the more i know the more i don't know

Its been about a month now since i had my own internet connection and I am blown away by the vast cacophony of anything and everything I could imagine and even those which I cannot. Information overload would be an understatement. Its not that I have not been into the internet before, its just that before, it was purely rentals in an internet shop, then wifi access in a cafe which were limited unlike now, Im like connected 24/7. This may be old news to some but not for me. I am not much of a tech geek maybe because I got technophobic at some point in my life I don't know how, but back then someone told me the computer was complicated kinda like Math. I hated Math and computers for me sounded like a math machine with all the complicated numbers, formulas and stuff. So, then when all the world was revolving around the computer era, I didn't have anything to do with it whatsoever.

You see I am an artist and I thought I didn't need this computer complication in my life. I pursued one of my passion which was photography - manual, 100% pure analog, the whole deal film,chemicals, darkroom and all. I was good at it and was continuing to improve the craft as time went by.

Then one day something happened. That something was the digital camera. The digital film. And the digital darkroom. To cut the story short - the world shifted into a whole new dimension of 0s and 1s and creating images,photographs were not spared. I did struggle to grasp what was happening but it was inevitable. It took me some time to process these happenings. Okey, it took me years. I lied low from photography. Heck, I practically quit shooting. I went into some unrelated business pursuits and left photography behind me. But the artist that I am, the drive to create cannot be stifled. It may sleep for awhile. Hybernate for some time but, like all winters spring must come. The urge in me to create reawakens.

By then I have come to terms with the digital phenomenon. I have let go of my much beloved Nikon film cameras - an F3 and later the F801s ( I had others but it was stolen which is another story altogether ) and after asking opinions of other photographers who have already gone digital, I got myself a Canon 300D. Even that had a pinch in my heart as I was Nikon all the way. But back then Nikon didn't have any viable digital camera so like many shifters, I got a Canon.

But this is not the story for now, the story is about the internet which I now have - unlimited access. As I said, mind blowing information overload. This was what I missed.Largely due to my ignorance of the computer. How I got to overcome my ignorance/ fear of the computer?

3 words - Apple,Mac,Intosh.

simply put - PCs for geeks ( which I am not, i think ), Mac for artists ( me, me! )

So...where was I? a, yeah - the internet. 

There, you see I thought I already know what there is to know about being a good/great photographer and that being digital is really no different from film. Heck, I was wrong totally. True, the principles of photography is still the same but now, that is only the tip of the iceberg. Younger photographers and a lot of them are propping up everywhere and they are much more tech savvy than guys like me and men, their images rock! Armed with extensive Photoshop skills and a digital slr, thousands of photos are posted on the internet and upping the ante by the nanoseconds. For awhile it felt like, I can not keep up with these workflows, and post processes, and postings,etc...

I found out that this digital photography is way different. The rules have changed. Internet has a good share of the blame. In the first month of having the internet just beside my bed I have found out that the more I know, the more I don't know. I speak for photography and beyond it. I have seen so much - good, bad, gross and magnificent.

To be a bit honest, I am humbled by all these. But unlike before when I detached myself to it, now I welcome the challenges of the unknown. I do know a lot but I know I have to learn more - the new stuff. Surfing the net, it sometimes feel like its a jungle out there. So many photographers and then...me.

What makes me different from them? I have to learn from them. And then I have to find myself in all these craziness.

I am not complaining. In fact Im excited. A lot of questions in my mind are now answered and some more being answered as time goes by.

In all these, the facts remain - I am an artist. I am a photographer. All things considered what remains is my urgency to create and whatever tools and processes I have to go through bottomline is all these are just tools and at the end of the day - the final product must be the image, the work that I wanted to achieve.