4. When publishing changes, so does
society. Investigate and compare the impact of two publication technologies,
one pre-1900 and one post-2000, on a specific aspect of society (e.g. education,
politics, creative industries, science, entertainment, social relationships).
How cameras have
impacted the society
The picture of so-called
"the world's first camera", but then which camera took this photo?
Camera is one of the revolutionary technologies invented in pre-1900s.
It had impacted the society and especially social relationship in various ways; important life events
were recorded, the moment was dead when it was captured.
Before cameras were invented,
every image was done by sketches and drawings. Portrait is the most common
example, as it represents likeness, personality, and mood of the person at a
given point of his or her life. Portrait is not a snapshot, it is the composed
imagery of a stilled person. This is a sketch of George Street, Sydney in 1940s.
Notice how our memory is shaped by digital images, our generation is used to
look at digital pictures. A sketch like this will not remind us anywhere in the
world.
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What did people do before
cameras were invented? There was a high demand of drawings and paintings during
the "old days" (before cameras were invented). People could do
drawings for a living. Nearly all of the master pieces of drawings were done
before cameras were invented. This is the famous paint The Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh in 1889. What would happen if
the camera were invented earlier?
If people were wealthy
enough, they would have a painting commissioned, as well as those who have
power and reputation such as the king, ruler, president and important public
figures. Anyone who made history was painted.
Today people are able to use camera to convert images into drawings and
sketches by special effects and filters. Has the ability to draw, or sketch
been lost nowadays? Is it overtaken by camera phones?
What was the society like
before cameras were invented? Remember the time when people went to saloon, got
drunk and fought? The society evolved around social movements and reformations.
People spent time together face to face in public to discuss matters. This is
an example in the stereotypical society in the Western.
Upper classes or bourgeoisies
have tea party sessions set out to discuss matters, often exchanging academic
knowledge. Most of the time only women attended tea party. People again meet
face to face to interact with each other.
Before camera became accessible to the
public, photography industry played an important role in society. People paid
and hired professional photographers to record important life events such as
wedding, and child birth. Photo album served as an archive to preserve precious
moments in life.
Photographers
taking a photo by then has became commonplace. The term
"photographer" has changed and blurred after camera phones were
invented. "The impact on professional photographers has been dramatic.
Once upon a time photographer wouldn't waste a shot unless they were virtually
certain it would work." - Tom de Castella, whereas nowadays people are
able to check the photos immediately after they took the photo.
This photo shows a photographer taking a group photo in a crowded area.
Photography industry
created job opportunities when 35mm film was introduced by Kodak company in
1920. New innovation encouraged industry to hire more employees to sell and
service cameras and films. Photography industry included opportunities such as
photo reporter, and editor.
This photo is discussing gender issues in photography. Why is
photography industry dominated by male photographers?
Cameras played an
important role in the documentation of history by providing a record of actual
events as they are happening in that moment of time. Cameras not only provided
historical sources, but also became a tool for scholars and scientists to
document new findings.
Like the invention of the
printing press, cameras was widely spread across the globe. News industry and journalism
were heavily impacted by cameras. Nearly all newspapers contained illustrations
and images. A new form of journalism also emerged, it is known as
photojournalism.
The
images in newspapers was originally acting as a supporting material to enhance
the text rather than to act as a medium of information. John Thomson, one of
the pioneers of photojournalism, published a monthly magazine called Street Life in London. The work was
documented in photographs and text to describe the lives of the street people
of London. He pioneered the use of imagery and photo as the predominant source
of information, which successfully combined photography with news publishing.
In November 2000, the first camera phone was
sold in Japan. It has marked the beginning of the digital photo sharing era.
When camera phones became accessible to the public, they impacted the society
in various ways. People are able to record and capture the image that they find
interesting and inspiring. As camera phones became more prevalent in society,
they have brought both negative and positive impacts to the society.
This photo shows the first camera phone J-SH04.
Invasion
of privacy becomes a hotly debated issue when people are able to capture and
monitor others by either recording video footage or taking photos. On one good
perspective, the usage of camera phones helped to gather evidence when crimes
were committed. On the other hand, people used camera phones to capture an
individual's interpersonal life. The term paparazzi defines photographer who
take pictures of famous people (including athletes, celebrities, and
politicians) during their daily routine. Paparazzi has the potential to ruin
one's reputation by capturing misbehaving images (Good&Moulton).
This illustration is from the campaign called Canned Revolution, it
tries to urge the government and big corporation to reveal the truth with
unbiased propagandas. This illustration is similar to George Orwell's satirical
novel 1984, which described
totalitarian government regime.
In our generation, we are
overly attached to technology. Camera phones have become a norm that people
can't go anywhere and do any activities without documenting it with
photographic evidence. Technology affordances created desire for people to take
multiple photos of mundane activities to share with their friends. Social media
like Instagram and Snapchat encouraged people to share photo with their friends
and family, which contributed to the increasing trend of taking photos from
everyday life.
