Calin, I studied fine art photography also (yay) with graphic design design for my undergrad, and yes I learned on manual camera with black and white film. :) I shoot only digital now, but oh gosh, I used to get nervous developing my films (and it ain't quick to develop films!), hoping that I got all the right shot(s) with correct exposure, composition, aesthetic timing, and focus. Also, during this time, digital cameras were starting to become mainstream, and I remember paying $450 for my very first point and shoot low megapixel camera. Also, I still remember my photography professor telling our class how black and white film will become more of a fine art craft while digital will cater to the commercial industry, and this is right on target. Well, anyhow, just like there's a place for film photography, I believe there's a place for printed books as well. Coming from a newsstand mag in my former life, there have always been talk about newspaper sales plummeting while magazines still standing and shielded from the same level of depreciation. I think this is due in part to the fact that people view magazines as a resource point to keep around as reference. Moreover, printed materials are tactile--my fiancé's mom still prefers physical books to digital for this reason in addition to the fact that she can trade books with friends. However, on the topic of magazines, I came across a recent article about
ad sales growth for iPad editions.
When I think of printed books of the future, I think of them transitioning to forms of artwork in a sense or for tabletalk conversations. I'm thinking in particular the books we see in Urban Outfitters and Anthropologie, who carry books with a specific point of view or subject matter and with artwork to match.
Btw, these aren't my images below (gathered via google images)
