Comments on: A Morning Ride

By: Charlie6

Charlie6 — Wed, 25 Dec 2013 16:58:42 +0000

In answer to your query as to what is a sidecar.....I see one in your future: click me

By: Steve Williams

Steve Williams — Wed, 25 Dec 2013 16:46:08 +0000

karlu: Merry Christmas to you!

By: Steve Williams

Steve Williams — Wed, 25 Dec 2013 16:45:44 +0000

bob skoot: Quality is a slippery question. For me my ideas of quality have drastically changed over the years and I am far more accepting of a wide range of quality. Fine grain, long tonal ranges and razor sharpness are no longer my guide…

By: Steve Williams

Steve Williams — Wed, 25 Dec 2013 16:44:10 +0000

RichardM: Yes, photography has been democratized. I see it in places like iStockPhoto.com and other internet based outlets where amateur photographers can compete head to head with pros.

And the stuff I see on Instagram and Facebook is often astounding. There remains an important difference though in the process -- pros can produce good work on demand. Amateurs not so much. Assignment photography is really tough work creatively and scares the hell out of a lot of would be photographers.

By: Steve Williams

Steve Williams — Wed, 25 Dec 2013 16:41:07 +0000

Charlie6: Sidecar? Sometime you’ll have to explain what that is. Does it having something to do with a double-wide garage and car placement??

By: Steve Williams

Steve Williams — Wed, 25 Dec 2013 16:40:03 +0000

Mark Myers: I agree with your appraisal. MS Word didn’t make writers and digital cameras haven’t automatically turned everyone into professional photographers. The technology has changed the business though — being a photographer today is much different than it was when I began in the 1970s. But it’s still exciting and you can do amazing things today.

By: karlu

karlu — Tue, 24 Dec 2013 18:28:10 +0000

Merry Christmas, Steve...and the best of the new year!

Karlu
Las cruces, nm

By: bob skoot

bob skoot — Mon, 23 Dec 2013 19:03:47 +0000

Steve:

There are similar discussion on many photo forums: Death of SLRs, Phone cameras destroying the P&S market, How much is good enough (referring to Pixels), diminishing returns of higher priced cameras, etc . . .

The main reason is that the average person is willing to accept lesser quality, and just make do with inferior images as they are good enough for web display. Many discussions of advanced amateurs switching from big dSLRs to Mirrorless or M4/3s

Merry Christmas to you and your family

bob
Riding the Wet Coast

By: Charlie6

Charlie6 — Mon, 23 Dec 2013 17:53:16 +0000

RichardM, fwiw, I read somewhere that electric car owners plug in motorcycle heated vests and such for their driving....apparently, running the heater in their electric cars draws down the onboard batteries too fast otherwise. Ironic.

8" of snow, send Kyle out there with the snow blower! :)

By: Richard M

Richard M — Mon, 23 Dec 2013 17:49:46 +0000

That was an interesting article, thank you. The question has come up many times over the years anytime some new bit of gear came up which made creating photos available to more people. I suspect that the old Brownie camera would have generated the same discussions but there was no Internet or even anything like "online forums". All of the discussion happened in small shops like the Saints Cafe.

There are some phenomenal photos being taken with small sensor cameras with mediocre lenses but it says more to the eye, imagination and skill of the photographer not their tools. So I would agree with Mark Myers comment that photography is not dead but has been democratized.

SInce I didn't clear the snow off of the driveway last night, I just drove the truck in this morning. Almost 8" of fresh snow since yesterday mornings ride. BTW, it was much colder driving the truck than the sidecar rig. No heated gear!