I read somewhere recently that although we love our digital cameras, they’re a time waster. I hadn’t thought much about it before, but once I read that, I had to stop and think. I do spend more time with my photos now than I used to.
In addition to the additional time we place in taking photos (since there’s no limit I am guilty of taking many more shots and trying to decide whether they’re any good right on the spot), we also spend more time behind the camera instead of getting into the action.
Additionally, there’s the time it takes to upload, sort, delete, and organize your photos once you have taken them. With film cameras, you dropped off the film somewhere and eventually got back there to pick them up, but that was the majority of the time you spent with the photos. I usually even flipped through the photos while standing in line to pay, so I was really through looking at them before leaving the store. I’d then dump them in a shoebox or some sort of album and promptly forget about them. Not so anymore.
Now I upload, but almost every time I’m uploading to do something with the photo. Whether I want to use an image for my newest desktop photo or putting something on my blog, I inevitably look through the photos once they’re uploaded and try to decide which images I really want.
But it doesn’t stop there…no, I have to adjust the color, crop the image, or turn it black-and-white for some reason or another. Save the image again to the right specifications, upload again to the site or place I wanted to use the image, and then finally I can enjoy my photo.
It used to be a lot simpler. I’m not saying that I want to go back to film, it’s just interesting to think about photography these days and how it differs from a short while ago. So if you’re looking to save some time in your life and simplify, you might want to think about how you use your digital photography and see if there are ways to reduce the time you spend behind the lens and the computer screen. Or do you see the additional time as a good thing?