The All Digital Generation

As the photography industry grows and evolves, we are going to start to see a generation of photographers who have never shot film professionally. There are marked differences between shooting film and digital, and I often consider what long term changes we will see in our industry, both in the technology and shooting styles of tomorrow's photographers.

I think one change we are seeing is the general willingness to take more risks in difficult exposure situations. The ability to check your shots and see if they worked out is huge. If I can instantly know that what I shot worked out, I will be more inclined to go after the more difficult shots. In my opinion, this makes shooting much more fun : )

Another difference in shooting style we are seeing is the increased reliance on in-camera metering and exposure modes (Ap, Sp, Prog.) Being able to rely on the camera to figure out a lot of the difficult exposure calculations helps photographers to work much quicker, especially when incorporating one or two speedlights into the mix. If I can count on the camera to determine the exposure (not all the time mind you...) I can turn more of my focus to my subject and placing them in good lighting situations.

Shooting digital allows me to have many more freedoms as a photographer. I don't have to develop film, I don't have to bring tons of film to a shoot, and I don't have to worry about the film being destroyed. The less time I can spend worrying about the medium I use to create, the more time I can devote to the creation of the photographs that mean so much to our clients.

Digital is fast, versatile, and constantly changing. I think that one of the key factors to being successful in today's photography industry is to be able to keep up on the latest photography styles, techniques, and the latest technology.

P.S. - I still think film is awesome. It has a certain "look" that is very hard to replicate. I am going to try to do some personal work with film in the future, but professionally, digital is where it's at.