"Words are dead. Here's what will replace them."

[Particular]

True ... but depressing none the less! 🙁

I don't find it depressing. It is humbling, and even inspiring.
I would argue that all those casual picture takers are increasing their visual literacy one (cat)picture at a time. In this flood of sameness, there is plenty of scope, and hunger for anything that stands out. It may be harder to stand out now than it was in the past, but that just means mediocre is no longer good enough.

 

[judsonzhao]

Why everyone should know what f-stop is and how to work in darkroom??
Schools are still there, market is still there, people are there; more important, the desire of pursuing great form of documentation, seems to be human-nature, is still there.
I won't worry serious photography will disappear like some ancient mental properties or so.

If everyone is serious, it's not serious any more lol

 

[jsrockit]

Technical concerns in photography have gotten easier... interesting framing and compelling content is still hard.

 

[semi-ambivalent]

"Words are dead. Here's what will replace them."

Typical yellow journalism. But it will sell some ad copy and that's pretty much all I expect from most publications, like Fortune, these days.

s-a

 

[mfunnell]

Technical concerns in photography have gotten easier...

If only it were so! Unfortunately, it's in the nature of "internet experts" to make more and more out of (IMO) less and less. While, these days, it should be pretty easy for anyone to make a decent exposure that will print nicely at 6"x4" while hardly thinking about it (which for decades was more-or-less the popular standard), the more easily that is accomplished, the less "acceptable" it becomes, in the opinion of instant experts who will point out that the person who took the shot didn't account for the need to take it under a severe overcast using the light of one dull and remote star from a distance of more than 3 kilometers, hand-held. If their camera can't do that, then they shouldn't be taking photographs!

interesting framing and compelling content is still hard.

To which I can only respond: "that's a very old-fashioned way of thinking". Of course, it is also correct.

...Mike

P.S. What I'm calling "correct" is something I can only occasionally achieve, often more by accident than design. But I'm OK with that. I know what I'm doing, I'm just not always very good at doing it.

 

[Pioneer]

Don't worry judsonzhao. These complaints have been being made since photography began, and before that they were made by old painters talking about new painters.

It is an affliction peculiar to grumpy old men who are beginning to realize that the skills they worked so hard to acquire are becoming obsolete.

 

[jschrader]

not worth discussing

not worth discussing

The analogy is poor. The change in the society that the printing press triggered took place much before everybody DID read, mostly 18th to 20th century, long before cheap paperbacks.

If photography changed society, that has long happened, long before cheap smart phone photos. Probably it did, in the first half of the 20th century, when illustrated newspaper became popular.

Smartphone photos change nothing, I am sure

 

[daveleo]

"Words are dead" ...... no no no .... Words worth writing and worth reading are what's dead - been replaced by billions and billions of pointless mindless internet BS words.

As for cameras .... I love automatic cameras *on vacation and day trips and parties*. Point. Shoot. Nice picture. Nothing bad about that.

I'll duck out of the "is photography dead" discussion. Makes my head hurt.

 

[Roger Hicks]

The analogy is poor. The change in the society that the printing press triggered took place much before everybody DID read, mostly 18th to 20th century, long before cheap paperbacks.

If photography changed society, that has long happened, long before cheap smart phone photos. Probably it did, in the first half of the 20th century, when illustrated newspaper became popular.

Smartphone photos change nothing, I am sure

Dear Juergen,

Excellent point! Thanks.

Cheers,

R.

 

[Jack Conrad]

Every photograph murders a thousand words.

 

[Roger Hicks]

Every photograph murders a thousand words.

Dear Jack,

Stunning image, but given the rate of upload of pictures, there'd be places where there are no words left...

Come to think of it, maybe it's, like, y'know, already happened, dude. Awesome!

Cheers,

R.

 

[Jack Conrad]

Dear Jack,

Stunning image, but given the rate of upload of pictures, there'd be places where there are no words left...

Come to think of it, maybe it's, like, y'know, already happened, dude. Awesome!

Cheers,

R.

........ 🙂

 

[kbg32]

“…move into the future with some excitement rather than fear and with a more empowered sense of choices, rather than the sense of being of less value.”

- Susan Meiselas

This is not a thread about photography being dead or photography changing society. The article is about how technology has changed photography and our experiences in the world. Technology has advanced to the point where everyone is a photographer for better, or worse. Technology has made the craft insignificant for those that were put off by it before the advance of the digital age. I am not speaking about you, those here on RFF, or myself, but the everyday guy or gal on the street, just wanting to document their life and share via social media. Not the old, but the young. Looking through cell phones are what those under 30, in the general populace, are doing more and more. Look at the photographs that illustrate the article in Fortune. Go to a concert. The last one shows the experience of those attending witnessing the Pope through the plethora of LCDs. Life is more a window than a mirror.

