Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

A LIFE MORE PHOTOGRAPHIC

2008; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 1; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/17540760701785842

1754-0771

Daniel Rubinstein, Katrina Sluis,

Museums and Cultural Heritage

Abstract Twenty‐two years since the arrival of the first consumer digital camera, Western culture is now characterized by ubiquitous photography. The disappearance of the camera inside the mobile phone has ensured that even the most banal moments of the day can become a point of photographic reverie, potentially shared instantly. Supported by the increased affordability of computers, digital storage and access to broadband, consumers are provided with new opportunities for the capture and transmission of images, particularly online where snapshot photography is being transformed from an individual to a communal activity. As the digital image proliferates online and becomes increasingly delivered via networks, numerous practices emerge surrounding the image's transmission, encoding, ordering and reception. Informing these practices is a growing cultural shift towards a conception of the Internet as a platform for sharing and collaboration, supported by a mosaic of technologies termed Web 2.0. In this article we attempt to delineate the field of snapshot photography as this practice shifts from primarily being a print‐oriented to a transmission‐oriented, screen‐based experience. We observe how the alignment of the snapshot with the Internet results in the emergence of new photographies in which the photographic image interacts with established and experimental media forms – raising questions about the ways in which digital photography is framed institutionally and theoretically. Notes 1. Members of the public were invited to contribute to the exhibition “How We Are Now: Photographing Britain” at Tate Britain, London, UK, 22 May–2 September 2007, by submitting photographs to a Flickr group, 〈http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/exhibitions/howweare/slideshow.shtm〉. 2. “We Are All Photographers Now!”, Musée de l'Elysée, Lausanne, Switzerland, 8 February–20 May 2007. 〈http://www.allphotographersnow.ch/〉. 3. See examples at the Panoramio website 〈http://www.panoramio.com〉; Flickr's image map 〈http://www.flickr.com/map〉; and Woophy 〈http://www.woophy.com〉. 4. See the image in its original context, posted by CitationAlfie Dennen to his blog at Stacey's request: 〈http://moblog.co.uk/view.php?id = 77571〉. 5. In studies by CitationVan House et al. (“The Uses of Personal Networked Digital Imaging” 1856) and Okabe and Ito it is suggested that the camera phone has enabled the freedom to explore new paradigms of visual storytelling and personal expression. 6. CitationRoland Barthes sums up this sentiment in Camera Lucida: “I am not a photographer, not even an amateur photographer: too impatient for that: I must see right away what I have produced[.]” (9). 7. Only a generation ago the average number of photographs taken by a family during one year is estimated to have been three to four rolls of film (CitationKing 9; Chalfen Citation14). 8. At the same time, the marketing of recent camera phones suggests that the mobile phone is now being re‐constructed as a mobile multimedia computer. The latest phones from Nokia are described in promotional literature as “multi‐media devices” and elsewhere as “multi‐media computers” (Citation“Nokia Introduces the Next Story in Video with the Nokia N93”). 9. For an evaluation of on‐camera sharing practices, see E. Salwen, “Beyond Chimping”, AfterCapture Magazine June/July 2007. 4 Aug. 2007. 〈http://www.aftercapture.com/print‐archives/564/beyond‐chimping〉. 10. In this respect 2004 perhaps marks the beginning of this shift: it was a year of massive growth for digital cameras, as was the year in which sales of camera phones outstripped sales of digital cameras (which outsold film cameras) (CitationRaymond). In the same year, the term Web 2.0 was coined (CitationO'Reilly), and Google revolutionized online storage with the introduction of 1GB email accounts. 11. See Microsoft's multimedia coffee table covered in Popular Mechanics: 〈http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/industry/4217348.html〉. 12. Compare Flickr's “interestingness”, a ranking algorithm for seeking out the “best” images on their servers: 〈http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/〉. 13. Flickr website: 〈http://www.flickr.com〉 (accessed 16 Oct. 2007, 5:15 p.m.). 14. To play Google Image Labeler, visit 〈http://images.google.com/imagelabeler/〉.