Yesterday while attending the re-dedication of a veterans memorial in La Crosse's Campbell Cemetery I spotted this 1860s photographer impersonator using a small digital camera between shots with his large view camera. Watching him use the two cameras was a real lesson in how photography technology has changed in 140 years. We have it easy as pie today. American Civil War photographers like Matthew Brady could not have imagined today's digital cameras in their wildest dreams. And just think of the photos Brady could have captured had he had a digital camera or regular film camera of today. Those old view cameras as shown here needed lots of light and long exposures so action photography was nearly impossible with them. No wonder there are no Civil War action photographs.
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Now & Then Side-by-Side
Yesterday while attending the re-dedication of a veterans memorial in La Crosse's Campbell Cemetery I spotted this 1860s photographer impersonator using a small digital camera between shots with his large view camera. Watching him use the two cameras was a real lesson in how photography technology has changed in 140 years. We have it easy as pie today. American Civil War photographers like Matthew Brady could not have imagined today's digital cameras in their wildest dreams. And just think of the photos Brady could have captured had he had a digital camera or regular film camera of today. Those old view cameras as shown here needed lots of light and long exposures so action photography was nearly impossible with them. No wonder there are no Civil War action photographs.
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