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Features

The Experience of the Print from a Digital Age Photographer

Chris Gampat
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08/09/2015
3 Mins read

Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Canon PIXMA iP2850 printer review product photos (1 of 10)ISO 4001-40 sec at f - 4.0

I am a millennial.

Hi. I’m part of a bunch of folks currently in our 20s and 30s that didn’t have much time during our collective childhood to experience the analog world. From the day I was born, everything was about the computer. I, like so many people my age, braved the days of AOL’s weird chat rooms, dial-up internet, and digital photography when it started with camera phones like the Razr. Everyone used to want to have one.

And today, I’m part of a society of people who doesn’t care much about printed photos though we indeed care about printed matter.

Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Fujfilm Instax mini 90 product photos (3 of 7)ISO 4001-30 sec at f - 2.8

Go to any metropolitan public transportation system in the world and you’ll see us reading, touching, feeling, experiencing and romanticizing books. Yes–real, tactile, physical books. I love them. I’m part of a generation that reads for pleasure.

But for some odd reason if you hand me a print of a photo that you just shot I don’t know what the heck to do with it.

Should I put it in my cubicle at work?

Should I use it as a bookmark?

Should I shoot a photo of it with my phone and put it on the internet? But where I am right now has terrible service and my AOL 9.0 was significantly more blazing fast than this was.

We don’t know what to do with them; it’s plain and simple.

Years ago, parents and grandparents would take the images and put them in albums. No, not those things that you find in iPhoto or Google Photos. Albums were these bound books made to hold photos. Brides and grooms used to cherish them and get thrills out of sharing their wedding photos with their grandchildren.

It’s not that I don’t appreciate the print. It’s that the world has changed and doesn’t know what to do with them anymore.

A piece of paper on the wall that’s nicely framed ends up giving off a glare in our apartment and makes it tougher to see. So maybe we just don’t know what to do with those. On the other hand, a canvas is ideal. These special prints soak up all the light and look great in apartments. Plus if you look around for deals, they’re pretty cheap.

These types of prints serve great use–decorations to make our homes look beautiful. They’re these beautiful things that you see in museums. They’re fun. They’re gorgeous.

But for some odd reason, most of us just simply don’t care. The more artistically inclined will get it. Those of us with larger pockets will get it. But the print isn’t anywhere as popular as a JPEG on Instagram or Facebook. And even so, you only need so many prints.

The idea of something tactile is wonderful, but we have limited space in this giant world with so many people. And we don’t know where to put all of them.

So for many of us like me, the print may be seen as something excessive, unnecessary, and tough to Instagram or show our friends on Facebook.

And for those people, we’re not sure what will become of the print.

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Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.
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