Is Underwater Photography Becoming Irrelevant?

Sorry for the sensational title. There are several changes happening in print media & technology that could prove impactful to our chosen past time. I should disclaim that I take uw photos (not video) and would not yet consider myself an amateur, more aspiring enthusiast. Still, I work closely with technology companies and as such am noticing some trends that might interest many on this forum.

Its no secret print media is floundering (pun intended). Books sales are slowing, magazines are closing doors and major newspapers are in trouble. Lots of doom and gloom.

Yet there are nascent technologies rising up, attempting to reverse this trend.

EBook readers are being put forward as a solution - Amazon's Kindle DX and Sony's Reader Daily Edition are current experiments to distribute news content electronically. Let me emphasis "experiment"; the reactions of these Princeton students demonstrate, the technology is far from perfect. And lets be honest, as nice as ebooks can be, this looks and feels like a half step to something else - a blogger recently penned a great quote "But a horse with rollershoes can't keep up with the automobile, so why should we expect a digital book to keep up with modern media habits?" In my opinion, there is little value in going digital for the sake of it. If a transition to digital literature is not adding something new or compelling, what is the point? In the case of print media, if it does not change or enhance the ability to tell stories, what is the point?

I particularly found this interesting. For the past two years Esquire has FILMED their Sexiest Woman Alive photo shoot with the Red One Camera - and pulled out still images for the magazine. But why pull stills? Why isn't video the new photography? This is what Outside magazine did recently. It is now experimenting with the moving magazine - where publishers can combine video with written text to tell stories. Some interesting stuff here and would give creatives a new/different mechanism for story telling.

I'm watching products very closely, such as the rumoured Apple Tablet (planned Jan announcement) or Microsoft's leaked Courier product (rumoured mid '10 release) that could make this portable, multimedia story telling world a reality within six months. Touch screen tablets could let users interact with the media in a way people are accustomed while also giving them something different. I particularly like what this company www.issuu.com are doing. Right now its taking magazines and publishing them online. With page turning graphics. In the future, what's to stop the high priced magazine cover changing from a static image to a video? If this is the future, where to still images fit? Surely they will be a place for stills, but will it be a much smaller revenue opportunity?

It seems the print media industry is on the verge of changing dramatically - fuelled by technical innovation. Are we as underwater photographers ready for such a change? Can UW photographers adapt to these changes and thrive? Clearly, most of us are doing this as a hobby b/c its fun and challenging. But I'm curious what some of the pros think given these changes could have a direct impact on them. I'm lightly touching on a lot of topics here (technolgoy, story telling, content creation and distribution). All thoughts, perspectives, insults, whatever around these areas would be interesting.

Also, let's not lose the forest through the trees. This is not an eBook vs tablet debate. I think both are part of a new paradigm, not THE new paradigm. Nor should we argue that b/c something didn't work in the past (tablets) that it definitely won't work in the future. If history has taught us anything its that timing is often more important than the product. Finally, I think pricing is irrelevant. These technologies and products will all fall in price. We also cannot assume that the "value" to the consumer in these products will fully reside with the content we are talking about (e.g. digital magazines). I have a hard time seeing the mass market buying a touch tablet just to get digital magazines. Such a service must be part of the value, not THE value.

I think that you raise salient points but I would like to counter them with some observations:

There are cultural differences between different yet similar societies. For example, soccer has failed in North America as a mass market sport because that market cannot tolerate 45 minutes of continuous action. North America has a culture of sound bites or segments. North Americans generally have short attention spans. Hence magazines are failing in the USA where the sound-bite digital message thrives. On the other hand, in other countries soccer thrives and printed matter still thrives. Soccer, because it is available to any group of people with a flat area and something to kick and magazines because the only technology needed is your eyes to read it.

Quite frankly, many cultures like to sit down for a good read yet do not have the disposable income for what some would call capricious technology. Hence the Russian diving magazine market is massive and American diving magazines almost demised. Some cultures are cash rich but time poor and vice versa.

So what am I saying? The new technologies are complimentary. Once people are happy to watch movies on their mobile phones, the big screen cinema will disappear. Once everyone has the technology. Maybe printed material will disappear too. I used to have a paper diary but now it's on my Mac so it's actually less accessible.

I just picked up a paper magazine off the seat in the train and enjoyed reading it. We will have to wait for similarly disposable eBooks for them to be really successful as a substitute. The StarTrek way of life isn't with us quite yet!

For example, soccer has failed in North America as a mass market sport because that market cannot tolerate 45 minutes of continuous action.

45 minutes of action? In soccer?

OMG, that is the funniest thing I have read in a long time

Point your camera at the correct subject. Press the shutter at the right time. The world will want to see what you have created. And pay for the privilege of doing so.

Simon Brown

www.simonbrownimages.com

45 minutes of action? In soccer?

 

OMG, that is the funniest thing I have read in a long time

Soccer ??? 'FOOTBALL' for christ sake 'FOOTBALL' !!!

Dive safe

DeanB

Soccer ??? 'FOOTBALL' for christ sake 'FOOTBALL' !!!

