Tag Archives: Legacy Photography

Assignment 2 – Review

Posted on by under Assignments, Legacy Photography, Legacy Video, Online Photography, Online Videography

James Bowman
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I Declare that in submitting all work for this assessment I have read, understand 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)

Review

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, at it’s most basic level, is using a camera to capture an image of something using a light sensor to then make it permanent. Traditionally this image was stored onto something physical, such as film, and thus speaks to what we now consider legacy photography. Now online media and digital technology means that the vast majority of images are stored digitally, either on their phone or published on apps like Instagram. Legacy photography refers to when the average person did not have access to a camera. Rather, photography was something that only professionals could afford to do. Henri Cartier-Bresson is an example of this. His wealth afforded him the ability to devote the time into producing quality images, and more importantly his wealth allowed him to use and access the then very expensive equipment required to produce photographs. I discussed another example of a legacy photograph by Kevin Carter here. It’s an example of how legacy media was when “photojournalists [were] dispatched to the world’s remote corners that few of us could regularly access”, and “advertisers trying to sell us chunks of that world” (Zylinska 2016, p. 7).

This changed with the invention and utilisation of camera phones and wireless communication. These afforded anyone with a smart phone the ability to be a photographer, and even become “distributors, archivists and curators of the light traces immobilised on photo-sensitive surfaces” (Zylinska 2016, p. 7). This speaks to the idea that modern photography is not just a result of the camera phone, but perhaps more significantly the ability for camera phones to then publish and distribute to apps like Instagram for anyone else around the world to engage with.

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.

Like in photography, legacy video only allowed those who could afford the equipment needed to produce video, as well as the means (or knowing someone who did) to edit and publish the video, to actually do so. However the invention of portable video equipment (1965)”exploded in many directions simultaneously” (Horsfield 2006, p. 3), and allowed non-professionals to create video for the first time. Some of these legacy practices included video being used as political tools to decentralise communications systems and media outlets, as well as being used by media activists to “document a new type of direct-from-the-scene reportage that was not manipulated” (Horsfield 2006, p. 3), and was therefore seen as an unbiased medium. Another significant legacy video practice that emerged was video art, of which Nam June Paik was the pioneer (I talk about one of his installations here). Previous to the release of camcorders, video was very centralised. However Paik began the trend of using video for personal expression, particularly after new video equipment was released in the early 70s that “allowed more complex visualising effects” (Horsfield 2006, p. 5). However even during this time there was still relatively limited access to the everyday person due to the expensive costs associated the recording, storing and editing of video. This is where online media changed things again. Similarly to what happened with photography, online media allows anyone with a phone camera to record, edit, publish and distribute their video data, without the physical restrictions that were once associated with legacy video. As a result, video is even more decentralised, allowing for even more personal expression and becoming more intertwined with everyday life through apps like Instagram.

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

The authoring of legacy photography was very centralised. The equipment costs as well as time that needed to learn about the equipment meant that relatively few people could engage with authoring photos in the legacy era. This limitation meant that the authoring of photos emphasised professional quality, and the scarceness of the medium meant that more significance was attributed to the taking of each photo. Conversely, convenience plays a huge role in the way that online photos are authored.  Palmer states that “sensor size and megapixel count have become secondary to the basic convenience of  the networked mobile device” (2014, p. 246). Therefore quality and professionalism matters less and there is much less significance placed on a single photo. The increased prevalence of photo taking also means that there are more mundane photos taken, but also more intimate (Palmer, 2014). The authoring of online photos may even be influenced apps like Instagram, which may influence the tone or style of photos that people author if they want to publish them on that specific app (think size, filtering, colouring, captioning etc.).

This leads to how the publishing and distribution of legacy and online photos is again, extremely different. Legacy photo predominately paid for  marketed, published and distributed by professional organisations. Again this relates to the coupling of terms like ‘professional’ and ‘quality’ with legacy photography. In comparison, the huge volume of online photos is now just an endless data flow rather than an individual image (Zylinska, 2016).  Online media apps like Instagram can also affect the way photos are authored and published, as they have the affordances of publishing to your followers but constraints on things such as the dimensions of photos being published.

