As Big Bong implies, there is a sort of patina insofar as the technology keeps changing. It’s hard to imagine at this point what “improvements” are going to be made from hereon (aside from obvious factors like resolution) but the medium is sure to change in order to create artificial demand to sell more cameras.
I switched from film to digital while on evacucation from Hurricane Katrina, giving my pre and post-K photos the look of being from very different eras which seems very appropriate.
I strongly endorse switching photographic formats in coordination with major disasters.
I’ll bet a big part of the way this era’s photographs are remembered, are the way we take an image from our 10MegaPixel camera, then immediately resize it to 800×600 or less for web work.
Pictures from the twentieth century offer a wealth of information from incidental details that no one from that period would consider worthy of photographing.
Nowadays, people resize their photos so that the image has JUST enough resolution to make the intentional subject of the photo clear. Anything else would seem wasteful.
I think it’s important to note how there are fewer and fewer “candid” shots when taken with a digital camera. Cross eyed? Delete. Too shiny with sweat? Delete. There are fewer wonderful accidents in digital photography, at least in portraiture. We can click away as much as we like, but even if we don’t delete every imperfect picture, an individual still have the means to distance him/herself from the picture (untag!). In digital photography, one must make a distinct choic NOT to be beautiful forever. I think.
So are we going to somehow augment our ability to mentally process more and more information, or are we going to become more and more choosy with what we store? The world is only going to become more convoluted as the amount of total data and the number of possible life experiences increases. External storage seems like it will dead-end eventually, when it becomes too much for any one person to make sense of.
Digital photography is preparing the world for a nostalgia overload!
Years from now, when we find our billion digital snapshots in pristine condition on our 5TB storage units, we will lapse into nostalgia comas. Memories will return so vividly and with such frequency that we will be overwhelmed with longing for this halcyon period in our lives, when we were so perfect; perfectly composed, perfectly happy, perfectly beautiful, perfectly meaningless (and thus, innocent). Digital photography prepares the world to enter an era where its artificially pleasant and frivolous past feels like another lost Eden; O paradise of mine frittered youth! Why must we live in this hell of Middle Age?!
I expect suicide rates to increase tenfold over the next twenty years.
exjentric – I find the opposite. The posed picture is trying for the middle ground when film costs per shot and candid is iffy. Now we can take dozens of candid shots and save… the one that looks most like a posed photograph.
Froggy – for a long time the one thing that reminded me how long ago 9/11 was was remembering all the people turning back with their disposable cameras.
September 3, 2009
Girl is really on ramblomatic these days…
September 3, 2009
I try to be beautiful while I’m drunk at a party forever.
September 3, 2009
Low resolution and 256 colors is already a patina
September 3, 2009
As Big Bong implies, there is a sort of patina insofar as the technology keeps changing. It’s hard to imagine at this point what “improvements” are going to be made from hereon (aside from obvious factors like resolution) but the medium is sure to change in order to create artificial demand to sell more cameras.
September 3, 2009
Just imagine how naive we’ll feel about our “How could digital photos evolve further?!” mentality when we have stereoscopic 3D aleethiagraphs. :D
September 3, 2009
I switched from film to digital while on evacucation from Hurricane Katrina, giving my pre and post-K photos the look of being from very different eras which seems very appropriate.
I strongly endorse switching photographic formats in coordination with major disasters.
September 3, 2009
I’ll bet a big part of the way this era’s photographs are remembered, are the way we take an image from our 10MegaPixel camera, then immediately resize it to 800×600 or less for web work.
Pictures from the twentieth century offer a wealth of information from incidental details that no one from that period would consider worthy of photographing.
Nowadays, people resize their photos so that the image has JUST enough resolution to make the intentional subject of the photo clear. Anything else would seem wasteful.
September 3, 2009
IS this a good point to mention the Sony “Party Shot” robotic photographer?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXqVESvL5Fk
No longer do you have to judge if an moment of time is worthy of preservation. We have computer software to make that evaluation now. Convenience!
September 3, 2009
“I’m gonna get more drinks guys.”
“Wait hold on, let me set the cambot to follow you.”
September 3, 2009
I think it’s important to note how there are fewer and fewer “candid” shots when taken with a digital camera. Cross eyed? Delete. Too shiny with sweat? Delete. There are fewer wonderful accidents in digital photography, at least in portraiture. We can click away as much as we like, but even if we don’t delete every imperfect picture, an individual still have the means to distance him/herself from the picture (untag!). In digital photography, one must make a distinct choic NOT to be beautiful forever. I think.
September 3, 2009
So are we going to somehow augment our ability to mentally process more and more information, or are we going to become more and more choosy with what we store? The world is only going to become more convoluted as the amount of total data and the number of possible life experiences increases. External storage seems like it will dead-end eventually, when it becomes too much for any one person to make sense of.
September 3, 2009
I swear this recent rambling is the only thing keeping me sane.
September 3, 2009
Digital photography is preparing the world for a nostalgia overload!
Years from now, when we find our billion digital snapshots in pristine condition on our 5TB storage units, we will lapse into nostalgia comas. Memories will return so vividly and with such frequency that we will be overwhelmed with longing for this halcyon period in our lives, when we were so perfect; perfectly composed, perfectly happy, perfectly beautiful, perfectly meaningless (and thus, innocent). Digital photography prepares the world to enter an era where its artificially pleasant and frivolous past feels like another lost Eden; O paradise of mine frittered youth! Why must we live in this hell of Middle Age?!
I expect suicide rates to increase tenfold over the next twenty years.
September 4, 2009
exjentric – I find the opposite. The posed picture is trying for the middle ground when film costs per shot and candid is iffy. Now we can take dozens of candid shots and save… the one that looks most like a posed photograph.
Froggy – for a long time the one thing that reminded me how long ago 9/11 was was remembering all the people turning back with their disposable cameras.
September 6, 2009
nothing is believable without a picture to prove it happened to you
September 7, 2009
Well, we’ll never see a photo of Dorothy.
How do we know she exists?
mmmmmm, there are a few were ‘she’ has taken photos of old shops and you can see the outline of a feminine arm in the reflection.
I have searched quite a bit for a photo of the artist. Not even any of her at a convention or anything………
September 8, 2009
These last few are some of my favorite you have ever published.