Recently I found myself watching a biography about Yousuf Karsh. For those of you who do not know of Karsh is suggest using the Internet to look at his fine works of photography.
The show spoke of the amazing work he accomplished in his lifetime but also raised an interesting question about the future of photography.
The point was raised of the unknown effect that freedom to shoot so many pictures would have on the ability for great works to be found.
As digital memory and never-ending space on hard drives expands people have the chance to shoot more and more pictures.
Added to this is the enless memory available to show works online. Anyone can join a site or create their own page to put their work out into cyber space forever.
Information overkill is an issue in the world we live in and certainly is not limited to photography. If you have a link to the Web you can find something on everyone and anything your heart may desire.
This vast amount of knowledge is mixed in with millions of pieces of information which may or may not be of interest to you.
One of the blessings of the photos of the past was the challenge and time involved with taking a shot.
You made sure what you were taking was something important.
Anyone who knows me will say I am one of the most trigger happy photographers they know.
I would agree with that because I recently took over 400 pictures at a Columbia Valley Rockies’ game and ended up using one in this week’s paper.
It is all about the connivences there is no doubt. I say that if I get one or two good pictures out of a hundred at a hockey game I am a happy reporter. However the ease of keeping the pictures has also left me collecting and working my way through everything I shoot.
One of my pastimes is going online to stumbleupon and bouncing from one photography site to the next.
It is amazing to see what photos people take from all over the world, but it is all too obvious that with all this freedom, finding something that truly impresses me has become tougher. Photography now gives everyone with a camera the chance to be a part of the news. Everyone who has a phone can take a picture at the drop of a hat. Like everything else in the information filled world great art can be found and is different to everyone. Finding inspiration is a challenge at times but taking a little time to search is well worth the hunt. Happy clicking to all those who love taking pictures for any reason.
Darryl Crane