 

Dive safe

 

DeanB

Don't blame me, I just used the term that someone from your side of the world used

Don't blame me, I just used the term that someone from your side of the world used

No blame pointed at you Drew ... Mr Bantin should know better

Dive safe

DeanB

No blame pointed at you Drew ... Mr Bantin should know better

 

Dive safe

 

DeanB

Maybe John was translating from English to English (American-English) to help us on this side of the pond out. Some of us from the Colonies are multi-lingual to some degree. For instance, I understand "I stood in the queue waiting for the results of a blood test to make sure the blood was the proper colour before going to Hospital. Afterwards I will supper on Fish & Chips, followed by pudding, of course while enjoying a nice warm ale."** But even with the multi-lingual ability, Football still means Football and not soccer

** For the record drinking at a pub in England is always fine in my book

I think that you raise salient points but I would like to counter them with some observations:

 

North Americans generally have short attention spans.

I got to this point and could not keep focused... lost interest...recharged my ipod while cooking frozen food in a microwave with a sitcom in the background.

And besides..isn't salient solution that stuff they drip into your veins in the hospital? what has that got to do with it?

And besides..isn't salient solution that stuff they drip into your veins in the hospital?

Nah, that's Soylent Green in liquid form.

Dean B. I was trying to make myself intelligible to these poor primitive people of North America. Of course, every body else calls it football, but then everyone else has metres and centimetres, kilos and grams, 19.00hrs not 7.00p, degrees Celsius etc etc.

Dean B. I was trying to make myself intelligible to these poor primitive people of North America. Of course, every body else calls it football, but then everyone else has metres and centimetres, kilos and grams, 19.00hrs not 7.00p, degrees Celsius etc etc.

I reckon that if America wants to continue using IMPERIAL measurements then they should have the decency to become part of the British Empire

I reckon that if America wants to continue using IMPERIAL measurements then they should have the decency to become part of the British Empire

Next thing you are gonna tell me, the world is not flat.

This thread is funny. But, why do you lump Canadians into the North American points when we are still part of the colonies? I use the letter "u" in words. LOL

This thread was a funny read. As a Brit living in the US since I was 7, I feel conflicted

On topic! As I watched a fellow pull out his Kindle on a plane the other day I was thinking why can't they do this with magazines. I usually carry several underwater and photo mags with me on the plane to read. I guess I'm a throw-back..or maybe that's the Brit inside me screaming for some me time. In any case, my thoughts drifted to a Kindle on steroids. One that could download the full beauty of photos to look at and articles to read. Yes, I know computers can do this but not with the simplicity of how Amazon does this. If I could get a device like a Kindle that downloaded my monthly subscription and displayed it in all its grandeur, I would. One small device with all my mags inside.

If I could get a device like a Kindle that downloaded my monthly subscription and displayed it in all its grandeur, I would. One small device with all my mags inside.

Me too!

If I could get a device like a Kindle that downloaded my monthly subscription and displayed it in all its grandeur, I would. One small device with all my mags inside.

New media is something I'm keeping an eye on. It's no mistake that very few of my images are to be found on the web - a few samples here and there, or displayed by magazines who pay for a license, but apart from that I have deliberately held back. Why erode the value of my work by giving it away to view online when magazines/newspapers pay for it? By giving it away one could argue I'm helping the exodus away from printed media - the very customers that pay my bills, buy cameras, feed the children and keep them in shoes, help fund the next trip to gather more material and keep the ideas process running.

Everything has its price. Here's just a few thoughts that have started to rumble as I typed the above:-

What would be the price per ebook mag would you want to pay? (for this answer please consider "naff all" not an option)

Would the cover price of the current mag be considered reasonable for making life more convenient?

If all the adverts were dropped, what price then?

Would you want to share content with another ebook?

Only one paper magazine can (generally) be read at a time - how does the creative industry of journalism and photography avoid the piracy (I would call it "theft"....In my opinion calling it piracy adds a certain romance to the business) faced by the music industry?

In short, how would the creator of the content be rewarded to a level where creating more content is viable?

My fear is that the likes of Amazon and Google or for that matter a completely new player yet to enter the market, those who are the content providers and facilitators, will take the lion's share.

I think the still image will linger - there is big difference between stopping action versus capturing action.

The way this will be done in the future will be different from the present. The newer dSLRs with video capability are only the beginning. There are presently bandwidth limits as well as others. CFast cards will enable better video capture; this should help with bandwidth in the immediate future. What is needed is effective electronic shutters (non-mechanical), grabbing, e.g., 1/4000 sec, still images from a video stream at full res, e.g., 12MP or higher. Maybe RED is doing this? RED does not have AF that I am aware of. N and C may beat them in this regard.

We shall see.

Tom

I have no doubt in believing this thread will become one of the most popular on here...but at the end of the day..I just spent a whopping amount to go SLR, In the back of my slightly, very optimistic, worldly mind, I saw a glimmer of business in that goldly pot at the end of the rainbow, but climbing the rainbow is the most enjoyable part:- I have another job, who cares! Mind you...I'd love to see the end of it! The Rainbow and my job!

I suppose you could get upset by this thread.

But the assumptions are beyond ridiculous, so all you can do is laugh at it.

Let's see. A bunch of guys run around in shorts for about an hour an a half and the game ends Zero Zero. This means that Europeans have a better attention span and thus read more magazines?

I would argue that because there is no action in a Soccer match that the Europeans must be reading those magazines during their soccer matches.

They then look up when the game is over and see the Zero Zero score and say "Great Game"

By the way my spell checker says that Zero Zero is a double word. The programers must not watch soccer either.