Thoughtfactory: Leica poetics

Leica, film, snaps, chronicles, cliches

Andamooka grave

From the archives.  

A miner's grave at Andamooka in South Australia made with a Leica M4-P,  a 50mm  f.2 Summicron lens,  and Kodak 400ASA film:

 I only came across this image when I was going through my film archives. I discovered a roll of film I'd exposed whilst I was  visiting  Andamooka circa 2001.   My film work at the time--35mm and medium format--- was usually developed and scanned by a pro-lab, but for some reason this roll hadn't been scanned.  This was  several years prior to  buying my first  digital camera.

I had no knowledge of digital technology then. I just picked up my old film cameras and started taking photos after a 10 year absence. having the negatives scanned on a disc was a big innovation. I did  not have any sense of the digital revolution in photography or  its popularity given the linkage to  fiber optics, the Internet, personal computers and  home printers. I had no awareness that   digital cameras were becoming  the  mainstream, dominant technology faster than just about any other revolutionary new or replacement technology. 

Looking back from now I can see that digital cameras gave people power and control in that there was no  more reliance on a  photo lab or a wet darkroom,   and that people could  throw out the bad images and play around with the good ones on their  computer to their heart's content. That's a big shift.