More New Negs

I processed another batch of Efke PL25M negatives on Wednesday.  These are now washed and dried and there are several good ones.  I've scanned a few of my favorites for all to enjoy.  This includes a couple more in my "Playground Ghosts" series, three from long weekend trips out into southeastern Alberta, and a couple from a spring trip to the mountains with the Monochrome Guild.

Last night Margarit and I attended the opening of Open Photo 2010 at the Jubilee Auditorium.  It was very well attended, with great catering and an open bar.  There were some wonderful photographs on display, but some that I felt weren't up to par.  It was interesting to bump into a number of fellow photographers and friends, but for the most part I didn't know most of the other participants.  I guess that's what happens when technology takes over and divides those working with traditional materials [like myself] from those who grasp on to the new technology.  I can't help but feel like technology has changed things for the worse.  It seems to me that a lot of the skill involved in capturing a great image is now gone.  Today's cameras focus themselves and make decisions on behalf of the "artist" that the artist is not even aware of.  Aside from the capital cost of equipment and software, the cost of actual image capture has been drastically reduced.  It seems to me that many of today's "artists" simply wander about with their finger depressing the shutter button and shoot for shear volume.  Even a monkey will end up with a few good images culled from the thousands that can now be economically shot in an afternoon.  I relish the challenge of being in the right place at the right time, finding the best composition, and then using my skills to record the image on film.  I don't have the luxury of taking that file into my computer and using modern software to "salvage" an image from what the camera was able to record.  Rather I have to utilize a negative composed and recorded by the skill of the photographer, and go into my darkroom to nuture the best possible print that I can from the original piece of film.  Times they are a changing!!