We have been taking photographs
for about 200 years, and in the first hundred years of the technology we produced about a billion photos world-wide. That may sound like a lot, but by the time I began taking photos in the mid-70's we had ten times that many.
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| The first image transmitted over the internet (1992) |
Astoundingly, for every single photograph that existed when I picked up a camera in 1970, we now have about 35 thousand images, and a recent estimate I read stated that we have taken around 3.5 trillion pics. Reading these numbers got me thinking about what we're doing with that explosion in imaging power.
Currently, most of the world’s photos are on Facebook. If all the images in the US Library of Congress covered a postage stamp, the images on Facebook would cover your living room floor. And every month Facebook uploads another six billion!
To return to my question, one thing we're doing with this imaging power is posting “selfies,” or photographic self portraits.
Made popular by MySpace and Facebook, you might have the impression that
selfies are a recent phenomenon, but they date back as far as photography
itself.
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| Typical current selfie. (Wikipedia) |
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| Edwardian woman using a mirror for a selfie in 1890 |
Today, typical selfies are poorly-lit self
portraits of girls and young women (females seem more smitten with this activity than males) taken in a bathroom mirror. Ironically, this year a study showed that posting too many Facebook selfies can hurt your real-world relationships: it is NOT an activity that leads to popularity.
It is apparent, however, that
selfies are a permanent and growing feature of the photographic landscape. What is your opinion of selfies? Why do people post them?
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| The Breathing Earth uses graphics to present information powerfully. |
To be less cynical, here is a more uplifting way that we are using the power of imaging: The Breathing Earth is a simulation web site that will show you in real time as people are born and die around the
world. It is one thing to read that many are born in Africa every minute -- it is a much more striking thing to see the sparks of their births on a map.
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| "20 Thousand Leagues Under the Sea" required hundreds of images, including many of both live and dead octopuses. |
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| Many of West's works seem to evoke mythology. |
His images have been called "hyper-photographic realism," but to me they simply look surreal the way Salvador Dali's work does. He takes hundreds of photos as raw material and reassembles it in images that have the resonance of mythology.
His work flow begins with a 60 MegaPixel camera and moves to Photoshop. Though he has a soft spot for film he says, "Digital photography has made the impossible possible."
I love this blog i never knew that posting to many selfies on Facebook could hurt your real life relationship.
ReplyDeleteWow! I did not realize the impact selfies, put on Facebook, really had. Thinking about it now I totally see how they do. This blog has deffinately opened my eye's to the impact selfies have on real-life relationships.
ReplyDeleteI love this post. It's really incredible to study the history and evolution of photography. If I didn't know better, I would have said that selfies were a trend that had just emerged in the past decade... You learn something new everyday! It's also really interesting to see the different ways that people use images. Some use pictures to inspire, to bring awareness, to bully, to gain popularity, for publicity or to make another picture. Thanks so much for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI think it's cool to look at the evolution of photography, or I guess it's the devolution depending on how you look at it. My point is, I look at some of my family's old picture from before the war and its so different from pictures taken today. As you mentioned, most pictures today are selfies as opposed to back in the 20's and 30's where it would have been family portraits and such things.
ReplyDeleteits unhealthy to selfie? now theres one i havnt heard before.. interesting learn something new everyday!
ReplyDeleteWell, maybe unhealthy for your relationships -- maybe your friends would begin thinking you are entirely too self absorbed if you kept posting selfies. (Just a guess).
ReplyDeleteThe woman in the 8019 for the selfies. Was really interesting to see how far the world has come. For what selfies are now
ReplyDeleteThis was an interesting read especially about the selfies. I have read in other places that selfies also create narcissism and anti-socialism. I also really enjoyed the Breathing Earth website, it really opened my eyes about whats going on around world. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that the practice of taking photographs of yourself (selfie) has been around since the beginning of the camera does not surprise me. It’s interesting that selfies and snapshots are now mainstream. With cameras in phones, capturing moments are much more accessible which make selfies a mainstream phenomenon. One thing I do find sad is when people pullout their phone to take a photo, for some reason the photo becomes less valuable because you don’t take the time to properly compose the photo. Most of the photos are badly framed and you rarely go back to look at them. Most of them become deleted. But if you would develop them and put them in photo albums you are more likely to look back at them in 20 years. There is a photographer that does the similar work as Dean West and his name is Josh Rossi. His work is amazing. http://joshrossi.com/. He also does tutorials and speed edits https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnkOBZw08x4.
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