History of Photography Culture Report

Executive Summary

Photography is a culture that has been present since the 19^th century. However, the advancement in technology has greatly changed the manner in which the society regards photographs. During the analogue era, photography was used to store family memories.

However, in the digital era, photography is used as a means of personal identification and communication. To expound on this, this paper focused on the theories, background and the perception that the society had on both analogue and digital photographs.

The paper also expounded on the impacts that social networks and digital manipulation have on digital photographs. This brought about a deeper understanding of the changes that are being experienced in photography.

Introduction

Photography can be regarded as an art as well as a science that aims at creating long lasting images. Images are usually created with the help of a lens that focuses the light that is either emitted or reflected by the object into a light sensitive material (Hirsch, 1997). During the early days, a photographic emulsion of the latent image was created on a film.

However, this film needed to undergo several chemical processes for the final image to be arrived at. However, with the advancement in technology, photography has developed. The quality of modern images is better, the process of creating images is much more effective and fast. Therefore, the resultant effects of photography have changed over time.

Photography can be traced back to the beginning of the 19^th century. During the 1820s, Joseph Nicephore, a French inventor managed to create a photograph with the use of a camera Obscura (Dijck, 2008). However, he destroyed the image that he created while attempting to create a duplicate. However, several years later, he was successful once again to create a permanent image.

This marked the beginning of modern photography. Due to its success and efficiency, this new technique managed to replace traditional methods of creating portraits and images such as painting and carving. Photography was capable of capturing more details and information as compared to traditional methods of creating images and portraits.

The stop capability of a photograph therefore played a critical role in determining the manner in which the society regarded photographs. During the early days, the society used photography as a means of storing memories. Unlike their analogue counterparts, digital photographs are easy to make. Their characteristics allow them to be easily manipulated to please the eye of the user.

With these differences, the question of whether the main purpose of a photograph is to safeguard a memory or represent the identity of an individual is always inevitable. To answer this question, this paper will focus on the history and development of photographs. It will compare and contrast analogue and digital photographs and determine the impacts that they have on an individual and to the society.

Photography during the Analogue Era

Photography commenced during the 19^th century. However, before photography came into play, several strategies had been advanced by man to capture images. Painting and carving are perhaps one of the main methods that man used to represent himself in a virtual form.

However, these works of art were not precise. They did not expressly represent the original object or field of view that they actually resembled. Photographs on the other hand were capable of actually duplicating and representing the exact image of the object in focus. This characteristic led to the development of the concept of photographic truth (Hirsch, 1997).

Several theories have been advanced by scholars to explain the relationship that exists between the image developed from photographs and the real world. A photograph always represents the image of an object exactly as it appeared.

The capability of an image to have a stop action that actually represents the truth of a given object at a given time played a critical role in increasing the credibility of photographs and photography at large.

Thus, as a result of the credibility, reliability and realism of photography, the development of photography was closely related to the industrial revolution, the scientific revolution and advancement in philosophy (Dijck, 2008). During this era, the world was experiencing a transformation that led to the emergence of modernism.

Thus, to capture the change in culture, industrialization, politics, and science, photography was used. Photography has played a critical role in presenting the visual representation of the development of the western world from the Renaissance period up to the modern era.

During this time, photography was highly related to the elite individuals of the society (Dijck, 1995). This included scientists, politicians, merchants and so on.

However, things took a different turn during the second half of the 19^th century. George Eastman developed the film as a replacement for the rudimentary photographic plated in 1884 (Dijck, 1995). As a result, the size of cameras gradually reduced.

Developing pictures using the film technology was relatively easier and the resultant images were of superior quality. Most importantly, the cost associated with taking a photograph was reduced. During the beginning of the 20^th century, Gabriel Lippmann developed the Lippmann plate that was capable of producing colour photographs.

With this advancement in photographic technology, the concept of photography slowly moved from the elite to the general population within the society. With this advancement, families relied on photography as a form of technology that enabled them to store their memories and experiences in material form for future reference (Dijck, 2008).

Photographs were used to show the growth and development of a given family. By the end of the 19^th century, almost every family in the United States and Europe has a photo camera (Mitchell, 1992). This was the main tool that families used during the 20^th century to display their growth, development and connectedness.

It is inevitable for any family during the second half of the 20^th century to lack a photo album. Photo albums were always regarded as a means through which a family can reach out to its memories and reminisce. Thus, photographs were mainly used to represent the pictorial heritage of a given family.

Consequently, during the 19^th and 20^th century, photographs were used as a means of communication. During the 20^th century, tourists took photographs of various scenarios and sites from all around the world. The photographs of the Grand Canyon, the Taj Mahal, Pyramids of Egypt, the Eifel tower and so on are good examples.

These photographs not only portray the memories that the tourists had while visiting these areas but it also communicates to the viewer the beauty of the scenery that they were in.

This concept has gained wide application up to the modern era especially in marketing (Castells, 2009). Many advertising campaigns use photographs to pass their main message. By viewing the picture, the target audience ultimately gets the message being conveyed.

Photography in the Digital Era

Technology is dynamic in nature. Thus, as photographs replaced carvings and paintings as the main mode of representation, since the 1980s, digital photographs have replaced analogue photographs. As a result, a lot of arguments have been presented for and against this change.

In analogue photographs, the light reflected by the lens from the object was captured in a chemical film that was inside a camera. It is the film that was processed to give the actual picture on an analogue image. Thus, the final image could not me modified or altered in any way whatsoever.

Digital images on the other hand are created using a different technique. The images are developed with the help of digital cameras that convert the light that is reflected from an object into digital code (Boyd and Ellison, 2007).

