Musing on Slides to Digital Files
I was looking through the vast amount of Word Press plug ins this evening and got thinking about how much has changed in such a short time. With a click or two, you can do what was impossible a few years ago.
When I started entering my art work into juried art shows, slides were the only acceptable form of entering your work. I spent many hours dragging canvases outside to get the proper lighting, hoping I was getting at least one good slide out of the film roll. It took several days before the slide film came back before I could see if I had any slide that would be good enough for getting into a show. More than one time, I had to quickly drag everything back outside and retake the slides and beg the photo shop to rush the order to make it in time for the deadline. Slides had to be label according to the show's requirements, and that varied from show to show. And to top it off, some shows didn't return your slides. Today, in under an hour, I can grab my digital camera, shoot a few shots and see immediately whether I have good photos, head to the computer and load up the photos to be on their way to be juried. Heaven for an always late artist! I love being able to see instantly whether or not I have a decent photo.
One day I will figure out where to go to get photos from my slides so I have simple access to all of my work. Like other artists who straddle the changed technology, I have sold art work that the only record of it is in a slide.
I will be enjoying the simplicity and ease of my digital camera this weekend and sharing photos here later on this week. Enjoy the rest of the weekend!
Digital cameras do make things so much easier. I still marvel that a roll of film used to be 12 shots and would sometimes take weeks to use up. Now I can easily have 500 photos of a weekend (family vacation), a wedding, etc.