In the film Everybody Street (available free on Tubi), a documentary about street photography, Elliott Erwitt makes some remarks regarding film versus digital that set my teeth on edge. Luckily, a couple of minutes later, Jill Freedman set him straight.
So he’s by-god Elliott Erwitt, and he can have any opinion about anything in photography he by-god wants. His disparaging of digital in favor of film set me to spitting a cussing because it was exactly digital that reignited my love of photography (i.e. more than just a way to make money). And, further, it was the cost-effectiveness and ease-of-entry of digital got me into film, or, rather, “digital film” as it is taught in my department at Missouri State University.
Freedman, bless her heart, has exactly the same attitude about this as I do — the same attitude I encouraged students to adopt in my journalism and documentary film classes: Shoot with what you have in your hands at the time. Who gives a damn what kind of camera it is or what media it uses? If shit’s happening in front of you, catch it with whatever glove you’re wearing.
Image generated with Copilot.