doughnut with a hole in the middle, that hole being anything plastic fantastic. Only old metal cams were popular.
I left the store mid to late decade, about the time we decided Sony was finally a thing post A7II even with a pathetic lens range, seeing the end of the bubble looming.
Sales were much lower and less satisfying, cost versus the internet and little of interest being the main problems.
Everyone had decent cameras so upgrades were hard to justify, the internet was confusing things, phones were getting decent and mirrorless was still the outlier. Nobody wanted a new SLR, but mirrorless was a patchwork quilt of ideas and successes, so people waited.
Personally I was shooting mid to low end Olympus for our many trips to Japan, concentrating on one big benefit of the format, size. I was still into photography, but my interest in anything other than personal stuff had been shelved. I was disinterested in DSLR’s, Sony, video, or phones, so most of the big news was not news for me.
One highlight was my early dabbling with printers (Canon 9000 II), which was far more interesting than being in a dark room. I wasted a lot of paper, learned enough.
In 2016 I got sick, near death sick and my mother bought in some magazines during my three month recovery, one of which was an English photo mag. I got the bug again.
Spurred on by this random inspiration I bought a Pen F, the 40-150 f2.8 and I think the 12-40 f2.8.
The 2020’s
The latest vibe I am living now is “do it while you still can, the future can wait”.
The new decade saw me return to the camera shop under a new owner, the previous owner feeling my experience would help with the transition.
I bought an EM1 mk2, picked up some nice glass, kept shooting with a now semi-pro kit.
The process of photography at this point was very much Adobe controlled, Lightroom in it’s later iterations and no real competition and AI was a tiny little shadow hiding in plain sight inside these programmes.
Sony is now dominant after a lack-lustre start. They missed the big thing early on, that a system is a system, meaning it needed lenses and support, not just a constant parade of same-but-different cameras.
When they woke up, they and Sigma colluded to create the modern look of flattened perspective, ultra sharp edge to edge, wide open performance.
Video is now an expectation, Sony nailing video AF first, thus winning that race.
After dabbling with a school for a little while, I was now shooting in schools properly after leaving the camera shop the week before COVID lock downs came into effect.
We were quarantined in the state, the privilege of being an island, so I could work with standard precautions. Against the odds, I started a new career at the start of COVID!
My mother passed early in this period (not COVID as it goes), leaving me a small inheritance outside of her estate. I spent some of it on my Oly 300 f4, an EM1x and 8-18 Leica, all needed if I was to go next level. None of these things have proven poor buys, the 300 alone landing me contracts like AFL Tasmania.
I switched to Capture 1 thanks to buying an EM1x with an aging Mac and incompatible Lightroom. This was a good move overall, something I was reminded of when I tried Lightroom again recently.
At some time in this journey I tried video and I liked it which has led to purchasing no fewer than 6 Panasonic cameras including a pair of full frame. It is now another feather in my professional cap, with caveats. I am keen to avoid it being a time killer, something it does so well, so I am limiting myself to capture, process and delivery, not production.
Like the Adobe alternative Capture 1, I went with DaVinci Resolve for video processing. I will admit it is a steep learning curve, but I am getting there and like C1, it is better.
In the last few years, AI has risen as the new wonderful, putting a cloud over most things photo and video. Only recording authenticity is relatively safe, AI benefits for me coming behind the scenes in processing power (I now shoot ISO 6400 in MFT format without consideration, unthinkable in my early years).
Video is now on an even playing field, all major brands improving AF and functionality, even non video companies like Nikon or Olympus are decent and Canon and others are fighting back against Sony.
The current state of play is one of accessible abundance on the verge of another and probably the last big shift as AI replaces image capture for many. Ironically the phone will be the first victim as everyday users will jump first as they do.
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So, what has changed over the last four and a half decades?
We have gone from metal bodied, manual everything cameras shooting mono or slide film if you were serious with prime lenses, colour print film with zooms if not, all in the shadow of the giants of recent times who mostly did the same things the same way, to hybrid digital cameras all capable of better stills and video quality than even professional cameras of only decades ago, all stabilised and video AF capable, but with possibly no future.
Are we better off?
My fondest memories are drawn from the 1990’s the era of mystery, first and rewarded effort, the transition from all manual to semi auto, but both mattered. A feeling of longevity, grandeur and respect. The photo mattered, the gear was just the enabler. Magazine adds and catalogues were cool, emotive, classy.
I don’t feel this is about the time of my life, more the times they were, but when we were living them, they were just what they were.
I cannot say I have enjoyed the industry as much since, but it has obviously kept me involved, no matter how tenuously.