I'm surprised no-one has mentioned this programme yet - have none of you been watching it? What do you think of it? If you don't know, it's on BBC4 Sundays immdiately after 'A Picture of Britain' with David Dimbleby on BBC2 and repeated a couple of times later in the week.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/features/digital-picture-britain.shtml For people who haven't (or can't) see it, it's a fun programme and actually quite interesting. Basically the writer/photographer Tom Ang challenges three locally-based professional photographers to abandon their 'traditonal film cameras' and photograph their area of the UK using digital. The kicker is he has three different levels of digital camera from a phone camera through a point-and-shoot to a top of the range DSLR. The models have changed every week, but we haven't had a Pentax yet. In each case it seems to be the most well-known or experienced photographer ends up being given the phone and the least experienced gets the big gun. The programme follows them as they try to take pictures illustrating 'rural', 'industrial' and 'urban' themes in their own style. It's fun to watch them struggle with the limitations of their kit and interesting to see their methods of working (and seeing). Also for me it's amazing to see a parade of pros (and we're not talking part-time wedding photographers here!) who just don't normally use digital. OK you have the likes of Joe Cornish who shoots 4x5, but what about Eamonn McCabe, Calum Colvin and Nick Danziger? It seems there are a lot of well-regarded (and well-paid) photogs out there who just haven't been convinced yet. Incidentally, this week's episode in Scotland and Northern Ireland featured Irish photographer Mary MacIntyre who confessed she had never touched a digital camera before and had been using the same camera for 15 years. What was it? A Pentax 6x7 of course :-) She got given a Kodak DCS14n and was the first photog not to comment on the size of the DSLR :-)) Chris
