I started college as a photography student in the days of film and darkrooms. A few changes in majors and years of working later, that creative spark was rekindled when I first learned ... wait for it ... Photoshop 4.0 (on Windows 3.1, no less). Finally, you could edit prints without emerging from hours spent in darkness; half-blind and woozy from the chemical fumes.
Fast forward several more years. The price of professional-level digital cameras has dropped within reach of the average consumer. Up to this point, I had been still shooting film and converting it to digital with a Nikon Coolscan 4000. Aside from the obvious disadvantages of shooting and carrying film, particularly in the remote foreign regions I like to visit, the post-production process was tiring. Scanning at high resolutions is not quick. Correcting for dust and grain is cumbersome. So, when that price-point dropped, I got on the digital bandwagon without hesitation.
Back in late June/early July, I hiked the Salkanty Trek to Macchu Picchu armed with my new Nikon D-50 and the highly coveted Nikon VR 18-200 lens (6 months on backorder). Wanting to pack light, I was glad that I wasn't bringing 20 rolls of film and that my 2gb SD cards weighed less than a single roll. Being able to preview your shots is the greatest thing ever. With the altitude and strong sun, my shots looked washed out on my LCD screen. Using the histogram, I was able to judge that I needed to underexpose most of my pictures. With film, I wouldn't have found that out till I got home. Another advantage is being able to change ISO on the fly. Often, I would switch to 1600 to avoid using the flash where it wasn't desirable; churches, candids, etc.
I did notice two interesting behaviors that carried over from my years with film. I rarely deleted a shot. With film this is impossible, of course, but with digital it's a common practice. I guess I was used to my "happy accidents", shots that turn out much better than expected, so that even with previewing, I let it be. On the reverse, I was very stingy with my shots. Accustomed to traveling in places where replacement film is not readily available, I made a habit of rationing my supply. Sadly, I returned from Peru only using one and a half of my three 2 GB cards (and I was shooting RAW).
So, it has been 2 months since my trip and where are the photos?
Well what was intended to speed up my "digital workflow" has been
impeded by a quest for perfection. A common flaw among technologists is
that they will often choose the most efficient way of doing something
over just getting it done. I'm certainly guilty of spending days
writing code for a task that could have taken hours to do manually. As
was the case here. Where friends seems to blithely send out links to photos of trips they're still on,
I'm concerned with naming conventions, RAW conversions, and site
evaluations. After much self-imposed stress, I finally let it all go,
signed up for a Flickr pro account and dumped all my photos online. Geo-coding be damned. Ooooommmm.
