[From Andrew Sheppard] At the sporting club I attend here in Japan, there is a senior member who is always taking photos of members and events. We call him "Flash San". He takes photos one week, then the next week he brings along prints and gives them out to the people in the photos. He always paid for the film and making prints himself.
When digital cameras became affordable, we asked him to get a digital camera but he was not interested. Then we offered to give him a digital camera, because it would be more convenient for us, and less expensive for him. But Flash San refused to give up his film camera.
After the iPad 2 came out, another senior member showed up with an iPad 2 and used it to take photos. We all thought it looked ridiculous, holding up this big tablet. Somehow, like the puppeteers at Bunraku wearing a mesh hood, photographers at an event seem to become invisible to the action around them, but taking photos with the iPad looks like holding up a tea tray in front of your face.
So why use an iPad for snaps? Of course, as we all get older and our near vision starts to deteriorate, the iPad looks just like a HUGE viewfinder with a tiny camera attached, which makes taking photos easier. But it could also be that the iPad is "my first computer" and after using it to discover email and the internet, suddenly, wow, it's so easy, just press this "camera" button and your "my first computer" is now the "my first digital camera" you were so scared of learning how to use.
Last time I went to the club, Flash San had got himself a new iPad too and was taking pictures with it. Later I went up to him to ask how it feels to be going digital after all these years. "Quiet", he said, "I'm making a video".
