Many folks wax poetic about the romance of the old days. In photography, that’s just not true. There is nothing in the past that was better than it is today. Today’s cameras are more accurate, more forgiving and more capable than any camera from the past. Film has been replaced by digital sensors that are far, far better than any film. Lenses are also far sharper than anything we had in the past. End of story.
The only thing that might persuade me is looking at the world. I blogged a few months ago about a virtual trip to Hell’s Half Acre in Wyoming via Google Earth. What we visited sixteen years ago cannot be approached today. Securely locked chain link fences and barb wire now keep us away from where we wandered back then. My guess is that Hell's Half Acre is not the only place that is not longer accessible to the casual photographer.
I guess that’s something else to mourn.
This is what Hell's Half Acre looked like sixteen years ago. It probably looks the same today, it's just that you can't get there.
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