Yesterday, I had the opportunity to participate in a photo shoot at Melrose Lightspace. It was my first primarily digital photo shoot — with a digital SLR camera — specifically a Pentax *ist D digital with 6.1 megapixels.

Here is one of the pictures I took.

For years everyone’s been extolling the virtues of digital photography. I have been resisting it. Why, because it seems far more ephemeral than film. From yesterday’s photo shoot. I don’t have any negatives. Something physical to represent the seven hours of work I did.

All I have are a collection of electrons, digital files, something . . .

Adam and others keep talking about all the hours I can save in the darkroom. The hour or more I spend at an enlarger, soaking my resin coated paper or fiber prints in developer, stop bath, fixer. The hours my fiber prints spend in the blotter — drying.

I’ll admit that’s a lot of work. But, it’s work I enjoy. It’s fun, creative, engrossing.

The picture above — I took yesterday. I took it digitally — in color. I uploaded it to my laptop, converted it to black and white in Photoshop. And rather than adjust the contrast with a #3 filter or above — I slid over an adjuster in Photoshop.

It’s the kind of picture I was trying to achieve. But, somehow, it doesn’t seem real. It’s like photography for dummies. There seems to be little thought or time put into the creation of images.

Just snap a pic and slap it up. The darkroom at least forces time and contemplation in the creation of an image. We live in a society where too many things are instant — instant coffee, e-mail, faxes, cell phones. Poople don’t spend any time thinking about what they say or do before acting.

I can only imagine a less complicated society in which everthing couldn’t be instantly produced. Why not sue when you can whip up a complaint and fax it to the court in a matter of minutes. Why not become a photographer when all you have to do is snap a few photos and print them out on your inkjet.

Maybe, I’m a little old fashioned — but I’m moving slowly on this one. We’ll see if I ever come along. . . .