Show your camera some love

On the eve of World Photography Day, photographers from city speak about the technological advancements in the field and its pros and cons

Photographers are enablers of preserving the gift of sight. They capture moments and convert them into memories. The ‘World Photography Day’ (WPD), which is celebrated on August 19 every year, is all about honouring this feat of capturing moments with only a push of a button.

No photographer is complete without a “perfect” camera. In fact, the WPD began as a celebration of the ‘Daguerreotype Photographic Process’, which developed by Joseph Nicephore Niepce and Louis Daguerre in 1837. On this day the French government announced the invention as the first practical gift to the world. As with everything else, technological advancements have changed the way photos are taken.

The change from conventional mode to digital brought an exciting evolution in photography. It’s faster, convenient and cost-effective there are no more laborious hours in the darkrooms. Photographers from the city share details on their equipment, the love they hold for it and about the change in photography technology.

Lenny Emmanuel (Fashion Photographer)

With the experience I had with ‘analogue’ it was not very difficult for me to learn the nuances of the digital world. The latest technology is excellent! Yes, ‘Analogue’ has its own advantages in the sense we had to be more precise in taking a photograph. We did not have software to enhance or do any editing to the Images. A lot of photographers have emerged because of the ‘Digital Era’.

Arvind Chenji (Fashion Photographer)

About 30 years ago, I used film camera ‘Yashica Minister D’. Some of the early photos I took were quite bad. Later, I bought my first basic digital camera SLR and it changed my work. The latest technology has made photographers work easy and reduced their time

Anshul Sinha (Independent filmmaker cum photographer)

Now-a-days, people have easier access to digital technology. This has its own pros and cons. Positive thing is youngsters are getting opportunity to showcase their talent at global platform. Negative thing is that only a few people can make this art as a business where in the name of photography they are ready to produce bad content.

Y Venkata Ramanna (Professional Industrial Photographer)

I was skeptical to use my first digital camera - the Nikon D 100 with 8 MP resolution. I didn’t know whether it would stand the quality needs of offset printing and huge posters. So, I used it in tandem with conventional medium format film cameras for years till digital got better. Honestly, digital photography has evolved so much that it is now better than the film camera with so many options of bettering the image.

Purists swear by film camera and go endlessly explaining the intricacies or tricks of conventional (film) photography. But in my view, technology development should be cost effective, efficient, scalable, and sustainable.

Michael Monteiro (Mentor, TS and AP NIKON)

When I first started using the digital camera, there were constant debates about ‘Film Analogue’ verses ‘Digital’ and which is superior to what. My initial experience was awesome. I could review the quality of my photographic composition instantly and accordingly make the necessary changes. The digital war in mega-pixels is growing everyday with completion and excellence in design.

Photography has become much easier than before with a many automated features. I started my career with a point to shoot on Nikon Coolpix camera. My first random click was of trees and streets. It was pretty basic but when I kept all those in a sequence a nice story started building up. This helped me in clicking more stories. The ethics of photography is to capture true stories and emotions and with the help of digital technology it has become easier for everyone to capture stories and emotions on their own.