“The end of cut-and-paste!”
That was the declaration attached to the image above, made to announce one of the first computer-based graphic design programs.
The Vancouver graphics company that hired me to make the image occupied a funky space in the Beatty Street heritage block overlooking BC Place Stadium.
The office boasted the latest Apple Macintosh computers, featuring the revolutionary graphical user interface (GUI) we now take for granted.
The tools I brought to the job were decidedly retro, even for 1984.
I chose my circa 1960 Mamiyaflex medium-format camera and high-speed Kodak Royal-X Pan film (1250 ASA), developed in Rodinal. The RX film was already famous (or infamous, depending on one’s view) for its “golf-ball” grain structure; Rodinal accentuated that characteristic. I still have a roll of this long-discontinued product in my fridge!
This “palette” gave me exactly what I was looking for: a noticeable but finely-distributed pointillist effect, combined with a luminous quality akin to infrared film. I lit the shot with a single tungsten floodlight (no white-balance adjustment needed) 
Using a twin-lens reflex (TLR) camera for a close-up like this introduced the challenge caused by parallax error—the difference between the image projected on the ground-glass by the viewing lens and the actual image recorded on the film by the shooting lens. Both framing and—crucially—depth-of-field required compensation.
The client, of course, cared nothing for the technical details of the shoot, only the result. Happily, my conception was approved.
Today, “photo shop” no longer stirs visions of nocturnal geeks with brown-stained fingers, debating the virtues of phenidone and bromide developers; “camera-ready art” has no use for the Ex-Acto knife, drafting table, film … sometimes even cameras.
Though the darkroom evoked the fascination of my childhood “laboratory” in England (housed in a cedar shed, stamped “Made in Canada”) I hold no special nostalgia for the smelly toxins of the wet process.
There remains something magical, jewel-like, in a fine silver print (not the illustration discussed here). I was a late adopter of both computer and digital camera, but these days I’m more than happy to sit at my own Mac, applying filters, layers, and adjusting levels on images downloaded in minutes from my cameras—all in daylight.
Never has the visual artist had a greater choice of tools and effects, at all levels of production and display, from paper to LCD screen. Can you even imagine a world without Photoshop?
What are your favourite tools, old or new?
Back in the days of film my weapon of choice was Ilford HP5 developed in Microphen, all printing was done with Ilford paper and chemicals. I kinda gave up the old photography thing while I lived in Colorado during the nineties.
Now I use a Fuji digital camera and i am currently playing aroud with Adboe Lightroom and Photoshop Elements on Windows XP.
Why Windows and not Mac you may ask?? I make a living (I should say I used to, not much work at the moment) doing engineering drawings with AutoCAD which is a Windows only program and don’t want to be messing around with dual booting systems.
I just found some motorcycle accessory reviews I did back in the day when the ‘net was new to me and I still didn’t own a digital camera. It’s hard to think back that far!
Conor: HP5 and Microphen was (is) a superb combo, especially at 320ASA and 1:1. I have tons of great negs on the material. I don’t think I’ve scanned any of those.
I later switched to Delta 400.
Vik: It’s getting so I can remember better what I did 25 years-ago that five minutes ago!
Maybe I’m not old enough to have an analog as my favorite tool for me (except for my bicycle). For me, my favorite tool is my phone, where I can read, write, take photos, videos and find my way all in my pocket.Technology is an amazing thing and I am looking forward to a small device that takes great shots. I also really enjoyed my first dslr, a bottom of a line pentax fitted with lenses from the 80s (50mm prime lens) which has been with me to Asia and seem some of the coolest things I have ever seen.
Kelly:
Miniaturization is certainly working in that direction. My iPhone 3GS doesn’t quite make it in the camera dept., but its 5mp successor is getting closer, at least for a pocket camera.