PB2 pt. 3 // We want the aesthetics of old media without the inconvenience.
This collection of photographs is meant to demonstrate our want for the aesthetics of old media but without the inconveniences of them – specifically in the form of photography. The first photo is a collection of Instagram filters overlayed on top of the same photo. Each of the filters in this photo along with the filter on top of the third picture in the collection replicates a specific time or mode of photography. These filters allow a user to achieve the look they want without going through the process of using and buying a film camera. This convenience shows the extent to which this fad is based on nostalgia rather than a pure interest in analog photography as
“These images do not simulate the look of photographs as they were in the past, they simulate the look of aged photographs as they appear to us in the present” (Bull 2).
This theme of nostalgia and aesthetic in relation to photography continues with the picture of the photo wall I have. I have printed these digital photos to resemble the look of a polaroid. Though I would love to have simply taken an authentic polaroid – it is more expensive than using my phone’s camera which is also exceptionally more inconvenient to carry around with me. Though why do I want the look of the polaroid in the first place? Is nostalgia being commodified to us through Instagram, Taylor swifts 1989 album (World Entertainment News Network), and the many nostalgia based products available at stores like Urban Outfitters or Typo? Or is it due to how we connect with a specific form of media due to previous/childhood experiences and wanting to continue to experience them in some form or mutation? Bolin explains how our relationships with specific mediums well;
“passion and nostalgia are produced, first, in relation to old technologies, second, in relation to childhood memories and, third, at the limits of shared intergenerational experience, that is, at the moment when one realises that one’s own experiences of past media forms cannot be shared by younger generations, and especially one’s own children (1). “
In the second photo in the collection, I explore the want of the physical rather than the aesthetic.
“When digital cameras were first introduced, many people predicted that it wouldn’t be long before the photo print followed the horse -and-buggy into the realm of historical curiosity. And while it’s true that people don’t print as many photos as they used to, they’re still printing. Which means there’s just something about having a photo print in hand that speaks to people” (Anonymous 6).
Though the majority of consumers have said goodbye to analog photography and gone completely digital. The change to viewing photos in an exclusively digital format has been a much slower process. For Christmas, I received a wireless, Bluetooth enabled printer (as shown in the second photograph). So I would be able to print any photo’s I took on my phone inexpensively and with ease in comparison to using a camera where I would need to develop the film myself – or pay for someone to do so for me. With technologies like the printer as well as Instagram filters, and ‘nostalgia based’ products e.g. faux polaroids consumers are able to feed their cravings for the past without the inconveniences of the old technologies.
References
Anonymous. “The Case for Printing Digital Photos.” Picture Business & Mobile Lifestyle 8.3 (2011): 6. Web.
Bolin, Göran. “Passion and Nostalgia in Generational Media Experiences.” European Journal of Cultural Studies 19.3 (2016): 250-64. Web.
Bull, Stephen. “‘Digital Photography Never Looked so Analogue’: Retro Camera Apps, Nostalgia and the Hauntological Photograph.” Photoworks 18 (2012): 24-25. Web.
“TAYLOR SWIFT CREDITED WITH BRINGING BACK POLAROIDS.” World Entertainment News Network 07 Aug. 2015: World Entertainment News Network, August 7, 2015. Web.
