Photography

Intro

1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.

• there's something to be said about
• discretion
• roll
• scan

• film
• develop
• memory card
• accessible

• darkroom
• lab

2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

Technology often changes an art form. Think about how the electric guitar affected music. Plenty of people still play music on more traditional instruments, but it was the guitar that first filled sports stadiums with music fans.

That was 50 years ago, so we can look back and see how music changed. But most recently, photography has gotten a new piece of technology. Go to any landmark anywhere in the world and you will find people with digital cameras. Look at any page on this site or any other social network and you’ll see digital photos people took of themselves and their friends.

But before digital cameras, the number of photos people took was limited by the cost of film and developing it. Photos had to be printed in newspapers or books to be shared with lots of people.

How have digital cameras changed the art of photography? In time it will be clearer, but you can listen to Jason and Amanda’s thoughts on the subject now.

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

Log in to Listen

2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Jason

Amanda

Jason:  So I was cleaning out my closet the other day and I found my old camera, just like a really cheap little camera. But I threw some film in there that was lying around too and I actually took some photos, you know, on film for the first time in years.

Amanda:  Wait, did you say film? Or did you say memory card?

Jason:  Exactly.

Amanda:  Did I hear you right? What was this from? High school?

Jason:  Yeah. From high school.

Amanda:  See, that’s crazy because I can’t remember the last time I talked to someone that actually had a camera that used film and I don’t know if that’s a good or bad thing.

Jason:  I don’t know either. I’ve seen some really good digital photos though.

Amanda:  I have too. And digital photography has made the art of photography more accessible to people who didn’t have a lab or didn’t have access to one or didn’t want to learn the process or skill of developing film.

Jason:  But I found that it was cool to only have 20 pictures and just use them carefully and then I’m going to get them all developed and they’re all going to come at once. You know what I mean?

Amanda:  That’s true. There’s something to be said for that. You have to use some discretion otherwise…Today you have a thousand photos or opportunities to do whatever you want with.

Jason:  Exactly. And you can actually miss a moment because you’re too busy taking a hundred pictures of it.

Amanda:  That’s so true.

Jason:  Whereas, if you have a camera with film, you can just take one picture and you’re like, “OK, I got it,” you know?

Amanda:  That’s very true and there’s more satisfaction to developing a roll of 20 and seeing what you got there versus a thousand pulling up on your computer.

Jason:  Yeah.

Amanda:  So let me guess, you developed the film and you scanned them in and now they’re digital files and you put them on your Flickr account?

Jason:  Totally. Right there on Ebaby! and MySpace, everywhere.

Quizzes

Go Super to take Quiz

Lesson MP3

Go Super to download full lesson MP3