Unlike in the analogue technology where the image was inferred on an analogue paper, digital images can be inferred on a variety of components. These include components such as digital screens of camera, computers, cell phones and so on.

Despite the sophisticated technology behind the creation of digital images, the costs incurred are minimal. Technological advancements have made digital cameras to be reduced in size. As a result, cameras are available in most gadgets including cell phones. Thus, unlike in the 1970s where almost every home owned a photo camera, in the 21^st century, almost every teenage and adult as his/her own digital camera.

This has greatly increased the ease at which individuals take photographs. Consequently, digital photographs are stored in codes. These codes can be interpreted in the form of algorithms. Thus, any component that can read these algorithms will have the capability of interpreting the image that it contains.

It is as a result of this fact that many components are capable of interpreting and displaying digital images (Boyd and Ellison, 2007). This capability enables the manipulation of digital images. Thus, users have the option of modifying or altering the content contained in digital images.

Finally, the algorithms have made it possible for digital images to be compressed as well as being stored in different formats. This attribute has greatly increased the portability and transmission of digital images over vast networks of media.

Digital photographs came about as a result of the advancement of the computer and developments in information technology (Binkley, 2003). As a result of computer imaging and the use of sophisticated softwares, man is now capable of generating digital photographs of almost any object within his field of view (Binkley, 2003).

Thus, as the development of analogue photographs was in line with the industrial and scientific revolution, the development of digital photographs has always been in line with the advancement in information, communication and technology. Thus, the computer and its accompanying components and softwares have replaced optical lenses, mechanical cameras and films (Castells, 2009).

At the present moment, people store their images on memory cards and CDs. Very few people use photographic films to produce photographs. The digital modes of storing images enable the users to view their pictures on their computers, televisions, cell phones or any other digital media.

This has slowly led to the facing off of family albums that were quite common in the homes of many families during the 20^th century.

Implications of Digital Pictures

The trend that is related to digital photographs has brought about a lot of arguments with regards to the ethical and social implication that digital pictures have as compared to their analogue counterparts. Digital images have always been regarded as the main factor that led to the decline of analogue photographs.

Many scholars regard digital photography as the main factor that led to the death of an era of analogue photography that lasted for over 150 years (Stewart, 2008). To many, this phenomenon has brought about the end of a photographic culture that has been present in the west from the 18^th century to the 20^th century.

This culture was mainly dominated by the maintenance of family memory with the help of photographs. However, due to their nature of application, digital photographs have been regarded as tools that support the personal identity of an individual.

The motives behind photographs have gradually changed with the emergence of digital photographs. Members of the new generations now use photographs to portray their individual images, interests and identities unlike the members of the older generations who used images as a means of storing memory and reminiscing (Stewart, 2008).

Several studies have been conducted to determine the reasons why teenagers take photographs. In most of these studies, it has emerged that teenagers take photographs as a means of social communication. However, the teenagers believe that they are taking photographs as a means of permanent record for their lives.

The disparity between their beliefs and actual behaviour significantly reveal the impact that digital photographs have on individuals and the society at large. During the analogue era, photographs were taken to show family lineage and bonds in families.

However, during the digital era, photographs act as a means of social communication through which an individual uses to reach out to his/her peers or members of a given group (Harrison, 2002). From a closer analysis, it is evident that teenagers interact more with their peers and individuals from their social circle as compared to how they interact with their parents and other family members.

With this realisation, a lot of individuals and scholars have argued that the culture of photography as it was known in the last two centuries has ended (Lindsay, 2004).

The 21^st century has witnessed the development of a new mode of socialization, interaction and communication in the world; social media. Social networks are virtual organizations on the internet that have been created with the use of sophisticated computer softwares and commands. These networks enable individuals to interact with each other irrespective of their physical location, culture, background and origin.

With the use of these networks, people can share a lot of information with their friends, create and interact with new friends and discuss about several issues of concern. All this is possible without having physical contact with one another.

Examples of social networks include Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, MySpace and so on. Social networks enable its users to interact with each other and through direct communication, sharing of information, pictures, videos and other forms of media files. However, the level and extent in which users access and share files is questionable.

This is because, a user can download, share or manipulate another user without his/her own consent. For instance, Facebook has the share option. Thus, your friends can share your pictures and videos without your consent as if they were originally theirs.

To some extent, this can be viewed as copyright infringement (Bennett and Charles, 2006). These trends are quite normal in the social network world and they question the morals and ethics behind digital photographs and the confidentiality and privacy that digital photographs and social network sites have.

Another issue that has raised questions about the ethics, morals, and reliability of digital photographs is the concept of digital manipulation. Analogue photographs were always associated with truth, realism and evidence of the physical world (Dijck, 2008).

This is because their images were actual representations of the objects they portray. Digital images also have the same capability. However, due to their digital nature, users can modify, copy, compress or network a digital image. Thus, man can alter the emitted light that has been digitalised to come up with an image that fits his needs and desires.

With the help of computer components and softwares, a digital photograph can be modified even further. Adobe Photoshop can be used to modify the digital codes and quality of an image. This concept is widely common in social networking, journalism, advertisement, and design (Stelzner, 2012). However, critics argue that modification of an image eliminates its element of reality since it does not

Conclusion

The transition from analogue to digital photographs has always been characterised by a lot of debate. Analogue photographs have always been used to store family memories while digital photographs are being used as tools for expressing personal identity and communication.

Despite the criticisms that might be present, it is evident that digital photographs are in line with the prevailing culture and technology. However, to ensure that this advancement is effective and sustainable, the privacy of digital images needs to be guaranteed especially while being used in social media. This will ensure that the rights of users are not infringed while they are trying to achieve their social goals with the use of images.

References

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