In speaking to students during San Jose State University's Professional Development Day, Santa Cruz Sentinel photographer Shmuel Thaler mentioned that he was glad that he was not in our shoes, trying to enter photography at a time when the quantity and quality of student portfolios is numerous and outstanding. For examples of some of this work, one needs look no further than this years College Photographer of the Year winners.

This increase in quality can be attributed in part to a growing amount of professionalism within the field. Photographers entering the field today commonly have degrees in journalism or photojournalism, or at least some form of four year degree with a good deal of experience behind a camera.

Of course, the other explanation lies in the continued advancement and proliferation of digital camera technology. This can be seen, in my opinion, in this sports action photo taken by Chris Detrick which received the Award of Excellence in this year's CPOY competition. A great photo such as the one linked to above was probably one that, in the days of film, most students would only dream about taking. This would mainly be due to the prohibitive cost of developing the countless rolls of film that were shot in an attempt to get that one frame where the ball was in focus. With more pressing concerns such as tuition, textbooks, rent, and food, I would imagine that paying for frame after frame of blurry baseballs would not be high on the to-do list.

Digital photography has obviously changed this situation. Now, I can sit behind the plate with my 2GB card and shoot frame after frame, limited only by the length of the game, until I get that one magical image. Has this improved photography? In some ways it has and in some ways it hasn't. While attending Brooks, they made the change from teaching the beginning courses with film cameras to going all digital. After the change, the faculty seemed to be of the impression that working with digital cameras made technical knowledge of cameras increase less rapidly, though the quality of work was better initially than work that came from beginning students using film cameras.

What effect does all of this have on students? There are more students picking up photography quicker, with less jobs being available...not anything that a journalism student hasn't heard before.

For some photographers, the thought of sharing their work with the public is unimaginable. Photographs are a personal look into themselves and are meant to be printed and hung up on the wall, kept in shoeboxes, and shown to only the closest of confidantes.

This being so, many are surprised to hear that I share much of my work, especially the work that I am proud of, through a photo sharing site known as Flickr. The most common concern voiced to me is, "Aren't you afraid that someone will steal your work?" While that may be a worry for a well-known photographer whose works are worth a large sum of money, I am but a struggling student photojournalist. I also upload my photos at 72 ppi with the longest side being only 450 pixels.

Instead of fearing that others will view my photography, I view uploading pictures to a site such as Flickr as similar to how a small band might view file sharing. Posting to Flickr allows me to reach a worldwide audience quickly and easily. I can create photosets that photo editors can view instantly, meet fellow photographers around the world, discuss technique, etc. Sites such as Flickr and Lightstalkers serve to bring photographers together in support of each other and their respective forms of photography.