Sparrow
Veteran
Do you think advertising is a good influence on our culture then? ... I was unsure if you thought it was good or just inevitable
Sparrow
Veteran
.. anyway, it seem only fair since photography killed off commercial-artists
Murchu
Well-known
Well, I was going to say I'm not sure whether I care too much about whether someone uses a few instagram filters, but I realise its all part of the bigger issue of authenticity I guess. I just wonder how much of what we experience in the future will be real, authentic, or even individual. It certainly does seem that the tools are increasingly there, to create a fictional reality, if one so desired, and given your average business giant rarely tends to be a bastion of ethics and morality, I do worry about how such tech shall be used..
Murchu
Well-known
Well, to be honest, was keeping my own views out of it, and just noting it is an influence on our culture. Some people live only on McDonalds for example, as worryingly, it may be the cheapest way for them to feed themselves. Just as I would worry about someones health in that respect, I would equally worry if our only source of cultural education were to come from advertising or media.
It sure does... but that doesn't mean I have to care for it right? There's a difference between not being aware and not caring no?
Trends in advertising do not have to affect your photography if you don't want them to. A lot of art is made in reaction to commercial work as well. Just because advertising photography strives for perfection and ideals doesn't mean our photography has to. That is where my narrow point of view was coming from...
hepcat
Former PH, USN
It already is. I believe that the entire IKEA catalog is CGI. Most commerical advertising relies heavily on it now.
Of course it's not good. It's done to generate sales. There are a myriad of problems with a consumer-economy. It's a Ponzi scheme of the first order.
Sparrow
Veteran
... I find it all a little insidious myself, we seem to have an unholy trinity forming comprised of banking, commerce and advertising, and personally I feel advertising is usurping education at the moment ...
Photo_Smith
Well-known
Advertising was the first to go digital, these guys are normally at the cutting edge. This will bleed down to mere mortals. The aesthetic we see on our screens and in the magazines very much does drive fashion and provide a base for what people look at as inspirational images.
The aesthetic driven by El Lissitzky and many other artists using advertising as a medium very much influenced the photographers of later generations.
Just look at the masses of household names who started in commercial adverts!
I'm not sure why you are quoting me because I never said that advertising doesn't influence, I simply said it does not have to influence a person's photography if you do not want it to. So CGI is not for some people, ignore it and do your own thing. That is the jist of all my comments. I'm not sure where I said advertising has no influence on photography... oh yeah, I didn't.
Jack Conrad
Well-known
I totally agree. A current analogous example of this phenomena is Bitcoin. Ponzi scheme within Ponzi scheme. This digital world we're creating is distressing to say the least.
I predict that within one generation or less, we(ordinary human beings) will no longer be able to discern reality from fiction at all.
That is assuming we ever have been able to discern reality from fiction.
Murchu
Well-known
I agree with your point, in so far as it is possible to actually ignore the influence of something like advertising. Whether we care or not, has little to do whether we are being influenced by it..
That's true, but being aware of it is a good first step.
Murchu
Well-known
I believe the 50's/ 60's were the watershed moment with regard to advertising, when psychology and particularly the psychology of the subconscious were introduced into advertising and applied routinely..
Sparrow
Veteran
... a discussion of reality on the interweb eh? ironic post modernism at it's best
Sparrow
Veteran
... yes agreed, but I suspect that is a very parochial view. I've been surprised how advertising is so very different in different places around the world, and as in most things now the accountants run the world and they simple commission adds that work where they are aired
Murchu
Well-known
Yes, when it comes to individual campaigns, I am sure advertisers like to think quite highly of themselves, but I meant the influence of advertising on the whole, and its sum influences to date.
Darthfeeble
But you can call me Steve
While everyone seems to hate it, I can't help but think that the painters in the 1800's felt the same about photography.
Sparrow
Veteran
... not really, certainly in the latter part of the 19c artists were very clearly inspired by photography ... and much of photography by artists for that matter
semilog
curmudgeonly optimist
90% of everything is crap. Solution: don't waste your time on the crap.
Brian Legge
Veteran
In some ways, this feels like it connects to product illustrations in ads from the 50s as much as it does to photography.