Our society without photography would be unimaginable to us now. It would be weird to think of the world without a picture ID, visual souvenirs, portraits, advertising pictures, views of exotic places and even of outer space, pictures of the world’s news, and one in which the people of our society had no way to visually document the important events of our lives.
Since its origins in the late 1830s, photography has evolved due to technological advancements. From taking days to develop a photograph, it can now be generated in an instant. Digital technology has made picture taking easier and economical, where every man, woman and child can now take pictures with confidence. As cameras and techniques of photography became easier, amateurs have the ability and opportunity to witness and record history.
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| http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102112403 |
Photography has shaped our society in many different ways and continues to do so. We can consider photography to be record of the world, and the life we have fashioned upon it. Photography records wars, injustices, poverty, human misery, and human joy, influencing public opinion, documenting disasters, and showing us war in all of its frightening aspects. A perfect modern example would be the photograph on the right taken by an Associated Press photographer Eddie Adams during the Vietnam War. Taken almost during the squeeze of the trigger, the photo showed the excution of a Vietcong prisoner during the second day of the Tet Offensive, who stood with his hands tied behind his back, unidentified and wearing black shorts and a plaid shirt, in a final grimace as the bullet passed through his brain, which won a Pulitzer Prize in 1969, and helped popularize the American public’s opinion against the war.
On his famous photograph, Adams wrote in Time-
"I won a Pulitzer Prize in 1969 for a photograph of one man shooting another. Two people died in that photograph: the recipient of the bullet and GENERAL NGUYEN NGOC LOAN. The general killed the Viet Cong; I killed the general with my camera. Still photographs are the most powerful weapon in the world. People believe them, but photographs do lie, even without manipulation. They are only half-truths. What the photograph didn't say was, What would you do if you were the general at that time and place on that hot day, and you caught the so-called bad guy after he blew away one, two or three American soldiers?"
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,988783,00.html
It is said “A picture is worth a thousand words”, but it can often mislead or lead to misinterpretation since those pictures were being manipulated soon after the invention of photography and technology has again made it easier for the society to manipulate a photograph and tell a story according to one’s view.
An early evidence of manipulation can be seen below in this doctored photo of Queen Elizabeth and Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King in Banff, Alberta, in 1939 where King George VI was removed from the original photograph. This photo was used on an election poster for the Prime Minister. It is hypothesized that the Prime Minister had the photo altered because a photo of just him and the Queen painted him in a more powerful light.
And a more recent example would be this photo of Governor Sarah Palin in September 2008 which was widely distributed across the Internet shortly after Palin was announced as the vice presidential nominee for the Republican ticket. Shortly after its release the photo was revealed to be a composite of Palin's head, and somebody else's body.
Apart from easily available access to photo manipulation to the general public, digital technology has contributed a lot in an economic sense with media companies and regular people saving money by not having to purchase film, process film, or buy expensive processing equipment. The environment is also helped because newspapers and other media companies are no longer disposing photographic chemicals and more people are viewing photograph online, rather than in print.
As we discussed in one of the modules, photojournalism is one of means of letting society know what is happening today in the world. Before creation of digital technology, the number of people who were able to use this medium was much lower than it is today. This was due to complexity of camera use, price etc. Today that digital photo cameras are put to mass production, it is much cheaper to obtain one and much easier to use. Photographers do not have equipment to edit and produce actual photographs. Instead, it can be done through software such as Photoshop and printed through printer. Thus, it saves time and money. To add to that, today’s photo technology is much easier to use than it was, let’s say, forty years ago. Knowing all this, more people can take and share images, thus bringing alternative views on political, social, environmental and many other issues. Just like important invention of printing press brought an ability of sharing ideas faster among people, so does digital photography. With help of internet, virtually no event escapes from the eyes of public, which is, once again, crucial for our society where people have to be aware of what is going on outside of their homes. Digital photography also contributes greatly to our security and legal world. With speed and ease of use of such cameras, it is much more useful to get visual evidence. Police for example uses it on the car crash scenes, or with potential suspects. With that being said, as much of goodness digital photography brings into society, it also carries a number of problems. As it was mentioned previously, it is easy to manipulate and modify images with digital technology. This creates a problem because anyone can mislead a viewer by presenting him or her with an image that does not represent the truth. With ease of sharing information, it is extremely fast for false image and potentially harmful meaning it carries to spread. With staggering number of people that use digital photography for professional or recreational reasons, technological advances in digital photography possess an important role for our society.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,988783,00.html
It is said “A picture is worth a thousand words”, but it can often mislead or lead to misinterpretation since those pictures were being manipulated soon after the invention of photography and technology has again made it easier for the society to manipulate a photograph and tell a story according to one’s view.
An early evidence of manipulation can be seen below in this doctored photo of Queen Elizabeth and Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King in Banff, Alberta, in 1939 where King George VI was removed from the original photograph. This photo was used on an election poster for the Prime Minister. It is hypothesized that the Prime Minister had the photo altered because a photo of just him and the Queen painted him in a more powerful light.
 |
| http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/farid/research/digitaltampering/ |
And a more recent example would be this photo of Governor Sarah Palin in September 2008 which was widely distributed across the Internet shortly after Palin was announced as the vice presidential nominee for the Republican ticket. Shortly after its release the photo was revealed to be a composite of Palin's head, and somebody else's body.
 |
| http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/farid/research/digitaltampering/ |
Apart from easily available access to photo manipulation to the general public, digital technology has contributed a lot in an economic sense with media companies and regular people saving money by not having to purchase film, process film, or buy expensive processing equipment. The environment is also helped because newspapers and other media companies are no longer disposing photographic chemicals and more people are viewing photograph online, rather than in print.
As we discussed in one of the modules, photojournalism is one of means of letting society know what is happening today in the world. Before creation of digital technology, the number of people who were able to use this medium was much lower than it is today. This was due to complexity of camera use, price etc. Today that digital photo cameras are put to mass production, it is much cheaper to obtain one and much easier to use. Photographers do not have equipment to edit and produce actual photographs. Instead, it can be done through software such as Photoshop and printed through printer. Thus, it saves time and money. To add to that, today’s photo technology is much easier to use than it was, let’s say, forty years ago. Knowing all this, more people can take and share images, thus bringing alternative views on political, social, environmental and many other issues. Just like important invention of printing press brought an ability of sharing ideas faster among people, so does digital photography. With help of internet, virtually no event escapes from the eyes of public, which is, once again, crucial for our society where people have to be aware of what is going on outside of their homes. Digital photography also contributes greatly to our security and legal world. With speed and ease of use of such cameras, it is much more useful to get visual evidence. Police for example uses it on the car crash scenes, or with potential suspects. With that being said, as much of goodness digital photography brings into society, it also carries a number of problems. As it was mentioned previously, it is easy to manipulate and modify images with digital technology. This creates a problem because anyone can mislead a viewer by presenting him or her with an image that does not represent the truth. With ease of sharing information, it is extremely fast for false image and potentially harmful meaning it carries to spread. With staggering number of people that use digital photography for professional or recreational reasons, technological advances in digital photography possess an important role for our society.
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