Who are some of the greatest photography critics?

Need help from someone who works in photography/camera store?

• Hi, I am doing a project on photography and I need a primary source (aka to interview someone) and the one i was using fell through, so now i urgently need someone who works at a photography-related store to answer a few questions for me. If you can't answer them all, don't worry, I just need -something- urgently :( Even a few of them would be okay. Any help would be greatly appreciated. 1. Have you noticed an increasing number of people buying digital cameras/switching from film to digital photography? If so, is this a significant increase? 2. Do you think that eventually, digital photography will replace film, or will there always be a market for film? 3. What are the main reasons why people would choose digital over film? 4. Is there any reason to choose film instead? 5. Are DSLR cameras becoming increasingly popular as well? 6. What are some advantages of using a DSLR instead of a handheld point-and-shoot? Are there any disadvantages? 7. What is the best kind of camera for a beginning photographer to start out with? 8. Are there any other recent trends that you have noticed in photography?

• Answer:

  I don't work in a camera store, but I was a professional photographer for 3 decades, does that count? 1. Look at how many digital cameras are advertised in the newspaper ads. Now count how many film cameras are being advertised. Do I have to draw you a picture here about how many people are switching? 2. Yes, I think digital will eventually make film extinct. 3. The reasons for choosing digital are many. First of all, there is no lag time between the exposure and viewing the results, and no processing expense or wasted proof prints that didn't measure up. The recording medium is virtually infinitely reusable, too. Digital also offers retouching possibilites that either didn't exist with film, or were difficult and/or expensive to obtain. Digital retouching is also substantially less noticable than for film, and is totally reversable in the event you make a mistake. One more reason is that the original image can be instantly transmitted anywhere an internet signal can go, with no loss of quality. Film has to be printed and scanned, an inherent quality loss step. 4. The only reasons I can think of to choose film over digital is because digital is still limited to small format. Film cameras still hold the resolution high ground if you use large-format cameras like 4x5 or even 8x10 inch, the way Saint Ansel (and Yosuf, and others) did. Large-format cameras also have the advantage of single-shot control of the processing, and swing, tilt, and rise-and-fall adjustments that box cameras (that includes DSLRs) do not have. 5. Yes. 6. DSLRs are larger, heavier, and usually much more complicated. This means they are much more adjustable to meet unusual lighting situations, but most outdoor situations aren't all that unusual. For instance, I did fine with my cellphone camera on vacation last year. See for yourself. All were done with a Sony-Ericsson W810: http://s852.photobucket.com/albums/ab86/starman2009/ Even the old problem of parallax between a viewfinder and the lens in non-SLR film cameras is eliminated with digital, since you have that viewscreen that essentially acts as a groundglass. 7. If I were advising a new photographer today, I would figure that EVERYONE has a cellphone camera. Using it is essentially free, so learn how to make pictures with it first before spending a bundle on equipment, because it isn't just the camera, it's the tripod, the extra lenses, the bag, etc., etc. If you can use a cellphone camera and make photographs that impress, then you can only shoot into darker corners or farther away with a more sophisticated camera. Otherwise, you'll do like I did and miss a lot of shots because you'll still be setting the camera while your picture gets away. 8. New technology hasn't changed the pictures people take. Everyone thinks they have the most breathtaking images of flowers. Unless you are the first to photograph a REAL space alien (and even then I question this analogy), just about every type of photograph imaginable has already been taken. I do not consider BW pictures with one element colorized to be a "trend." That's what you call a "gimmick," and yes, we did them in the days of film as well. Whatever "trends" are going on right now have already been done, and will soon be tossed aside for another "trend," which has already been done too.