Digital BW, The Print

Tom Baker wrote:
> Shooting in burt mode, etc., is a special case.  All special 
> cases have their use, for sure.  And, I use them all.  Being 
> raised on film doesn't mean one's entire photographic life, 
> these days especially, should be a mimic of the film approach.  
> Actually, quite the opposite.  I/we can build on what we have 
> learned from film, while adding all of the good things that 
> the new technologies bring.  That's my intent, anyway.

And a good approach that is. 

I know for myself, for example, when I started shooting 
digital, I didn't at  all abandon all I'd learned from my year 
of shooting film. As wonderful as the new technology is, 
(and gosh it's fun), I still find that I nevertheless need to
pay attention to things like lighting and composition if
I'm going to come home with some images I'm happy with.

And I would certainly be remiss if I didn't admit that my
earlier years of shooting with medium or large format
cameras was very helpful in getting me to slow down
and pay more careful attention to even those images
I make today (let's face it, when you use a large format
camera, like it or not, you learn to slow down and
pay attention to each composition you make).

So certainly any good habits I picked up from earlier
days of working with film cameras mostly still gets
translated into the way I shoot with a digital camera
today.

So when you talk ab about how we can build on what
we have learned from film, while adding all of the
good things the new technologies bring... well, that
sounds about right. Or at the very least, it's congruent
to what I've found with my own experience.

My guess is you're going to love it when you start
shooting with digital.

I might be wrong. But that's my guess.

CJ