Digital Photography

Of course these readings talk a lot about how the invention of digital photography influenced the evolution of the photography as an art and also simply as a means of recording information, but I was particularly interested in how they spoke of the overall evolution of photography and what it has become now/the steps it took there. I was really amazed at the anecdote at the end of the Fred Ritchin chapter where he speaks of the most photographed barn. I found the idea of not seeing the barn fascinating because I think that I can relate to that and its ubiquitous in today’s world of instagram. There were a couple points in the anecdote, but my main takeaway was that nobody really goes to the barn to see the barn anymore, but they go there to take a picture of it. Almost contrary to what the intended use of the camera was (to capture a moment), taking a picture of this barn (that nobody really knows anything about) is almost creating a moment out of nothing simply by taking the photograph. (Ritchin actually talks about this earlier in the chapter.)

 

Back on the note of what digital photography did for the art of photography, I find it kind of funny, if not ironic, that with all the convenience issues that digital photography solved by digitizing the process, it also created many bigger, harder to solve problems with the entire art itself. Similar to how the invention of the camera forced painting to evolve and forced painters to make paintings that couldn’t be created with the new apparatus, I feel like there are skills and other intangible things that (film) photographers used to do that aren’t relevant anymore. Bresson’s eye and his ability compose a picture perfectly through his impeccable timing are rendered almost obsolete when one now has the ability to review a photo to see what was good/bad about it and take as many photos as you want within a certain period of time with the only limiting factor being the shutter speed the camera is set to. Equally, why would anyone go through the trouble of developing analog photographs if the same image/effects could be achieved and even improved using digital cameras and programs?