Doug Wilcox

My fascination with photography began the day I developed my first black and white negatives and printed them in my basement darkroom in the early 1960’s. As a young photographer I took pictures just for fun. I enjoyed it so much that, throughout my high school years I was a photographer on the annual staff, joined camera clubs, and took photography classes. I have made an effort to involve my hobby in all that I do throughout my life. It is rare to find me not carrying around a camera, always looking for my next favorite picture. As an adult, I have continued my interest in photography, as well as becoming very interested in camera collecting as a hobby. Over the past 20 years I have amassed a collection of over 2,500 cameras.

While I still love the operation and feel of the old film cameras, digital photography has opened up a whole new world of expression for me. I love the control and immediacy of the feedback that digital cameras give me.

Digital photography is just the latest step in the ever-progressing evolution of photography. Photography or “Painting with Light” began with artists huddled inside a Camera Obscura, drawing the projected image on a tablet and has progressed, to George Eastman’s development of roll film, which brought photography to the masses in the 1880’s, to the development of 35mm cameras in the 1920’s, to the introduction of Polaroid instant pictures in 1947, to the development of the professional 35mm SLR cameras in the 1950’s, to the introduction of instant load instamatic cameras in the 1960’s, to point and shoot 35mm cameras in the 1970’s, to disposable 35mm cameras in the 1980’s, and many more landmark developments in between, and finally, to the boom and growth in digital photography in the 1990’s. Each of these developments was just another addition to the photographer’s arsenal of creative tools.

Whether shooting with a 1902 box camera or a modern ZLR digital camera, the art of photography is, and always has been, in the eye of the photographer. As the creative tools that the photographer use continue to change, the options available to the photographer are expanded and the creative aspect of photography is enhanced. No longer does a photographer have to spend hours in the darkroom to get that perfect picture. He can set at his computer and manipulate his work in much the same way, but in a matter of minutes.

As we progress through the 21st century, many changes will be available to the photographers of this new age. It is our responsibility to learn to use them to make photography as an art form even better and more expressive.