Former Derby photographer discusses tech changes in photo industry 

by: Rachel Aretakis

The photo archives of the Kentucky Derby that Ray Schuhmann keeps show the evolution of photography: glass plates, film and digital.

For more than 50 years, Schuhmann, president and CEO of Kinetic Corp., was the Derby's official photographer and archivist. I spoke with him a few weeks ago in preparation for Business First's 30th anniversary publication, where he reflects on the changes the tech industry has seen in the last three decades.

Part of my conversation with Schuhmann included the photography business. I wanted to learn how he has seen the industry change since Kinetic Corp. began offering photo and lab services in 1968.The Louisville company has evolved and now offers translation-management services.

Schuhmann, who says he's a Nikon guy, used to work with art directors almost every day, he said. But today, people don't get that experience, and the photo and lab business has lost a bit of its creativeness.

"Craftsmanship and art is gone," he said.

It's gone, he said, because of digital technology. "People accept immediacy over quality. The industry has changed that good enough is good enough." Schuhmann admits that the quality of photos produced by digital cameras is amazing. But the switch from film to digital was a hard one. He witnessed color labs go out of business because they failed to evolve.

"You had to make the adaption (to digital), despite it not being cost-effective," he said. Though Schuhmann and Kinetic no longer photograph the Kentucky Derby, they still maintain the archives. 

To photograph the Derby, each year he would gather a team of about 20 photographers. He noted that the switch from film to digital opened the photo floodgates. With film, he would have to sort through 3,000 to 4,000 photos. When they made the switch to digital, that number jumped to 14,000 to 15,000 images.