 

[Sejanus.Aelianus]

It is an affliction peculiar to grumpy old men who are beginning to realize that the skills they worked so hard to acquire are becoming obsolete.

Very well put.

 

[rbsinto]

Words are not dead.
It is the ability of many persons to effectively use words in a coherent fashion that appears to be dying.
We live in a world of texting where the language has been simplified with idiotic short forms and acronyms so that many young people seemingly have lost the ability to clearly and effectively express complicated ideas.
The Newspeak of Orwell's 1984 has come to pass.

 

[Roger Hicks]

Words are not dead.
It is the ability of many persons to effectively use words in a coherent fashion that appears to be dying.
We live in a world of texting where the language has been simplified with idiotic short forms and acronyms so that many young people seemingly have lost the ability to clearly and effectively express complicated ideas.
The Newspeak of Orwell's 1984 has come to pass.

Probably not to any meaningful extent. There are still surprisingly many doubleplusgood young poets and writers around. It's just that it's easier to find the undoubleplusgood stuff on YouBook and FaceTube.

Cheers,

R.

 

[Sejanus.Aelianus]

It occurs to me that Eliza would approve of images replacing text...

"Words, words, words!
I'm so sick of words
I get words all day through
First from him, now from you
Is that all you blighters can do?"

If images are a better form of communication, they'll replace text but I think that might be quite some way off. 🙂

 

[Prest_400]

I was skeptical at mobile photography, until I switched to a smartphone flagship which included a half decent camera.
Since then I have found it to be very very useful for daily use.
I am very much happier because I can easily document "mundane" goings in my environment, which isn't easy with a proper camera (I just love how no one pays you attention with a cellphone).

600 frames in 2 months. Not all keepers, but most I feel keep something a little meaningful, with an occasional nice shot.

Technical concerns in photography have gotten easier... interesting framing and compelling content is still hard.

Agreed. This is why I ended loving this stuff, I just compose with not much thought about the technical settings. At least I convinced my friends that it's composition, when they see that they aren't capable of outputting images which are composed powerfully (to put it in a way)

Now, to the point of the article. Snapshots as a "visual journal". I sometimes write meaningful happenings in a notebook, but images are separate of words, at least for me. I do get his message more or less, but
Shouldn't it say that facebook/twitter/whatsapp/whatever killed words?
A friend recently had his birthday, and I bet I was the only one to send him a sincere congratulation letter. He did have about 20 or so people who wrote with a generic "Happy birthday" as to which he replied with a simple "thanks/see you soon".
We live in constant, but short and ephemeral communication. It's hard to have a deep exchange of words.
Well, I am 19, and that's how I see my generation

 

[Roger Hicks]

I was skeptical at mobile photography, until I switched to a smartphone flagship which included a half decent camera.
Since then I have found it to be very very useful for daily use.
I am very much happier because I can easily document "mundane" goings in my environment, which isn't easy with a proper camera (I just love how no one pays you attention with a cellphone).

600 frames in 2 months. Not all keepers, but most I feel keep something a little meaningful, with an occasional nice shot.


Agreed. This is why I ended loving this stuff, I just compose with not much thought about the technical settings. At least I convinced my friends that it's composition, when they see that they aren't capable of outputting images which are composed powerfully (to put it in a way)

Now, to the point of the article. Snapshots as a "visual journal". I sometimes write meaningful happenings in a notebook, but images are separate of words, at least for me. I do get his message more or less, but
Shouldn't it say that facebook/twitter/whatsapp/whatever killed words?
A friend recently had his birthday, and I bet I was the only one to send him a sincere congratulation letter. He did have about 20 or so people who wrote with a generic "Happy birthday" as to which he replied with a simple "thanks/see you soon".
We live in constant, but short and ephemeral communication. It's hard to have a deep exchange of words.
Well, I am 19, and that's how I see my generation

There's an old, old saying that I use despite having my doubts about the nature and existence of deities: "God bless you and keep you". Keep thinking; keep shooting; keep writing.

Cheers,

R.

 

[Prest_400]

There's an old, old saying that I use despite having my doubts about the nature and existence of deities: "God bless you and keep you". Keep thinking; keep shooting; keep writing.

Cheers,

R.

Thanks Roger. Frankly, it's quite accurate for me; I often do the two first, and occassionally write.

It helps you keep perspective in life. If I stopped doing them, I'd become mad; well, at least just idiot. There are too many of those around.