This has always been a hard business.
Anyone can look back on any industry and pick out the good ol' days, but honestly, it was never that good, it's just people had selective memories.
For everything somebody can point out how much better the past was, I can form an opposite argument of how much worse some elements were.
Once again this is a hard business if you plan on making you livelihood doing it and it's not for the faint of heart.
Digital has made some things easier, some things cheaper and some projects that require less skill to get mediocre results, but remember just because it's exposed properly or in focus doesn't mean it's not mediocre.
I personally try very hard not to fall into the I could have done that syndrome, because that gets you no where.
I actually think professional imaging (I think photography really isn't the proper terminology anymore) is more interesting and creative than ever, but the past always looks better because it's viewed through a fog filter.
In regards to the changes in my profession, it's the economy that has changed more than the medium.
The wall street journal reported that 82% of all ad managers have lost their jobs in the last 4 years. That is the hardest hit of any job category by a wide margin and since ad managers hired the people that hired us, well . . . that tells you something.
So my view is digital has change it, but not made it any easier, in some ways much harder, but the decrease in production numbers doesn't come from digital, it comes from an anemic economy and money doesn't buy creativity, but money does buy time and time usually improves any art form.
IMO
BC