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

Like legacy photography, legacy video wasn’t easy to access for the everyday person. Perhaps it was even more so than photography it could be argued, particular in relation to the time, knowledge and equipment required to edit video. While Nam June Paik was able to create video art, he still needed the income of the Rockefeller Foundation to actually fund his projects, something not available to anyone. As such the authoring or legacy video, other than video art, is typically pretty linear and straightforward as editing was not as easy as it is with online videos. Authoring and editing online videos is much easier, whether it be on the phone camera itself or in apps like Instagram. Instagram in particular allows for both artistic expression in video, like Rachel Ryle, who operates within the time constraints (she creates 30 second clips) of video publishing on the app, but it also allows for the publishing of again more intimate and mundane videos due to the ease of use and ability of virtually anyone to author them. Online video “can be networked, shared, downloaded and re-used with ease” (Berry 2018, p.8), which can not be said about legacy video.

Like photos, legacy video was still tied to the idea of professional. Contrastingly, an example of more personal and decentralised online video, is how vloggers author and publish their content. Particular in the formative years of the form, many videobloggers self-identified as amateur (Berry, 2018), directly going against the traditional notion of professionals only producing video as was the case in the legacy era.

References:
– Kuc K, Zylinska J, 2016 Photomediations: A Reader, Open Humanities Press, London, UK.
– Horsfield K, 2006, Busting the Tube: A Brief History of Video Art, Video Data Bank, School of Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, US.
– Palmer D, 2014, Mobile Media Photography, The Routledge Companion to Mobile Media, London, UK.
– Berry T, 2018, Video Blogging Before YouTube, Institute of Network Cultures, Amsterdam, Netherlands.

 

Legacy Photography – Starving Child and Vulture by Kevin Carter

Posted on by under Legacy Photography, Reflections

 

The image being referred to can be found on this link:
http://100photos.time.com/photos/kevin-carter-starving-child-vulture

 

Kevin Carter took “Starving Child and Vulture” in 1993 when he was in famine-ravaged Sudan. He started working as a photographer in 1983 and worked until he took his life in 1994.

While I’m not sure what camera was used to produce the photo other than that it would have been an analog camera, it was published less than a month later by The New York Times. It’s unclear whether he had the photos developed before sending them to the US or whether he just sent film rolls. Regardless, the fact that it was published so quickly by the New York Times after being taken in remote Sudan shows how keen the Times were to get it out. In terms of framing Carter apparently took a few photos of the child and the vulture, this one ended up framing both subjects in a way that tells a haunting narrative of the vulture waiting for the child to die.

Being the New York Times in 1993 meant that the picture was published in print. One main difference between such a photo being published in 1993 compared to modern times is that there was relatively low information surrounding the photo when it was published, as the photographer had sold it to a publication in another country. Furthermore the fact that Carter could not explain or defend the action of taking the photos and not directly helping the child meant that he received severe public backlash after the photo was taken. After the event Carter did explain that he chased the bird away and waited for sometime hoping that the child would make it to the food centre, and that he was instructed not to touch any of the children because he could contract infectious diseases. Nowadays, people can publish photos anywhere and on their own terms, explaining and justifying the reasons and background behind them when publishing, rather than having to explain after the event.

The fact that the New York Times, one of, if not the world’s biggest print news publications published the photo means that it gained worldwide notoriety, much more so than if it was published by a newspaper in his native South Africa per say. While Carter did receive plenty of backlash, he also received significant support – particularly in the form of winning a Pulitzer Prize for the picture.

The Times is an extremely highly regarded news source that markets itself on reliability and demonstrating journalistic pride and integrity. As such Carters’ photo fits the Times’ general style and was taken by its readers very seriously. However it could be worth noting that Carter, who was from South Africa, may have had more knowledge about the political and social context in Sudan as he was geographically closer to the country than The New York Times’ main audience in the US. They may have potentially had less knowledge about the condition of life in Sudan and the complexities of disease and famine, as well as the difficult circumstance Carter found himself in. This may help to explain some of the backlash he received from many New York Times readers. It’s an example of what Zylinska (2016) talks about how photography used to be: “photojournalists dispatched to the world’s remote corners that few of us could regularly access” and “advertisers trying to sell us chunks of that world”. How things have changed.

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