The World as I see it.

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 I took this shot at Clapham Junction yesterday. Notice how all objects in the background are blurred while the target remains focused!!

In the early 90’s I witnessed the rise in the use and popularity of the internet.  I remember the early websites being composed of just text and a boring background. Then came pictures, links, videos, embedded programs, animation and only god know what will be cutting-edge in the next 10 years. As I am not a software engineer, I just trip as much as anybody when I see some websites. I was on NEXT’s website the other day and “Wow” was the word. Or maybe it doesn’t take much to excite me. A look at what people use the internet for makes the internet easier to visualize: news - I just saw the full footage of Saddam Hussein’s execution - research, exchanges, shopping, banking, streaming video, e-mail, instant chatting, downloading videos, access to TV channels, Youtube, and the list goes on. All these were not available then. Also round about then [early 90’s] I remember watching a documentary about how far ahead Japan was than the UK technology-wise. They were already using CD ROMs while over here we were still using Audio Tapes, Video Cassettes and Floppy Discs. Slowly, but surely – we caught up. A standard CD has a capacity of about 74 minutes of standard CD audio data while media CD-ROM hold about 650 MB of data. CDs soon became the norm in digital storage. Then came other digital formats like mp3 and mp4. Then came DVDs – which are CD upgrades that could store both audio and optical data. DVDs can store up to 2 hours of streaming video {4.7GB} or even more depending on if it is single or double layer disks. Now we are talking HD DVD and Blu Ray Disks – which are in turn upgrades from the DVDs we have today. Last year [2005] DVD players were the best-selling gadgets out there. The same year, many retailers stopped selling Video Cassette Players. How things are changing. Every new PC and laptop has CD/DVD reading/writing facility so no one in their right mind needs a separate DVD player – if they have a PC or Laptop. Look at music, we all used to have separate sound systems and even the walkman for those who can’t get enough music on the move. Our computers can now play all our music with as good a sound quality as the software and peripherals on our systems. The ipods have literally wiped out the walkman and Microsoft’s Zune intend to do the same to the ipods – we all just have to wait and see.  Also look at TVs, we all remember the days of the big CRTs for both our TV and PC screens. Although they [CRTs as TV and PC screens] are still up there when it comes to refresh rates, resolution, color fidelity and contrast, they are just too bulky compared to the new display devices. We now have alternative technology that is trouncing the CRTs. Flat Panel display devices - LCD and Plasma - are by far more stylish and more preferred by most people – if they can afford it. In addition to all that, our TV-watching behaviour is changing drastically. More and more of us are watching TV via our computers using either TV tuner cards or TV streaming devices. So who knows maybe TV sets are set to take a trouncing of their own. We all know how digital technology changed the telecommunications sector. On the onset of mobile technology [early 1980’s] – when mobile phones were as big as bricks and could only make and receive calls with no number storage facility, time and so on, our own High-On-it’s-Own-Supply BT failed to jump on the bandwagon. That was the first generation mobile phones. Then came the second generation mobile phones which could make, receive calls, send receive text messages, store up to 20 numbers etc, then came third generation which in addition had in built cameras, store and play music, video etc. now we are talking fourth generation which can in addition to every thing else connect fully to the internet. These days with all their capabilities, the cost of owning a mobile phone is less than that of a land line so BT is begging for its customers back – who in his right mind would have thought so?

One surprising family member of this chunky technology [old technology/analogue] group that has not gone digital – so to say - is the refrigerator. Apart from the odd electronic timer/settings on the front the basic principle behind its operation is still old school. They rely basically on reversing the second law of thermodynamics using heat pumps to suck heat out of the fridge compartment and depositing it at the heat sink normally at the back of the fridge. This technology is an upgrade from the ice-age ice-box! One would have expected something digital in their operation by now but I guess we just have to wait and see. In fact, I predict that as an extra incentive to go digital is the fact that even the best refrigerants are not ozone-layer friendly.

Anyway, what I really want to write about is digital photography. And consistent with what I have written above is the shift from analogue to digital technology in almost all spheres of consumer electronics. I own a 35mm-film camera but now I have decided to go for a digital camera – a Nikon D80.  

It was not easy making that choice. All my life I have been like most – the average photographer. However with the rise and rise in popularity of the digital camera, I started wondering if it was worth my re-venturing into that unchartered territory. This is coming from someone who was intimidated by the dark-room processing of normal 35mm films considering it to be too complicated.  As a result there was no incentive to be creative with my photographs as I had to give it to someone else to develop. Not only that, but if all the pictures I ever wanted to take were to be developed, the costs would have left me bankrupt. I remember in 1999 - 2000 when I first had the urge to go digital. I attended a seminar titled “Crushing the Myths of Digital Photography” somewhere in Russell Square - London. There it was explained how much easier digital photography was compared to normal photography. What really did it for me as far as digital photography was concerned was the fact that I send a lot of pictures via e-mail to far-away friends and family and the normal routine is to take the pictures first, wait for the film in my camera to finish, then take it to developers to develop – which takes 2-3 days – then scan, save to PC, then send. With digital, you can just take the picture, save to PC then send. Did you notice how many operations that have been by-passed by going digital? Besides when scanning photos, you loose a bit of definition. Also, shooting and sending straight to e-mail addresses can be done by using most of today’s mobile phones. Not only that but you could print pictures [on the right photographic paper] direct after taking the shots with absolutely no need for developers, ability to delete shots you do not like – unlike 35mm film processing, ease of transportation especially via e-mail. The only thing that put me off apart from the cost - at the time - was the fact that  the pictures taken with digital cameras where too grainy [not as fine as the 35mm counterpart]due to lack of pixels leaving the only digital cameras worth going for the ridiculously expensive ones with over 5 mega pixels. With costs coming down, technology improving and my urge to experiment with photography increasing rather than decreasing – I decided to go for it. I am looking to get it during the January sales. I will keep y’all posted.