Final Post!

In the past few weeks I have learned a lot about photography and its impact on our culture. My entire understanding of photography has been changed. Photography has been a habit of mine for a bit more than a year now and I have become very interested by it. This blog was an opportunity to explore an aspect of photography that I hadn't dealt with much yet. I have come to realize that photography is much more than just an influential aspect of our culture. With its connection to news, advertising, and entertainment photography is our culture.

In my first post I asked, what makes a person really connect to a photo? After writing this blog I have reached the understanding that what really connects people to photographs is what they make the viewer feel when looking at them. Whether it's an ad that makes people feel like they need to buy something, or a photo of people dying on a battlefield in a warzone that makes people feel pain and sympathy for the people losing their lives, the feelings a photograph raises are what creates a deep connection with the viewer.

I also asked, what photos have changed our culture the most? In my last post I went over an article that explained why the author thought a set of 13 photos had changed the world. This article helped me understand that photos make massive impacts on our culture in aspects that we might not even think of. Photos have affected wars, corporations, environmental awareness, and much more.

My final question was, clearly photography is one of the most influential aspects of modern media, but what has led up to this point? Photography has been instrumental in the growth of our culture. Photography has played a major role in the evolution of art, advertising, and entertainment as a whole. Since the first photoetching in 1822 photography has become a driving force in humanity's progression.

Some new questions that I have after writing this blog are what will be the next big step in photography? Film and digital photography have both changed what photography is enormously. What will be the next big thing to shape this aspect of our society?

Article summaries part three

I came across an article this week about the most influential pictures of all time. I thought it was a very clear and interesting way of showing photos that had a major affect on our culture. The article, "13 Photographs That Changed the World" by Alex Santoso, discusses 13 photos that range from fine art shots to a picture of the loch ness monster. One photo in this article that I thought was an interesting addition was the photo "Hindenburg" by Murray Becker in 1937.

This is a photo of the zeppelin named the Hindenburg burning up and crashing mid-flight. This photo affected society in a larger way than you might expect. Before the Hindenburgs crash, people considered zeppelins the safest form of air travel. The documentation of this event shifted the publics opinion on that. Photos of this event played a major role in the downfall of the zeppelin industry.

The photo in this article that made the biggest impact on me was "Murder of a Vietcong by Saigon Police Chief" by Eddie Adams in 1968.

This is a photo of General Nguyen Ngoc Loan executing a captain of a Vietcong revenge squad for killing a group of unarmed civillians during the Vietnam War in 1968. This photo brings the viewer to a terrifying and shocking scene. A man is about to die. Adams captured that and shed a new light on the war that our country was in. This photo did a lot to change people thoughts on the Vietnam War. When people see the things like this that so perfectly expose the dark brutal side of war, they are more likely to think about what their country is really doing. This shot did much more than affect our culture though. This photo affected the general's life forever. After this picture was taken Loan had to live with the fact that the entire world had seen him kill a man. Adams later commented on his feelings about this saying "The general killed the Vietcong, I killed the general with my camera."

Another article that I thought was interesting was "Photography's influence on Painting" by Jill Markwood. This article brought up a new aspect of culture that photography has shaped that I hadn't even thought of looking for. Until the dawn of photography, all art was done by either a brush or a pencil. Artists had to recreate scenes that sat before them. Markwood uses a quote by art historian Peter Kalb to express how photography has affected this aspect of art. "The most immediate an obvious impact [of photography] on painting can be seen in the works of artists eager to achieve a special kind of optical veracity unknown until the advent of photography..." Before photography artists had to sit in front of a scene or picture it in their heads to create a picture. This resulted in changes in what the scene would look like. The painter would have to make up a moment to create a picture of. When cameras began to become more and more popular the art world discovered that they could capture a single second and reproduce it with a never before seen amount of truth to what the original scene was. Another point that Markwood brings up that I hadn't thought of is that before the camera, pictures had a somewhat theatrical feel to them due to the arrangement and settings that people used in their art. With photography artists began creating art out of simple every day scenes. Pictures became much easier to make a connection to because they had a sense of realism that was impossible to capture without a camera.

Before reading Markwood's paper, I had only really been thinking about how photography had affected our culture's people or industries. I hadn't really thought about its impact on art itself! As I look into this subjet more and more I am coming to realize that photography is one of the most influential things we have in the world today. It has shaped every aspect of culture and will go on to shape our culture even more in the future.

Article summaries part two

One article that really stuck out to me in my research in the past few days was The Image Culture by Christine Rosen for The New Atlantis Journal of Technology & Society. In the article Rosen makes many good points that I found very thought invoking. The first point that Rosen raises is that the vast quantity of pictures that people see these days have dulled the impact that a single image has to a person. I think this is a particularly interesting concept that I hadn’t really thought over much myself. I think Rosen is very right in saying this. When I see pictures of the horrible events happening in Japan recently, though I still feel bad for the people I see in the pictures, I don’t connect to the images as easily as I might have because of the overwhelming amount of pictures I see on the news, on the internet, and in magazines. There are so many pictures coming out of the crisis that it makes it hard to be as influenced by a single one.

The next point that really made an impact on me was that, with the dawn of pictures and movies in our society, people have been desensitized drastically to written word. Rosen believes this has happened because images are able to capture people’s attention more than words. What really got me thinking was when Rosen says “ In making images rather than texts our guide, are we opening up new vistas for understanding and expression, creating a form of communication that is “better than print,” as New York University communications professor Mitchell Stephens has argued? Or are we merely making a peculiar and unwelcome return to forms of communication once ascendant in preliterate societies—perhaps creating a world of hieroglyphics and ideograms?” I thought this was an interesting and scary idea. When I look at society today I see a culture dominated by the images we see in advertising, entertainment, and education. To the majority of people, the images in these aspects of our society make a much deeper connection than the words that come along with them.

