Recently on Facebook, the question was asked – Are we in the Golden Age of photography?
Here is my two cents on that.
Tablet – © John Neel
It seems that everyone is a “photographer” these days. All it takes is a digital camera or a couple of camera apps. Suddenly, images are everywhere and they are taking over almost everything we do.
That would not be much of a problem if so much of it were not so confusingly mindless.
While I think there are many great images created by simple cameras, phone cameras and imaging apps, there are millions that simply are not very good at all.
I think we have become less effective as image-makers (We being the serious image-makers who actually have something we want to say in our work) because of the influx of camera users and the barrage of images they churn out. It seems that the majority of them are into technique rather than substance and gadgets rather than seeing.
Yes, there are those who understand the importance photography has in showing us something worth seeing. But there are also a lot of look-a-likes and wannabes. There are not many who think about or see the world in new ways. There are even fewer that actually think about what their work might say. And many more that don’t think much at all. A camera app does little to make you see.
As far as a golden age, I think we are on a declining path. There are far too many who seem to deny logic and scientific fact. Ignorance seems to be perpetuated by a thousand channels, misinformation, corporate money and Disney lifestyles. Websites such as Pinterest are nothing more than virtual places to perpetuate dreams, fantasy and the marketplace. They play on the idea of the American Dream. They are places for the mutual admiration of self and things.
The American Dream was always a fantasy. If anything, it is why we’re all in trouble. That fantasy may also be responsible for contributing to greed for money and over consumption of resources. It made us all want what we can’t really have.
The idea of a golden age seems to imply peace, harmony, stability and prosperity. It also implies, to me at least, that we humans are good, upstanding and ethical. It seems to imply that we respect nature and our fellow man. Perhaps when the Ancient Greeks were around and the world’s population was very small, one might have felt all those things. Only a fool does so today. The world is far from golden in its current state of decline.
We are not in anything like a golden age. Neither is photography. We are in an age of depleting everything we touch as well as all that we need to exist. And the sudden surge of ambiguous and irresponsible imagery is confusing the big picture for all.
As a teacher, I’m interested in finding a way to educate the masses (as well as those who are producing that flood of imagery mentioned above) as to what we think we are about. But before we can do that, we need to decide what we do as image-makers and why it might be good for the rest of the world to see our work. In spite of my desire to do so, I’m not sure we have the time on our side to do that. The world is sliding at an ever- increasing pace.
The arts are a mirror on society. I believe that too many only see it as entertainment. In truth, it is not so much entertainment as it is a way to see ourselves. What the public is missing is the reflection that photography offers. Photography when understood, mirrors who we are and what we do as a people. The arts are a way to see who we are and what we value. An artist/photographers job is to hold that mirror up. Great art (photography) compels us to think. That is the value. It is what makes it worthwhile.
I believe that educating the public in the arts is the only way forward.
Too bad there isn’t an app that teaches us how to see and another that teaches us how to look.
You can read about my book “Rethinking Digital Photography” here.
Please have a look at some of my other posts here.
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