How did they do it?

[mariselafm]

I am a complete newbie, and in my few days of shooting in manual mode I have realized how incredibly expensive it must have been to learn photography before digital cameras. How did they do it? How did YOU do it? (as I know there are some very experienced photographers here).
I can't imagine the expense, and the suspense!
How did they learn when they had to wait so long for the result of their experiments? Did they have to keep a log about the exposure used in each picture? How could they afford oddles and oddles of film and developing?
I just can't wrap my mind around it...

[ednorm]

Man, I am 50 years old and I remember back when you had no choice, way back when the dinosaurs roamed the earth and you took your pictures to a developer. I remember waiting breathlessly for the week it took to get your pics back from either K-mart or that little kiosk place that harder to get to on my bike. I remember when they came out with the quick photo place that was only 2 days!!! I mowed lawns and washed cars and cleaned gutters for the money to buy the film and pay for the developing. I shot a lot of B&W on my little 110 pocket instamatic as it was cheaper. I got my Minolta X-700 SLR when it came out in the early 80's, by then you could get film developed in 24 hours at most places, some offering double pics for free if you waited for the two day service. Then when digital came out I was amazed by the idea of seeing your pics instantly, it was not that great at first, the cameras lacked everything, including good pictures, I got my first real digital when they released the Canon Rebel 300 DSLR and it was love at first shot, the main problem was affording a good printer and the damn ink for it.

Photography aint cheap!

ed

[RichardTaylor]

I started seriously in the late 1950's when I was a teenager.
Read a lot of books in the library and dad's English photography magazine (he was interested in photography).

Originally only shot B&W (6x9cm) and only shot 1 roll at a time (12 exposures I think)
Always made notes on every shot of lighting conditions and exposure.

[andyw]

Unlike today where everyone picks up a camera and just starts machine gunning everything in site with absolutely no thought to anything technical at all (after all it can all be "fixed" in photoshop), in the "old" days we actually took time to learn the trade and because it was more expensive to have film developed we were a little more picky about what we shot.

A lot of us worked a lot with black and white and had our own darkrooms so could get home and then spend hours playing around in there. When we shot colour then you could be damn sure we knew what we were doing. No chance to "chimp" every shot.

It it was a hobby then, as with any hobby, it could be expensive but safisfying.
If it was a business then you either knew what you were doing or failed very quickly.

You did not get every 14 year old going around saying "I am a pro" because they had to spend their own pocket money for film and developing and printing. So if they did get involved in photography they actually had to work at it properly.

I pine for those days.
The days when the questions asked were about the colour properties of different films rather than "I have just bought a canifujpen superduper "professional" camera" how much can I charge my best friend for taking a picture of her feet".

Nostalgia - ah what a wonderful thing.

[MrJones]

my first SLR was still in the days of film and I'm taling 1999... not like those dinosaurs here who's been taking pictures since the 50's (just kidding guys!)
anyway, I know that it was expensive BUT it caused a side affect which was great and that's what most of us lack today: the patience.
because it was expensive and because it wasn't instant as today, you actually stopped to think before pressing that shutter. you took a moment to examine every little detail and think it through. you had to understand light a lot better than you today.
just imagine shooting a wedding without that small LCD screen, without knowing what you've got till after the wedding.. scary isn't it?

[Tiberius]

My first SLR was a film model that is older then me! (I still got it too). it had a semi-aperture priority mode (it had a sensor that could make a rough guess at the light levels and would adjust the aperture if you turned the aperture ring on the lens to the right spot), but I mostly used it in full manual mode. Taught me a lot about photography, and now that I have a dSLR I feel like I'm more of the old school photographer. None of that "Take the shot and fix it in photoshop!" crap. I finish photos in PS. I don't make them.

[Biomech]

Take your time, think about, get the shot right
Like AndyW says, these days people just "machine gun" everything - or what us FPS gamers call "spray and pray" :P

[nickbedford]

Originally Posted by Biomech

Take your time, think about, get the shot right
Like AndyW says, these days people just "machine gun" everything - or what us FPS gamers call "spray and pray" :P

I certainly don't. And I most certainly take the time to know exactly how gear works (the meaty stuff, like the physics behind it), what I am shooting and how to shoot it.

Yes, there are a lot of people who do this but there's no less skill required in photographing "properly" today than there was with film (except the obvious downsides and/or work required to produce film into photos, which is more about medium than technique). Yes, there was the developing of photos in a dark room, but most of us who strive to do good photography develop raws with the same intent and passion as with film. It's just a whole lot better for your lungs with digital

I'm not taking your comments personally, I'm just saying that not every young, new photographer is as ignorant as this and it might be better not to take such a stereotypical "kids these days" view...

[RichardTaylor]

I don't pine for the "old" days.
I don't want to be guestimating exposure shooting distances.
That was before I owned a light meter and an SLR.
I don't want to go back to the old days of flash bulbs.
I don't want to go back to the old days of shooting colour at 25 ASA or when 400 ASA was considered fast for B&W.

The only thing I do miss is the precision like quality of Ashai Pentax Sv & Spotmatic cameras.

Now days even a hobbyst, like myself, can get results we could only dream of in the old days especially for difficult subjects and/or shooting in difficult conditions.

Once upon a time there was a question that was always asked;
"How did your pictures turn out"?

The only people, that I know, who ask that now are the ones just starting out in photography.

[OsmosisStudios]

Hell, some of us still shoot film. I've got 3 rolls of 35mm that I have to get done later this week. One will be done that day, but the other two are likely to take a week!