Rosen concludes her article with by saying that our “image-based culture” is here to stay, and that our culture will become even more image based in the future. The words : “We will, of course, be enormously entertained by these images, and many of them will tell us stories in new and exciting ways. At the same time, however, we will have lost something profound: the ability to marshal words to describe the ambiguities of life and the sources of our ideas…” are both true and chilling. Rosen has made me see an impact that photography has had on our culture that I hadn’t really considered until now.

Another article that I found really intriguing was Starting Point: Today’s Image Culture and Why Media Literacy Matters by Rosalind Silver and Elizabeth Thoman for The Center for Media Literacy. The point that stuck out to me the most was “A war half-way round the world, congressional investigations, natural and human disasters. In each of these public events, the television camera is not just a neutral recorder but a major player providing the powerful images that shapes not only our perception of the events, but the events themselves.” I think this is a very good point. Photography in the news can almost bring people to the scene in front of the camera. Money donated to the relief effort in Haiti as of January 12th 2010 is a whopping 1.4 billion dollars. I think that without the massive media coverage of the events had a very large impact on that. The media helped make an immensely bigger impact because of the affect that the pictures and videos people saw, than it would have with just written coverage.

Another major point that Silver and Thoman bring up is that at this point in time, even if you turn your computer or T.V. off, you can’t escape the affect that media has on our culture. They even go as far as to say “Media no longer influence culture, they are our culture.” This couldn’t be more correct. No matter how hard you try to ignore the news, entertainment, or advertising in our society, the rest of the world is paying attention. Very close attention. Even though I detest MTV and cringe at the thought of reality T.V. I know the names of every character on Jersey Shore and even catch phrases that they have. No matter how hard you try, media will always have a tight grip on the entire population of the world.

I am learning more and more about photography and modern media every day. I hope as a reader you are finding as much interest as I am in the vice grip that images have on our culture today.

Article summaries and my thoughts on them.

In the article Art: To Catch the Instant, The author begins with a statement that I couldn't agree with more. He says: "Were photography nothing more than an aid to memory - snapshots to be pasted in an album - it would perform a service; but in the right hands, the camera goes infinitely beyond the mere literal record." This sentence really summed up thoughts I had about photography's impact on the world, but had a hard time putting those thoughts into words. Photography is much more than a form of documentation. Photography can really bring a person to a scene that they would never be able to be a part of.

The author then goes on to quote Edward Steichen, the dean of U.S. photography in 1961. Steichen's quote, "There is, the photography which seeks to translate into pattern and design the magic of a detail of growth and deterioration. Photography records the gamut of feelings written on the human face, the beauty of the earth and skies that man has inherited, and the wealth and confusion man has created. In a word, photography has become, as only good art can, "a major force in explaining man to man." Secures my thoughts that were summed up in the beginning of the article. Photography has done just that to me. Certain artists have been able to show such a deep and raw form of humanity that they would not have been able to express in other mediums. In the modern age, photography is a medium utilized by more than just artists. Online social networking has taken photography to a whole new level. This makes me wonder, has fine art photography or the daily documentation of people's lives done on Facebook played a bigger part in "explaining man to man."

The article goes on to talk about Steichen's life and his impact on photography. Steichen is an example that photography can and does affect our culture.

In Robert Hughes' article Art: Images of America Before Its Fall, Hughes illustrates for the reader, the story of easily one of the most known and influential photographers in history, Ansel Adams.

Adams has, with his photography, brought the beauty of nature through his eyes to the eyes of the entire world. Ansel Adams has done more than just show beauty to the world though. He has used his photography as a way to spread awareness about the environment and why is should be preserved and protected.

Ansel Adams is another living breathing example of how photography can affect society and culture. His artwork has opened the eyes of the masses to the beauty of our world and why it should be kept safe.

These articles have both helped me shape my ideas on photography's affect on our culture, and raised many questions about how and in what ways it does this. I look forward to sharing more of my thoughts about this in my upcoming posts.

How can photography affect culture in the modern world?

People today look towards the media for both information and entertainment. Photography has been a massive part of our culture since it was invented in the early 19th century. Since then it has evolved into something that everyone does and is influenced by. With the recent dawn of online social networking photography has become something that everyone does and something that everyone is affected by daily. People are always snapping pictures of what they're doing or where they are. Photography has certainly entered a new age.

Photography is always a big part of getting information out in a way that is far more influential than simple words. When people see a picture on the front page of the paper or on the cover of a magazine they instantly form a connection to whatever the story is about. They can actually see what is going on. Photos such as "Tank Man" taken in Tiananmen Square during protests in 1989 are able to spark deep and real emotions in the people that see them. Photos of the protests and revolt going on in Libya right now have made it possible for people to understand, on a much deeper level, what is actually going on there. Photography is one of the most important ways of getting news to people in our world today.

Photography effects people far more than just emotionally too. Photography is one of the best ways to sell a product, because when people see a photo of someone good looking holding a product, or wearing certain clothes, or driving a certain car, something inside makes us want whatever that person has. We all want to be the best versions of ourselves and photography makes it possible for people to form connections with products and picture themselves with the product as a better version of themselves.

I want to learn more about photography's effect on our culture. What makes a person really connect to a photo ? What photos have changed our culture the most? Clearly photography is one of the most influential aspects of modern media, but what has led up to this point? With this blog I will be exploring these questions and more. I hope that both I as a writer, and you as a reader, can learn new and interesting things about this huge part of our society.

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