Every pixel tells a story

As a photographic artist who considers himself a traditionalist in the digital age, Craig Richards admits that not so long ago he felt threatened by the encroachment of technology on his craft.

“I use film, I print in the darkroom, I do all of that stuff,” says the curator of photography at the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies in Banff. “Five years ago, I thought I was on the bow of a sinking ship.

“I don’t believe that anymore.”

Indeed, Richards says he’s come to embrace the era of digital photography after realizing it has instigated a resurgence in his beloved art form.

That is apparent, he says, in this year’s Exposure Photography Festival, which runs throughout the month in Calgary, Banff and Canmore. Richards is the chairman of the event, now in its seventh year, which he co-founded with acclaimed Calgary photographer Dianne Bos.

With more than 30 exhibitions, Exposure features imagery “that blends both digital and traditional (photography) in a marvellous way,” Richards says.

But his initial fears were certainly understandable.

Consider that we’re living in an age where nearly everybody owns digital cameras and camera phones that make us all more capable than ever of snapping that pristine photo. Of course, we all have easy access to computer programs like Photoshop too, which allows us to edit and manipulate our photography to even greater perfection.

It’s an era replete with non-stop photo sharing every day via Twitpics and Flickr and our Facebook pages.

At such a time, when the digital revolution has made photographic images all-pervasive, does the art form hold the same relevance and reverence that it once did?

“If anything, I believe that photography is going to become stronger,” says Richards. “(Digital) has created a huge desire, because now people don’t have to send their film off to get prints. They can do this at home. They can manipulate (photos). . . . We have greater capabilities to create imagery. I believe that’s given a resurgence to photography in a huge way.”

The digital revolution has certainly influenced the photographic arts at the academic level, says Mitch Kern, head of the photography department at the Alberta College of Art & Design.

“From a technological perspective, we’re seeing vast changes and we’re trying every day to address those,” Kern says.

That means spending big money on technology to keep the classes modern. But there’s also a focus on helping students disseminate the imagery that saturates our lives.

“We are living in an image glut,” says Kern. “Everyone and anyone takes these photos and they are bombarding us daily. The average person in North America must encounter a thousand images a day. . . .

“We want (students) to critically understand and decode this barrage of visual images that come at them.”

That’s important, Kern believes, in helping students develop as fine artists.

It’s one of the topics sure to be covered in the panel lecture Kern will moderate: Photography and the Future, an Exposure event set for Feb. 15 at ACAD.

Is the fine art of photography demeaned now that the general public can so easily dabble in it?

Calgary photographer and printmaker Christian Grandjean, a featured Exposure artist, doesn’t think so.

If anything, he believes that the vast advances in amateur photography will force professional artists and photographers to step up their game.

“The quality of work we see in the galleries will rise,” says Grandjean. “It has to. . . . Maybe that will make the task of the professionals more difficult.”

Richards is proud to include the work of students and amateurs in some aspects of the Exposure festival. It makes the event’s celebration of photography more inclusive and well-rounded, he says.

But he’s quick to point out that there’s usually a big difference between the art of photography and the work of camera-happy amateurs.

“Owning paintbrushes does not make you a painter, but there’s this perception that by owning a camera, all of a sudden you’re a photographer,” he says.

“A photographer creates art when they show not what is in front of them, but what they’re feeling. It’s as much about pointing the camera inside the photographer as it is pointing outside at whatever they’re shooting. . .

“When people start to understand that, then they begin creating art.”