Change

Change comes in two basic types. The first and most common type is the incremental kind, where refinements are made to existing ideas and technologies. An improvement in sensor sensitivity and technology that enables point-and-shoots to have greater zoom capability are a few examples of incremental change. The second and more rare type of change is when something happens that changes things at a fundamental level—a change that makes everything different.

Ask someone what the biggest change in photography has been over the past few decades, and it is a fair bet that the answer will be the transition from analog to digital. The move from analog to digital was a truly fundamental change, but maybe not for the reasons most people think. In terms of technology it was a big change, but it didn’t change the fundamentals of photography. Light is still gathered on a surface to create a permanent version of reality. The fundamental change was a socioeconomic one. In a nutshell, we suddenly had free film, and this really did change everything. The initial investment may have become higher, but the ongoing costs had, in effect, been reduced to almost zero. This lowering of the economic bar of entry into photography has produced fundamental changes, and it is those changes that will form the basis for the rest of this chapter.