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For the entire part of my life during which I have been taking selfies (approximately the past five years), I have been taking selfies in which I am not “serious.” I realize this now in looking back, yet never thought about it at the times of the photos. Whether I am trying on hats … Continue reading
Purikura is a type of high-tech photobooth where users can digitally manipulate their images before printing them off (or, more recently, sending the jpg versions to themselves). In “Play, Process and Materiality in Japanese Purikura Photography,” Mette Sandbye explores the cultural uses and ramifications of purikura photography practices. She observes that the practice of taking … Continue reading
We’ve talked a lot about #selfies and the generalized genres we see in them, such as haircut selfies, weight loss selfies, or mirror selfies. I came at this from a very confused standpoint. This was, of course, not because I don’t take selfies, but instead, I don’t participate in genres with a single selfie subject. … Continue reading
In class, we discussed how interpersonal communicative photos influence one’s identity, revisiting Smith and Watson’s idea of “Getting A Life”. While Linkedin avatars are more professional, Facebook tends to show the best version of a person, and neither is the most accurate representation or mediation of one’s identity. Extending the look into our archive of … Continue reading
Martin Lister’s fascinating article, “Overlooking, Rarely Looking, and Not Looking” problematizes the sheer mass of digital photography stored online and on hard drives of cell phones, cameras, and computers. Lister argues that we are “drowning” (15) in snapshot images that are boring, mediocre and generally never even looked at (5). These sprawling masses of .jpgs … Continue reading
In sight of the nigh-infinite number of images authored, uploaded, downloaded, archived, shared, duplicated, and deleted, Lister argues that prevalent threads of photographic theory fail to account for the current “ocular white noise within visual culture” (2). Citing Paul Frosh’s analysis of the internet stock photograph and Geoffrey Batchen’s argument regarding biographical snapshots, Lister takes … Continue reading
The following websites are user-submissions sites that can act as communicative objects. Each entry follows a meme-like formula that is repeatable and shareable, acting as objects of exchange for users due to their “universal” nature. Dog Shaming Dogshaming.com posts submissions of photographs of dogs after they have done something naughty. Usually there is a handwritten … Continue reading
In The Heroism of Vision, Susan Sontag outlines some of the problematic tensions that have historically existed in the photographer’s aim to capture the world on a series of “cultural and class and scientific safaris” (89). The hero (or photographer)’s quest on these safaris is unattainable and leads to a number of ethical issues. The … Continue reading
In his 1942 treatise The Myth of Sisyphus, noted French philosopher Albert Camus outlines his notion of the absurd, a concept which he would later develop most forcefully in his 1951 essay The Rebel. The absurd arises when man uses reason to understand an otherwise unreasonable world (unreasonable in that it cannot be reduced to a … Continue reading
Two years ago, I went on a trip to Disney World with my partner during Reading Week. The trip would be my 5th time to “the World” but my first time going without the family, including my mom who is obsessed with taking the same pictures, by the same landmarks every time we go. Having … Continue reading
Rhetoric of the Digital Image 