how I see it. It’s very factual. I don’t
have anything against digital
photography, and there are lots of
people creating wonders with it, but
at the moment digital photography
requires far more work than I am
prepared to put in. If I did all that
work I’d feel like a digital artist, not
a photographer. Don’t get me wrong,
I have pictures I’ve shot digitally that
I adore – but lots that I don’t. But
when I get a good picture with a
digital camera I always know that
had I shot it on film it would have
been even better.’
It’s quite unusual for a
photographer to suggest that
shooting digitally is more work than
when shooting with film, as most
would consider digital photographyvery much more convenient. ‘But
photography and art has never been
about convenience,’ Ian says. ‘That’s
not what it is about. It isn’t supposed
to be convenient. It is supposed to
be hard. I like things that are
difficult. Not only does it separate
you from the rest of the field, it
teaches you something – something
you can’t quite put your finger on
but something that lives inside you.
It sounds incredibly pretentious to
someone who doesn’t understand
what you do, but experience teaches
you things that people who don’t
have that experience just don’t
understand. The hard work with
digital photography comes after the
shoot to make the picture look
Composition in red and blue like something, but with film