The sloppy generation is made up of those who think the 35-mm camera is so simple to use that it can do everything merely by sighting and pressing the button. Everything about the camera invites careless behavior on the part of the photographer. It is such a marvelous precision instrument that the uninitiated get the impression it will do the technical job willy-nilly. See how easy it is: Read the builtin meter, set the shutter, focus, press the button, advance the film, shoot again. Film is cheap, shoot fast, advance, click, advance, click until the roll is used up… all the while forgetting the little things that demand clear thinking and seeing: the way the light falls, composition, background, gestures, expressions, camera angle, decisive moment. Film is cheap, just shoot away, and on the law of averages you’re bound to come up with good pictures. A monkey could do that?

_{Bruce Downes, “Is 35-mm producing a generation of sloppy photographers?”, Popular Photography, 43(2) p.43(1958)}