My article “A Digital Statement” appeared in the British Journal of Photography in February 1999. At the time I intended to write something which predicted the future of photography based on my own experience.
I had been working for over 17 years as a photographer and recognised that computers and digital cameras were going to have more impact on my profession than anything I’d ever experienced. Without wishing to sound arrogant, much of what I predicted has come true and I was right in saying that “digital is not only here to stay, but in a few years time will be the only way things are done“.
Context is everything here, and it should be noted that this written at a time when professional photographers were still using film and wet processes to produce images. To give further perspective, in my article I note that the computer I was using, which was at the time one of the fastest available, was specified as having a giddy 128Mb of RAM. Yes, one hundred and twenty eight mega, with an “M”, bytes of RAM. These days my phone has more than this. Other articles within the issue set the professional scene at the time neatly. One is entitled, “Twin-lens advantages, the cheapest route into medium format photography”. It deals with the use of twin lens reflex cameras, or TLRs, which can now be found in antique shops throughout the country. A cutting edge review of the Kodak DCS 560, a six megapixel SLR with a price bracket without lens of £20,000 shows quite how far we have come.
You can read the a PDF of the article here. I’ve scanned this myself as there was no digital version available back then.