How Photography Changed the World
Throughout your day, do more than a few minutes go by when you don’t see a photographic image? Photography is like the mystical “Force” of Star Wars—it flows around us and through us. It is the way we see the world and oftentimes the way we experience it. Yet we have a strange, internal conflict concerning those photographs that we see. We will in one moment believe what a photograph shows us, and in the next, look at it with suspicion. The image is simultaneously fact and illusion.
It’s
difficult to know if Monsieur Daguerre, on that summer day in 1839, understood
the full implications of what he was unleashing upon the world. Since that time,
photography has inevitably, relentlessly shaped and reshaped our self-perception
by altering the way we interact with the world. It has allowed us to see things
unseen before its invention. Just think of the X-Ray, the cathode ray tube, the
electron scanning microscope, the Hubble orbiting telescope and every robotic
probe launched into space, to name a few.
Photography
has allowed us to experience life in ways and in places that would never be
within our means to experience. You need only go to your Imax theater at the
local science center to see and feel what I’m talking about. Photography brings
fantasy, whimsy and escapist fare to television and the local Cineplex. (I
count movies and T.V. as the children of photography.) Photography did some of
these aforementioned things from its inception. As the technology expanded from
negative/prints, to motion pictures, to video, to digital capture technology,
our relationship with the images in magazines, movies and television has
evolved as well.
Our
use of these new wonderments that instantaneously present us with pictures and sound
has become an enthrallment. They are our constant companions; life would be
intolerable, unthinkable without them. They capture and broadcast our personal
and societal narcissism exquisitely, perfectly. Our present viewing devices—computers,
smart phones, digital tablets and e-readers—shower us with images sent from
friends, illustrations imbedded in digital news reports and magazines, and
unrelenting advertisements. We are bombarded with photographic images from
their analog brethren as well, all creating an unending stream of empty
photographic imagery.
Now
close your eyes and try to think of life (the world) without ever having seen a
photograph. You really can’t. How different would your life be if you gave up
looking at the avalanche of images? Could you bear it without them? We
unconsciously sort through them, paying attention only to some. What criteria
do you use in your sorting process? What do you think the future holds for
image making? Is it so abundant that it will lose its impact on society, on
you? Has it already? Do you see a time when you won’t be adding to the
millions, if not billons, of photographs taken every day?
Tell me what you think.
Frame
3A
Addendum:
Hey Larry It is Jacob White. I really liked this article and how you explored the effect photography has on the world and how people can use photography to show the truth or show propaganda by manipulating images with things like photoshop or exposure techniques.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was reading it made me think about how photography and the internet both work in this way for people to easily post things that are either the truth or something false. The internet can inform people around the world just like photography can with images and they can also be manipulated to show something false but make it seem like it is true. So that is just what I thought of when i read this post.
Photography and the internet are both relatively new technology and growing every year and they both are at this point where you can't imagine the world without photography and now the internet. They both have shaped generations of people and I think that the growth of both technologies is a good thing if people approach the information with cautiousness. So If someone sees an image or reads and article online it would be good to first ask questions about how factual is this info or image.
Finally I thought about photography and internet because I think they go hand in hand because now people anywhere can upload a photo and then someone miles away can see it. so they both work together to help each other grow but both can be bad if people don't question the facts of the image and the article online.
This was just my thoughts that your post made me think about and how they both have and still are shaping the world today.
Thanks for another awesome photo class see you next semester in seminar!
Jacob White