SofiaUnplugged

INTRO:  

Modern technology has changed the scape of how we live our everyday lives, from the way we access the internet, to the cars we drive. Stereotypically, old people can be caught behind on some of these technological changes, asking how to access their emails or why the tv isn’t turning on when it’s switched off at the power point. Recently, I was at my grandparents’ house for a family birthday celebration, I got my phone out to take a picture of the cake and as I did this, my grandpa asked me if I knew how many megapixels were on my phone camera. I was completely oblivious to the fact that I am so fortunate to just be able to take my phone out of my pocket and take a photo. My grandfather was a photographer for part of his career in the 1960s, before mobile phones were invented. He still collects cameras today which he fixes up and uses to take authentic photographs in an evolving modern environment. His extensive knowledge of photography inspired me to become more appreciative of the technology we have today but also assisted me to discover the question; has modern technology ruined the authentic experience of simply taking a picture. By doing this project, I aim to find out more about how mobile phones and digital cameras have changed the experience of photography.  

THEORY: 

Media collapse is highly relevant to my digital artefact as it examines how the collapse of photography to an extent has impacted the authenticity of the media around us. A collapse in photography has caused a shift in boundaries as it has enabled for a different way of producing photographs in a sense that is unauthentic to original photography methods. This change in form and function of photography means the definition of photography itself has switched to have less importance to an extent. The overall scape of photography has completely changed since the invention of digital cameras and mobile phones. The internet is now flooded with images of everything you could imagine which makes experiencing these things less valuable. For example, if you wanted to see what the Eiffel Tower looks like lit up at night, you could probably find a million pictures on the internet and social media. Whereas before the invention of digital photography, paintings could depict these things but only by the eyes of the artists representation of the place, therefore visiting the Eiffel Tower held much more value and worth than when with digital photography. Furthermore, old photographic practices have gained somewhat popularity in recent times for their authenticity and originality. “It would not be surprising if the photographic practices which today, for the first time, direct our gaze back to that pre-industrial prime… But that does not allow us to pretend that the charm of the older pictures, such as have recently appeared in handsome volumes,1 can provide real insights into the nature of photography.” (W. Benjamin 1972).  

People can interpret images in different ways especially if they are edited or altered to change the depiction of the image, moreover, representation and interpretation also closely relates to my digital artefact. Laswell’s communication model demonstrates how a message is received by people from a communicator. The model highlights how easy it is for a message to be misinterpreted through the communication channel. Image interpretation is also an underlying factor in the photographic world. Before photography was invented paintings would depict places/things, but they were only representations of the real thing, whereas when photography came into play, it held more significance as it was the real thing. If you were to ask someone to take an image of a tree, they would probably take their phone out, go onto the camera app and just take a photo, well I know that’s what I would do. Semiotics play an important role in photography and day-to-day life in general. In this example, the phone is what gives the image meaning (signifier) and the tree is what’s seen in the image and evoked in one’s mind. Changing concepts of photography have seen people turning towards digital cameras and facing away from the authentic ways in which photography was meant to be performed.  

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: 

Photography has been dubbed as the most significant invention since the printing press for its ability to capture and distribute information about nature, technology and all things in-between. Throughout the course of this digital artefact, I have gained an understanding of how photography has evolved and changed to keep up with modern times and the impact this has had on the authenticity of photography in today’s world. Extensive research has allowed me to understand the algorhythm of trends, and why modern photography has become so favored.  

Contemporary technology has revolutionized photography by allowing mobile phones to take high-quality photos with just the touch of a screen. The convenience of mobile phones extends beyond their compact size, making them small enough to fit in your pocket while still providing powerful photographic capabilities. These devices are equipped with advanced features such as instant reviews of the photographs taken, which enable users to immediately review their shots. As well as adjustable settings that can be customized to suit various lighting and scene conditions. The combination of portability, high-quality imaging, and robust editing options makes mobile phones an indispensable tool for both casual photographers and professionals alike. Whether capturing spontaneous moments or carefully composed shots, modern mobile phones offer a level of convenience and functionality that has transformed the way we approach photography.  

However, has the convenience of this modern technology made us less appreciative of photographic techniques? Early photography held much more value and appreciation for photographers of the time, as they could not see reviews of their photos until their film was developed. I think there is something very special about that because it meant that they had to take the perfect shot without even seeing it, just by knowing the details of the photo they wanted to shoot. Moreover, modern photography has allowed editing capabilities to change the time or location of an image. For example, an image may be taken at 7:30am, although the photographer wanted to catch an earlier glimpse of the sunrise at 6:30, editing software can do that by changing the image’s lighting and shadows. Old cameras, however, don’t have the ability to be edited like that, therefore making photographers’ technique more appreciated as they must get the right shot that they wish to shoot from the word go. Through this research, I have found a gap in articles examining my exact question of if mobile phones have ruined the authentic experience of photography which could become a more important question to ask as technology progresses into the near future.  

CONCLUSION: 

As a result of my research, I concluded that photographic techniques have become more involved in modern technologies leading to less appreciation for old photographic techniques. As spoken by Schaffland “Furthermore, we motivate why and how it can serve as useful tool in many fields related to heritage, highlight difficulties, and discuss which techniques were and are used to overcome them” (A. Schaffland 2022). As photography heightens in popularity on social media and on the internet, the value of it decreases, not to say the popularity of photography is negative, as it isn’t. In addition, I aspire to broaden my knowledge of photography myself and to become more appreciative of its values in a contemporary plagued environment. Through researching this project alone, I have become more informed and aware of the effort that it takes to take a good quality image, and about photographic techniques used in old photographs. I don’t wish to adhere to the message of modern photography to be all negative because it has many positives, although, I feel more appreciation and awareness of this topic needs to be shared for technology to progress without being damaging to old techniques. Therefore, to an extent, modern photography techniques have altered the experience of taking a photograph through the use of mobile phones and digital cameras.  

Reference list 

Axel Schaffland & Heidemann, G 2022, ‘Heritage and Repeat Photography: Techniques, Management, Applications, and Publications’, vol. 5, no. 4, pp. 4267–4305. 

Benjamin, W 1972, ‘A Short History of Photography’, Screen, vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 5–26. 

Green‐Lewis, J 2000, ‘At home in the nineteenth century: Photography, nostalgia, and the will to authenticity’, Nineteenth-Century Contexts, vol. 22, no. 1, pp. 51–75. 

Zylinska, J 2017, Nonhuman Photography, Google Books, MIT Press, viewed 30 May 2024, <https://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=jpk9DwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR5&dq=has+modern+photography+ruined+understanding+of+photography&ots=tuK0Dk9Sbc&sig=PAdv0aJUWL5STrfdz4ePxYu756M#v=onepage&q=has%20modern%20photography%20ruined%20understanding%20of%20photography&f=false&gt;.