Studio photography &045; it’s an art that’s been alive for more than a century.

But according to Van O’Gwin, whom The Dart found Sunday afternoon at his Van Photography studio on Carter Street, the advent of digital photography has brought new life to the art.

That’s because, with the aid of digital equipment and computer programs used to tweak photo quality, the photographer has more quality over the finished product, O’Gwin said.

&uot;In the old days, you were at the mercy of whoever was printing (the photos), how they felt on a given day,&uot; he said.

O’Gwin, who opened his own studio 10 years ago, got into photography as a hobby 25 years ago after poring over the black-and-white photos of such pros as Ansel Adams.

So perhaps it’s not surprising that O’Gwin is the first to admit that with digital photography, black-and-white art photos are not yet up to the quality they were in the days of film.

That’s because, for the most part, color, not black-and-white, photography products are used to reproduce them.

And when O’Gwin first switched to all-digital equipment and processing three years ago, replacing the darkroom of old, the products were so new that those that sold them didn’t know enough about them to provide good service.

Now that’s changed, with company representatives now knowledgeable enough about the products to advise their customers well, O’Gwin said.

Of course, it helps that O’Gwin also invested in $300 worth of books at the onset to educate himself about digital equipment and processing.

In the future, O’Gwin sees camera makers developing products with the bells and whistles amateur photographer want, while he and other professionals only really need a basic camera with a good digital chip. But despite that trend, O’Gwin can’t see going back to film.

&uot;(Digital) gives you a lot more artistic freedom, Š a lot more control,&uot; he said.