Teenager is the most active
group who used mobile phones on everyday basis. Mobile phones have changed the
way of how young teens interact. Adolescents have a tendency of communicating
with each other by sending multimedia message, which contains both images and texts.
When teenagers send sexually explicit photos to others, they are committing a
crime called sexting. Sexting is referred to the distribution of child
pornography via mobile phones. As a result the term "sexting" became
popular in youth culture.
Although camera phones
brought several changes and negative impact to different aspects of the
society, they also brought several positive impacts to the society. Cell phone
cameras have led to an even more democratic form of freedom. With recorded
video footages and captured photos, individuals is able to quickly uncover the
truth by sharing it on social media, thus the rest of the world.
There is a video footage posted online about living under ISIS
controlled society. The woman who took this video risked her life to uncover
the truth of living under ISIL, at the meantime she is asking the world to help
and salvage them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TkuAIKoI28
In October 2012, Hurricane
Sandy hit the United Sates. During the time period, massive destruction photos
were taken by citizens and uploaded on social networking sites such as Twitter
and Instagram. Remember how the term "photographer" has changed? With
camera phones nowadays, every individual has the potential to become a
photographer. As public citizens who actively participated in the process of
collecting, reporting and disseminating information, another new form of
journalism emerged and was known as citizen journalism.
This photo is taken by using iPhone during Hurricane Sandy.
There are debates about
whether the technology enslaved people or not. As this photo suggests, has the
mobile phone or camera phone dominated people? People become less and less
aware of their physical surroundings; they would rather pay attention on their
little screens than focusing on their surroundings. Even though they sit face
to face, they still prefer to use their mobile phones, which completely killed
the meaning of social interaction. However, an interesting argument expresses
that "people are not hooked on gadgets, they are hooked on each
other". (Rainie&Wellman, 2012) Although people are using their mobile
phones rather than socializing, they are indeed socializing via their mobile
phones.
The original caption for this photo is: " The last
time we “hanged out” I simply brought a book with me… they were on their phones
as I finished a full chapter. Unfortunately my book did not have a camera to immortalize the
irony of the moment"
In conclusion, camera is a
revolutionary invention that brought enormous impact to different aspects of
society. The history of painting and drawing is replaced by the invention of
camera and photography. Camera itself underwent a series of evolution; all the
way from big box camera to portable camera phones. What will technology bring cameras
to the next level? How is it going to affect our lives?
I would like to end the work with this renowned photograph. Camera has
brought the possibilities to capture a certain period of time (even within a
second) at a given point of space. The moment it captured can be astonishing
and inspiring. “The camera is an instrument that teaches
people how to see without a camera.” ― Dorothea Lange
Image
references
http://knowledgeparadiseee.blogspot.com.au/2014/03/the-worlds-first-camera-in-making-but.html
http://postcardnsw.com/522/douglas-pratt-artist-1900-1972
http://petapixel.com/2013/02/21/a-complete-professional-photography-kit-for-15-35-back-in-the-year-1900/
http://www.wikiart.org/en/vincent-van-gogh/the-starry-night-1889
http://cargocollective.com/dbillustration/Commissioned-Portraits
http://cn.forwallpaper.com/wallpaper/wild-west-slaughterhouse-saloon-308462.html
http://www.afternoontea.co.uk/information/history-of-afternoon-tea/
http://www.amazon.com/Photographer-picture-crowded-Atlantic-Archival/dp/B00K9DH7WW
http://www.misterfindit.com/ads/old-newspaper.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photojournalism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J-SH04
http://letsrollforums.com/very-long-train-american-f74.html?s=5d3cbc823582d6dbbcfc7629edc029d3&s=&daysprune=&f=74
http://www.kjassoc.com.au/article/citizen-journalism
http://www.fastcodesign.com/1673283/14-stunning-iphone-photos-taken-during-hurricane-sandy#1
https://plus.google.com/116123554028678966465/posts/Knb1L5gQuVn
http://www.lightchat.co.uk/lightchat-6-cameras-cameras-everywhere/
http://www.healthsolutions.org/mic/?event=sexting
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/christandpopculture/2013/03/faith-in-humanity-just-took-another-hit-a-horrifying-holocaust-revelation/
http://myindiepixel.com/2014/09/03/all-hail-the-internet-god-of-all/
http://www.viralthread.com/25-incredible-photos-time/
Works Cited
http://www.ethicapublishing.com/inconvenientorinvasive/2CH20.pdf
(Kelsey Good and Steven Moulton)
http://bigthink.com/Picture-This/how-photography-changed-painting-and-vice-versa
http://prezi.com/438tjjnh39iy/the-history-of-the-camera-and-how-it-has-impacted-society/
http://web4.cs.ucl.ac.uk/uclic/annb/docs/hsbfabUEchapterpreprint.pdf
http://networked.pewinternet.org/2012/05/24/networked-individualism-what-in-the-world-is-that-2/
Wellman,
Barry. Networked. Massachusetts: MIT Press, The., 2012. Print.
