Assessment Task 2: Review

Name: Joanna McInerney s3657078

I declare that in submitting all work for this assessment I have read, understood and agree to the content and expectations of the assessment declaration – https://www.rmit.edu.au/students/support-and-facilities/student-support/equitable-learning-services

Blog reflections:

Week 5 – Legacy Photography (practice analysis)
Week 6 – Legacy Video (practice analysis)
Week 7 – Online Photography (practice analysis)
Week 8 – Online Video (practice analysis)

The prompt:

How do the affordances of Instagram affect the way photos and videos are authored, published and distributed in the network?

1. Provide your own definition (in your own words) on ‘photography’ in relation to legacy and online media, by referring to the readings, additional research and the practice analyses completed in your blog.

Photography is moments in time captured by beams of light passing through a lens and translating into an image. It cannot be recreated and can be completely changed within a second. As Henri Bresson stated in The Decisive Moment, it should “concretise a situation” allowing for viewers to analyse the mis-en-scene, foreground, background and subject matter, creating a meaning or simply observing the photo for what it is. In this sense, all photography should strive not to push a point or prove anything, but let the image exist naturally and to speak for itself. Legacy photography carries a sense of historical, cultural value and importance, as images taken from many years ago continue to carry depth and meaning to viewers in a completely different context. While we may automatically perceive a black and white photo as an older or outdated image, in today’s world it may follow a particular aesthetic and give a desirable effect. The filter, which we can credit to Instagram for popularising, is a convention rather than an affordance. Photos are apart of our everyday lives. We document what we deem aesthetically pleasing and memories which we wish to capture and cherish for generations. For some, it may be a way to express a passion (like hip-hop photographer Chi Modu), and for others, as stated by Price & Wells, it is the convenience of innovation and ease of uploading to social media with the “availability of relatively low-cost storage and networked distribution of digital data has changed the very ontology of the photographic medium” (2015, p. 8).

2. Provide your own definition (in your own words) on ‘video practice’ in relation to legacy and online media, by referring to the readings, additional research and the practice analyses completed in your blog.

Videos, like photography, capture movement in spaces at a particular time. From the physicality of converting an unstable tape to a playable video or digital computer editing using various software, videos represent experimentation and the ability to augment reality through editing and framing. Video artists pioneered a new-age of electronic media technology and fused low-art with high-art perception.  This sense of rebellion against the mainstream and government sparked the desire for the consumer market to manufacture and popularise recording devices (Horsfield 2006). This extreme DIY element of video practice and the earliest years of video art sees abstract music and visual composition blend together as one. AWGE’s desire to capture and uniquely recreate this aesthetic introduces a new breed of videographers while still maintaining an experimental quality, paying homage to the innovators that produced video art. This cut and copy stylised kind of video is being reinvented through Instagram and the affordance of a time limit. Popular culture continues to thrive on the revival of video practice and finding new and unique ways to differentiate from the mainstream.

3. What differences and similarities did you discover between the way legacy and online photos are authored, published and distributed?

No matter where the image is distributed (either online or physically), a photo still remains a photo. Whether hanging on a wall in a gallery or in a camera roll of an iPhone, an image still exists. In Legacy photography, there is a strong sense of pride in the process of capturing and developing photos. Thus, the distribution is much more limited and can often seem to be an exclusive, expensive medium. As these images were rendered “faithful and unedited” (Price & Wells 2015, p. 10) it seems that the introduction of photography on social media is ambiguous and continually questioned. With the accessibility of editing software, in-built filters and programs to enhance and alter images, photography’s legitimacy is largely questioned. The distribution methods may be digitised, however, whether digital or elsewhere, legacy and online photos share a common function: evocation. Just as Bresson believed that “evocation is more interesting than facts”, all forms of photography, despite the subject matter or colouring, are tools used as “a way of shouting [how] you feel”. The entry barriers are now much lower than previously, as millions of photos are constantly uploaded to webpages more frequently than ever before. In the example of modern rap photographer Rayscorruptedmind, we can see that this is a clear celebration of present day rap music and its artists, in a stylistically unique way comparable to any past or present portraiture. Instagram pages have now in some ways replaced galleries, as viewers can sit in the comfort of their own homes viewing reputable works published to social media, without the hassle of paying to see an exhibition.

4. What differences and similarities did you discover between the way legacy and online videos are authored, published and distributed?

Interestingly, legacy video and online video share many common editing traits yet the final products and purpose have changed drastically. During Nam June Paik’s reign as video art pioneer, a distinctly graphic aesthetic was established and followed by his associates. Although we have present-day videographers such as AWGE and Youtube/Instagram influencers utilising social media and video uploading platforms to share their art, the meaning has shifted. Where video art was once an individualist, experimental movement whereby art was created to be shared and enjoyed, without monetary motivation (Horsfield 2006) or inclination, the new age of video sharing and technology has seen a rise in monetisation and the desire to draw in as many views as possible through aesthetic means and clever marketing tools. What used to be influenced and interested in mass culture but not for the masses has turned into a medium becoming specifically designed for the masses and their viewing. However, in saying this, video art culture in an artistic sense still remains very true to its original form. Modern music videos are capitalising on recreating the grungy, pictorial layering and static aesthetic found occurring in original video art. This striking visual composition seeks to create the ‘old-school look’ that was achieved easily for videographers in the 80’s due to the accessible technology at the time. Whether purposely added or due to an aesthetic desire, the product of videographers and their technologies has become a trend. Now, apps, editing software and a range of new techniques are adopted to emulate an affordance of video art. Yet although we still associate this affordance with nostalgia, digital is still largely favoured over analog. Youtube videos are able to play in HD on compatible formats and is the new norm for present day video.

 

 

Word Count: 1,000

 

References:

Analogish, Henri Cartier-Bresson – The Decisive Moment, Vimeo, viewed 3 September 2018, < https://vimeo.com/178360907>.

Berry, T 2018, ‘Situating Videoblogging’, Videoblogging before YouTube, Institute of Network Cultures, pp. 9–22.

Horsfield, K 2006, Busting the Tube: A Brief History of Video Art. Video Data Bank, School of Art Institute of Chicago, pp. 1–9.

Palmer, D 2014, ‘Mobile Media Photography’ The Routledge Companion to Mobile Media, Routledge, pp. 249–55.

Price, D & Wells, L 2015 Photography: A Critical Introduction. 5th ed., Routledge, New York

 

 

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