Chronologies 6 - Photography

I was looking forward to this lecture quite a lot, as photography itself is something that I enjoy a lot outside of studies, and I try to incorporate it into my work whenever possible. Despite it only being invented in the 19th century, the amount of documentation we have and the amount we know because of it is astounding. It is an incredibly interesting medium, capturing a moment in time, a fraction of a second that will be preserved for virtually forever. It is estimated that since the invention of photography, over 3.5 trillion photographs have been taken. That is a huge amount of documentation, and today with the ease of access to digital cameras, with almost all mobiles phones having one built in, it's no surprise that this number is growing at an extreme rate. Photographs have an infinite number of uses; some of the more practical uses are things such as evidence, documentation, advertising, design, art, forensics and commercial use.

Photography can also be used in controversial ways. Documenting or photographing sensitive subject matter and showing it publicly can be upsetting to some people, and there is certain restrictions on the type of material that can be shown to a universal audience. Photography depicting graphic or grisly images and nudity for example have certain restrictions on them depending on their purpose.

Throughout the photograph presentation we were shown a number of photographs of historic events or what we consider now very interesting documentation of various people, locations or just an interesting subject matter. The ability to see history in images is something that you don't think about until your attention is brought to it. The subjects of the photographs at the time, would have thought nothing of it, but being able to see people going about their day over a hundred years ago is really something incredible when you think about it. However, photographs aren't always what they seem. with the movement and development of technology, photo editing software has become more available both in industry and for personal use. This means that photographs can be altered in a variety of ways, and this can be dangerous for various reasons. Firstly, photographs that are used for things such as evidence or documentation can be altered to be misleading or false, which could cause serious repercussions. Secondly, in more recent years the way people are represented in the media has been criticised due to the manipulation of photographs of people to the point where their bodies and faces look different to what they actually are. Meaning society is constantly being bombarded with unrealistic and unnatural representations of people that are simply modified versions of their real selves. So, unfortunately like everything, photography and the way it's used has it's complications.

Overall, this was an incredibly insightful lecture, not just looking at photographs and their uses through history. But a look into history itself at some key events, which was interesting on its own. Furthermore, it reinforced to me how powerful photography is and what a versatile tool it is in the modern era. Given the ease of access in modern society, I feel incredibly fortunate to be able to use it as freely as I am.

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