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Old vs New: What happens when media dies? 

This piece intends to explore what happens when old media forms are supplanted with new media technologies. It examines the reasons for these shifts and the effects of evolving media, upon both the individual and the industry.

The displacement of media artefacts is a given when new media technologies arise. This is seen with the marginalisation of the record for the tape, the tape for the CD, the CD for the mp3, as well as the trade from VCR to DVD, or floppy disc to USB – the transposition of media artefacts with their updated counterparts is commonplace. But who does it affect, when these technologies are replaced? As marketing academic Jan Verloop asserts, although there may be an initial ‘fight back of the old technologies,’ as new media technologies develop, ‘many companies with the old technology will die as a consequence’ (Verloop, 2004). This piece intends to explore the effects of displacing old media with new technologies, and the consequent evolution of the photographic industry.

Mike Gillam is a renowned fine art nature photographer. His longstanding position within the photographic community has afforded Gillam with a wealth of knowledge across both film and digital photography, as he has practiced professionally with both. As such, I reached out to Gillam to find out was it was like to make the shift to digital photography as a professional photographer, what this shift meant for others in the industry, and whether he believed the transition was a positive change.

The resultant film speaks not only to the impact that the digital age of photography has had upon Gillam personally, but also to the effect it had on his fellow photographers, and the industry as a whole.

The piece furthermore responds to media theory, namely that put forth by academic Bob Seidensticker, who posits that developments in media technologies drive a consequent adaptation in the way people interact with the evolved media form (Seidensticker, 2006). This concept is reflected in the piece as Gillam states that he now takes an ‘endless’ number of photos, as, with the affordances of digital photography, he is able to now use photography as a mode of artistic experimentation, and a medium that allows numerous shots in the quest for perfection – pursuits prohibited by film. Thus, the advent of a new photographic technology changed the way the medium was approached and interacted with, and this serves as just one example of what media academic David Thorburn expounds as new media technology’s ability to generate ‘profound changes in our political, social, and aesthetic experience.’  

The focus of the piece is Gillam’s story, as such, I have intentionally left the audio track without backing music, and kept the accompanying visuals minimal and slow. The subject of the film’s visuals is an old Minolta X700, a quality SLR that was discontinued in 1999 – replaced with the newer, more automated Minolta Maxxum 7000 (Photoxels, 2015). The camera thereby reflects the story being told by Gillam, and affirms the history of technological displacement rife within the media industry. Similarly, the film’s lighting consists largely of red, green and blue flashing lights; the incorporation of RBG colouring signifying the shift into the digital age.

 

Reference List

Biro, M 2012, ‘From Analogue to Digital Photography: Bernd and Hilla Becher and Andreas Gursky,’ History of Photography, vol. 36, no. 3, p. 353 – 366, accessed 23 March 2017, Taylor and Francis Online.

Gustavson, T, 2009 Camera: A History Of Photography From Daguerreotype To Digital, Sterling Innovation, USA.

Jenkins, H 2006, Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide, New York University Press, USA.

Photoxels 2015, A Brief History of Minolta Cameras, web, accessed 23 March 2017, www.photoxels.com/history_minolta.html.

Slater, M 2001, ‘Soon Digital Photography Will Rule,’ Fortune, vol. 144, no. 10, p43-43, accessed 24 March 2017, EBSCOhost.

Seidensticker, B 2006, Future Hype: The Myths of Technology Change, Berrett-Koehler Publishers Inc, USA.

Thorburn, D, & Jenkins, H 2004, Rethinking Media Change: The Aesthetics of Transition, MIT Press, USA.

Verloop, J 2004, Insight in Innovation: Managing Innovation by Understanding the Laws of Innovation, Elsevier B.V., USA.