The old to the new

Photographs are real experiences captured that make up, and thicken, the environment we recognize as today. Photography commenced through the invention and development of the first camera in the early 1800’s. People used the camera obscure for viewing or drawing purposes, in apposed to making photographs. It was not until the early 1940’s that the colour photographs were invented and from then on, photography has never been the same. The change in the digital era of technology has made it capable for the ordinary person to capture photos and upload/share them instantaneously. John Urry (2000, 104–105, 126, 129) uses the expression instantaneous time in explaining how the changing notion of communication has now allowed information to be transmitted immediately across the globe. (Villi 2010)

New digital age

Modern media expands the scope and reach of consumer activity by users interacting wherever they like, whenever they like.

“Photographed images do not seem to be statements about the world so much as pieces of it, miniatures of reality that anyone can make or acquire.” (Sontag, 2006, p.5)

The latest high tech trends within photography include smart phones with a high definition camera, digital cameras, sharing and uploading pics instantaneously and iPads. These main technologies have altered the way everyday users are able to connect and communicate through photographs and images. Susan Sontag’s theory displays how the vast changing notion of photography has allowed amateurs to share photos of their experiences. In the era when taking photographs required an expensive contraption – to operate you were usually the toy of the clever, or the wealthy. It was inaccessible to the everyday person, photography then was merely a work of art. Sontag explains that, “Since there were then no professional photographers in the early 1840’s, there could not be amateurs either, and taking photographs has no clear social use; it was gratuitous, that is, an artistic activity…”(Sontag, 2006, p.5) Now during the 21^st century, it is common for an ordinary mundane person to capture a photograph and relay it onto social media. Sontag claims that, “Recently, photography has become almost as widely practiced an amusement as sex and dancing – which means that, like every mass art form, photography is not practiced by most people as an art. It is mainly a social rite, a defense against anxiety, and a tool of power” (Sontag, 2006, p.8)

Instagram

Photography has been used as a social rite, engaging a wider spectrum of people that are becoming more and more involved in social media.

Social media has created an opportunity for audiences to act as a participatory, allowing ordinary people to express their diverse opinion on issues of common concern, thus creating a shared ‘mediated’ experience online. One particular social media site that allows amateur photographers to capture the essence of the “everdayness”, is Instagram. Instagram was launched in 2010 by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger and has been a booming software ever since. It is a free social media network, used by majority of individuals on smart phones, that enables users to take photographs instantaneously on their phone, apply editing filters and upload the image to their profile page to be viewed by their “followers”. Instagram today has approximately 150 million regular users which has brought together the value of community media and the convergence of a shared experience.

Authenticity of Photography

Photography has become a principle device for experiencing something, and making that experience a memory you will cherish forever. However, with photography so widely available to society today, it makes me question the authenticity and value of photos. What’s important enough to document? “Images transfix. Images anesthetize. An event known through photographs certainly becomes more real than it would have been if one had never seen the photographs. But after repeated exposure to images it also becomes less real.” (Sontag, 2006, p.9) For example, Instagram profiles get over 10k followers just on images of food. “The immediacy of photo sharing in the social sphere is that certain photographs are associated with a particular situation and thus loose their significance over a period of time hence making it feel like it is essential for the user to share the image at that moment in time” (Villi 2010).

The change in the digital era of technology has made it capable for the everyday person to capture photos and share them instantaneously. This has been transcended from Susan Sontag’s concept on amateur photography and the idea of immediacy depicted through Mikko Villi’s concept.