I know...
I keep wondering why is it that most contemporary photography is always so average while the stuff produced in the pre-digital age is so good???
And I'm not writing about this out of nostalgia. Just as a way to try and wrap my brain around the concept.
They are both images captured in a little black box, yet the modern stuff, though sometimes impressive, is totally devoid of any charm... and it's not related to the grainless qualities of the images (try and get big grain out of a 4x5 negative...)