Rock Photographer Ian T. Tilton last photographed digital pioneer Adrian Wilson in 1987 for City Life magazine in Manchester, England
Ian's portrait of Adrian Wilson with the Quantel Paintbox in 1987
Wilson was the first photographer to specialize in what we now call 'photoshop' but 5 years before Adobe released Photoshop 1.0, using the revolutionary $250,000 Quantel Paintbox.
He had kept the Polaroid from the shoot and asked Ian if by any chance, he still had the originals.
...and after much searching, he found them...
2023 is not only the 50th Anniversary of Quantel, it is also the year when the new owners decided to shut the factory forever. The day before it closed Ian photographed Adrian in a tribute to Quantel's revolutionary 1981 Paintbox
He used his restored Paintbox, one of a handful worldwide to still survive, to create updated versions of his original 1987 digital self-portraits
Wilson bought the same camera and tripod that was in the 1987 portrait and set up the space, along with his 1980's digital Paintbox art and Ian's original framed portrait, in his New York studio.
Using 2023 technology, Wilson connected with Ian in Manchester over Zoom to shoot the new transatlantic portrait and in the video during the shooot, discuss how much things have changed over the last 36 years as digital has replaced analog
Ian based his new portrait on this famous photo by Robert Howlett of Isambard Kingdom Brunel in front of the SS Great Eastern in 1857.
The Great Eastern was the first large steel hulled and propeller driven ship, which also laid the first transatlantic cable in 1866 - enabling the Victorian equivalent of a UK to USA Zoom call!
As Ian points out in the video, regarding technology from the 1850's to now, "The more things change, the more they stay the same"
