Into the Digital
Photography has evolved in a changing society from the mechanical to the digital. Names found in natural everyday objects are given to products and devices to make consumers feel more comfortable with welcoming them into their lives. People in advanced societies have embraced the “digital age” as the changes in photography could not be stopped. Touch has been reduced to clicking and sight has been reduced to a rectangular shape.
Computers have made “users” out of people like drug addicts who buy software and must continually check their email. Digital media translates everything into a flat space, “redefining space and time.” Binary code can be viewed as musical notes and designers can be seen as musical composers writing great symphonies. Digital photography is no longer a “visible reality” but it is something that can be manipulated for new meaning or something created out of nothing but numbers.
Photography has now become a constant in everyday life. What was once a dance between the photographer and the image viewer is now quickly viewed and discarded. As one Microsoft employee explained people now function with “continuous partial attention.”
Photography of today can be viewed as a process with advanced and efficient tools to capture images but we are living in an “evolution in media.” An analogy to the automobile teaches us how a tool can change the way people live and exist. Transportation on horses kept most events local but with the invention of the automobile, people can work, travel for leisure and live at a distance from family. Even wars could now be fought at a distance because of the invention of the automobile and modes of transportation other than the horse. As the digital revolution occurred it was considered the “information superhighway” which will take you where you want to go.
Photography has become an interpretation of the “real.” Constantly digital cameras and cell phones track our everyday mundane activities that are blasted on the “information superhighway,” quickly viewed and discarded from memory. We add text to explain the scene as if to give our trip to the store or football game more meaning. We no longer photograph images to really “see” the “real” but photograph to prove our existence. We capture quick images to make our lives seem worthwhile and less average. We are now caught up in a movement where photography has lost its meaning and is now just a moment in time, quickly discarded as we move to the next moment.
Response to reading, Into the Digital by Fred Ritchin All quotes credited to Fred Ritchin
Shelly Perkins Photography www.shellyperkins.com
