One of the key aims of my project, is to remind my viewers of the power of photography and its position in the art world. Whilst technology and social media have their benefits, it’s clear that they can also hinder photography as an art form. This article discusses the impact camera phones can have on how people view photography. I want my project to remind people that photography is capable of making the everyday beautiful, as well as making the beautiful into an everyday thing to be snapped on a camera phone and forgotten about.
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2013/dec/13/death-of-photography-camera-phones
The article begins by discussing the fact, that whilst there are now more photographs taken than ever before, photography is still ‘dying’. This is because people are not taking photographs to celebrate photography or to create works of art, but simply to capture and remember moments. However, what I found most interesting to read, is that psychologist argue that there is a “photo-taking impairment effect” – meaning that taking a photo of something makes us even less likely to remember it than if we had looked at it with our eyes. The article explains, that by taking quick snapshots of moments, we aren’t really taking in what we are seeing. I’m guilty of doing this myself. When I see something beautiful, I often struggle between making the most of it or photographing it. It’s so common now that our first thoughts are about how something will look on our instagram feeds, rather than appreciating the moment there and then.
When people view my photos, I want them to start noticing the small details of life that we would usually overlook and forget in our busy day-to-day lives. Hopefully, this will remind people why photography has always been so magical and why it’s so important to not only photograph the scenic moments, but also the mundane ones too.
It could be argued that photography isn’t dying though, in fact it might just be changing. The article also touches on this. Just as analogue photography was once superseded by dslr photography, iPhones are now becoming the leading photographic method of choice. And that’s not necessarily a negative thing. However, it is people’s attitudes to photography nowadays that are destroying it as an art form. And that ‘s what I want to work on changing.
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