Chimp series

To chimp or not to chimp that is the question........? 

I'm not sure who actually coined the term chimping (or the verb to chimp), as the interwebs cannot give me a definitive answer but basically the act of looking at the small monitor at the back of ones digital camera.   

I can understand the tendency to want to chimp, due to the immediacy of digital photography and the world of instant gratification that we find ourselves in. No longer do we have to wait in a darkened room or outside a 1 hour photo stall (Polaroid photo booths not withstanding) to see the image materialise before our eyes many hours after the fact, now we are just a button press away from clutching  and cradleling our precious babies and cooing over them in all their pixilated glory. 

Chimping is a divisive subject amoungst photographers. There is no sliding scale, just a line drawn in the sand and no fence to sit on your either chimp or you don't chimp. Basically some photographers look down upon those who do and many a newbie has been fooled into looking at the back of a film camera at the request of a more seasoned veteran (does that really ever get old?). Micheal Coyne [link] detests the practice, arguing that if you know you got the shot you don't have to look at the back of your camera to check to see if you are right and that whilst you are checking you probably missed another shot just as good. Case in point Ron Bijlsma's photo of the indy 500 pileup that claimed the life of Dan Wheldon. Besides the obvious carnage shown, there is one lone photographer chimping away seemingly unaware of the tragedy in front of him.

 Photo: Ron Bijlsma / xpb.cc [link]

 I can understand the benefit of chimping be it via a tethered computer monitor for studio photographers, where total control of the final image is demanded and millimeters matter. who even needs a light meter these days when you can chimp away. Micheal Zelbel is in no doubt onto which side of the fence he falls.

Michael Zelbel via Smoking Strobes.

This series of images  above were captured at the 2012 World Track Cycling Championships in Melbourne Australia. I guess the thing that surprised me were the number of professional photographers who were chimping missing a perfect shots when they could have spent the same time looking at them after the event or have an assisant download them onto a server so they could spend time just shooting and not missing a shot that could make them some serious money. So it amused me so I shot them.