ASSIGNMENT 2: REVIEW
Assignment 2- Review
Name: Natalie James
Student #: s3491061
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 – Week 5: Legacy Photography
Week 6 – Week 6: Legacy Video
Week 7 – Week 7: Instagram Photography
Week 8 – WEEK 8: Video-Blogging
Review
The ‘Assignment 2 Review’ has focused on the contextualising the terms ‘photo’ and ‘video’ in the course prompt, through the set readings and analysing examples of practice.
The prompt: How do the affordances of Instagram affect the way photos and videos are authored, published and distributed in the network?
- 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 today is a layered concept, one with much historical foundation and technical attributes, but one that has also grown into a modern, ever-flowing source of expression to represent our lives. Photographer Henri Cartier Bresson was one pioneer of legacy photography, where for him “life is once, forever”. Henri carefully and meticulously captured moments of real life in his photographs and appreciated his work as a ‘practice’. This passion and love for the artistic and human element of photography as a form of expression differs today, promptly put by Photomediation: An Open Book which explains the shift, that “photographs function less as individual objects…to be looked at and more as data flows to be dipped or cut into occasionally” (Kuc and Zaylinska, 2016). Gab Scanu, a photographer known for his work on Instagram (see here) can be seen as the epitome of what photographers looks like today. Photos are designed in advance, thousands of shots are taken, with the use of multiple high-tech cameras and accessories such as drones and stabilisers and then altered using editing tools of the likes of Adobe Photoshop. Despite changes and its evolution, photography is still, as Daniel Palmer suggests in Mobile Media Photography, a “quintessential practice of life…where we make sense of the world around us through seeing it imaged” (Palmer, 2014).
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.
Video practice is a medium for deep expression and an artistic culmination of a multitude of elements such as sound, cinematic technique and narrative. Video practice as a form of art originated as expression of freedom against mass media, who controlled much of the ideas in media that was consumed by society (Horsfield, 2006). Kate Horsfield in Busting The Tube: A Brief History of Video Art, saw video as “a window to the perception of time, space and sound or a mirror to the self, consciousness or cultural patterns of subjectivity.” Whilst video art paved the way for artistic expressionism in the medium of film, video practice today is also largely artistic, but has also evolved to be a lot more social. We can often take for granted the ease of streaming seamless content across the web today, with the rise of video-blogging transforming video practice into a networking practice with the recording of mundane everyday activities distributed to devoted audiences. Sites such as Vimeo and Youtube now dominate the video practice space — with almost anyone having access to technology to record and consume video content on the online space. Video practice has also become a scene for advertising and work for skilled ‘videographers’ who are hired to shoot video content for Instagram Influencers and brands, such as production company Good Grief (see here). The evolution of video practice has mostly always been society based and whilst it has transformed from a more political agenda, video practice today still remains a creative medium for amateurs to express and understand their lives.
3. What differences and similarities did you discover between the way legacy and online photos are authored, published and distributed?
The similarities I discovered between the way legacy and online photos are authored is that photographers then and now both capture images to represent and portray a certain meaning or sentiment. Heinrich Hoffman, Adolf Hitler’s personal photographer (see here) authored images showing positions of power and adoration of the people. Today, individuals, especially on Instagram, author their images to portray a certain image and only upload content they want their audiences to see. As for the publishing and distribution of photography, there are major differences between legacy and online photos. Legacy photography was published in physical forms on canvas or paper, acting as ‘one off’ forms of artwork almost like paintings. Hitler’s photographs were published on stamps also! Today, online photos are published mostly always on Instagram through posts, stories and can be linked to online blogs and websites. Daniel Palmer suggests in Mobile Media Photography that ‘photo-mediation’ today is now the formation of all forms of media (cinema, tv, mobile phones etc) and all these mediums alter the way in which online photography is published. As for distribution, photography was once distributed in galleries, photo-books, in magazines and newspapers. Today, the distribution happens mostly all online on apps such as Instagram, and are reposted frequently by an artists followers. Constraints arise in online photography today however, as there is constant content uploaded in the online space, it can be difficult to appreciate the photography and also locate images you are searching for. Legacy photography underpins much of photography today, though thanks to Instagram, online photos “don’t show us things, they do things” (Palmer, 2014) and make up much of how we live and document our lives.
4. What differences and similarities did you discover between the way legacy and online videos are authored, published and distributed?
Like photography practice, the similarities I discovered between the way legacy and online video were authored were how both forms focus on meaning in what is being portrayed. Individuals, no matter the form of media, have an intent behind what they create and post for others to see. For legacy video this was mostly political, with a “goal to create a new type of cultural production” (Horsfield, 2006), whilst for online video the focus is mostly on sharing aspects of our lives that others can relate to and also for advertising and brand awareness and exposure. The intent behind the authoring of both types is quite evident. A major difference however is the way legacy and online video have been published, with forms of technology and equipment being vastly different. Before the development of technology video was shot with analog and film cameras with poor quality of sound and no exposure to editing tools. It was only wealthy individuals with training whom knew how to use video cameras and create content for audiences. Compare this to today, where almost anyone at any age can grab ahold of an iPhone, camera or laptop and aimlessly record video with no real experience needed. Instagram, for example, affords everyday individuals to shoot and upload content to the online space with the function of stories and the ability to post video footage to ones feed. This increased availability of tools to produce video has seen the progression of legacy video — from artists such as Joan Jonas, a feminist who produced video art in studios with bulky hard to use equipment (see here) — to videography duo ‘Good Grief’ who market their skills by posting footage to Instagram to gain exposure with ease across the globe (see here). The distribution is also a major difference, with legacy video showcased in exhibitions and galleries in a much more physical display, where online video is distributed on websites, blogs and social media apps with the ability to be constantly re-shared and found for time to come.
References
Berry, Trine Bjorkmann. ‘Situating Videoblogging’. Videoblogging before YouTube, Institute of Network Cultures, 2018, pp. 9–22, http://networkcultures.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Videoblogging-Before-YouTube-web.pdf. [Accessed 13 Sep. 2018]
Horsfield, Kate. Busting the Tube: A Brief History of Video Art. Video Data Bank, School of Art Institute of Chicago, 2006, pp. 1–9, http://www.vdb.org/content/busting-tube-brief-history-video-art. [Accessed 13 Sep. 2018]
Kuc, Kamila, and Joanna Zylinska, editors. Photomediations: A Reader. Open Humanities Press, 2016, http://www.openhumanitiespress.org/books/ titles/photomediations/ (pp.7-16 Photomediations: An Introduction by Joanna Zylinkska – download direct from the website) [Accessed 13 Sep. 2018]
Palmer, Daniel. ‘Mobile Media Photography’. The Routledge Companion to Mobile Media, edited by Gerard Goggin and Larissa Hjorth, Routledge, 2014, pp. 249–55. [Accessed 13 Sep. 2018]