This week The Economist blog posted the news that Anton Corbijn was retiring from professional photography and that "Photography as a slow, analogue art-form is dead"
The post and Anton make a valid point but just because "Mr Corbijn is unwilling to spend his time to speed it up to today's pace" doesn't mean that it's lost. It just means that one man who has had a very successful career as a photographer and now director sees the futility of the effort required and no desire or ambition to stay on a sinking ship.
But photographers aren't the passengers of that particular ship. We're the captain and the crew. The orchestra who play as the ship goes down. The boat is our responsibility.
Technology may have got the better of us and given everyone the opportunity to be a photographer but there's a big difference between taking pictures and making photographs and analogue skills will always be a key part of photography. We can use technology to help people to continue to enjoy the slow aspects and rekindle their ability to see the value in the image beyond the transience of Facebook and Instagram.
Yes we'll lament the loss of someone with the talent of Mr Corbijn but there are thousands of other photographers who create work of an equal quality. They may not generate headlines in photography but they're equally talented. Let's champion their luminance instead of lamenting the loss of a lone star.
Yes we'll lament the loss of someone with the talent of Mr Corbijn but there are thousands of other photographers who create work of an equal quality. They may not generate headlines in photography but they're equally talented. Let's champion their luminance instead of lamenting the loss of a lone star.
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