I was wandering around downtown Vancouver today and dropped into the Pacific Centre, opposite Granville Skytrain station.
The mall itself is, for me anyway, nothing special….as all malls go, they are one and the same, setting fake targets to which the uninitiated all fall into the trap of aspiring to. Sure, it’s a glittering palace of all things nice, albeit things that may not appeal to all who enter it’s hallowed doors.
Sure, all the big names are there, Harry Rosen, Gucci, Ralph Lauren, etc etc but you know what, I see no reason why I should spend $$ on a shirt by say Ralph Lauren when the same quality is available for around half the price elsewhere! So it won’t say Ralph Lauren on it….so what?
And so, it was thus that I walked into the Blacks camera store there. And what a mecca to digital photography it is, too.
I just thought it would be interesting to see the reaction of the Staff there at the mention of film cameras and film.
Sure enough, as I was approached by a chap working there asking if he could help me, I asked that I was interested in taking monochrome photos and could he recommend a good 35mm film at all and a good, reliable film camera to go with it.
His reaction was indeed rather dramatic! At the mention of film, he looked at me for what must have bene only a few seconds, but it seemed as if it was for many minutes, as he somehow fought to understand why anybody, in this day and age, would be so utterly silly or stupid to ask such a question, even more so in his shop, being a Temple To Digital?
Of course, he did not have the faintest idea of what to say, or indeed what to recommend….or indeed what the I was talking about! What he did say was “erm…these are the only cameras we sell here, sir…”, which I suppose was quite a correct statement!
Fair enough…I do realise that even mentioning film these days is almost on par with asking an Eskimo about what the Brazilian jungle is like….but on the other hand, it’s not such an idiotic question surely.
Digital is fine…I have several digital cameras myself, my favourite being the Ricoh GRD, but I would have thought that people who are hired to talk about photography all day, should at least have some idea of film and film cameras.
Ignorance is bliss, I suppose?
I don’t think it has as much to do with the camera itself, but rather the person behind the camera that makes the picture. I wish I knew more about using film — it’s a great art!