is (analog) photography dead?

The cover story for this week’s issue of NOW Toronto magazine has to do with analog photography and how much longer a life it has, as part of their focus on this year’s CONTACT Photography Festival. It’s a very interesting read, to be sure, featuring points of view from various photographers. Some think analog is dead; others aren’t quite ready to let it go.

This part has me scratching my head, though (emphasis mine)…

Some people believe that the shift from analog to digital represents a battle for photography’s soul. There’s something in the new medium of instantaneous electronic image-making that robs photography of its hands-on authenticity, they say. Some even argue that digital images, so easily airbrushed and modified, are less real and immediate than film.

Errr, what about INSTANT film? I would argue that instant film is loads faster than digital, especially in regards to prints.

Instant film:
Press shutter. If it’s integral film (600, Spectra), it pops out of the camera; and you just watch it develop right in front of you. If it’s peel-apart packfilm (667, 669, 690, Fuji’s FP-100B, FP-100C, FP-3000B), you pull it out of the camera, then wait for a certain amount of time (usually a couple of minutes for me) before peeling the print from the negative (unless you want to do an image transfer or an emulsion lift). There are no do-overs. What you shoot is what you get.

Digital:
Press shutter. If you don’t like the shot you took, delete it from your card and repeat the process from different angles until you’re happy. Then…

1) Connect camera to your computer (or insert the memory card into your computer). Edit pictures in Photoshop or the imaging software of your choice, if necessary. Print pictures.

Or…

2) Take memory card to Wal-Mart/K-Mart/Target/wherever to have someone print your pictures for you.

Yeah. Instant = faster. Heck, one could say even traditional film photography (35mm, 120, 220, and the oft-forgotten 110) is faster in that regard, especially if one has their own darkroom. (Or even with one-hour photo labs.)

* * * * *

The NOW Toronto guys have also included a short history of photography.

Plus, Eye Weekly has a nice write-up about the festival itself.