Photography: Rated E for Everyone

 Photography: Rated E for Everyone

By: Gavin C. Mannino

Photo Credit (Erik Kessels) FOAM, Amsterdam exhibit of what a days' worth of images posted on Flickr looks like with the use of printed out images, 2011.

    Photography has become something for everyone to participate in, whether taking photos or simply viewing them. I say "participate" because photography, to me, seems to be a visual event that only requires your eyes to be involved. We can view historical findings, concerts, movies, nature, war, objects outside our galaxy, and anything else that someone can point their camera or phone at and snap a picture. Photography is such an immense and complex thing, but yet simple enough that a child can understand how to do it. With everyone having a device with some sort of capability of taking pictures, the world has become this interconnected society that can communicate just through images. The invention of photography is one of the most important discoveries in human history, and the discovery has evolved so much that anyone can take a photograph. 

    Marvin Heiferman explains it perfectly in Photography Changes Everything, "But from the general public's perspective, it's the more recent availability camera-equipped cell- and smart phones, and the images we make with and distribute from them, that are radically altering the form, content, transmission, and impact on camera images" (Pg. 5). The access the general public has with cameras has created a new time in the world, where anyone can record or photograph anything they want. 

    The availability of cameras is one of my favorite aspects about photography because I love taking pictures. If I don't have my DSLR on me to record or take a picture, my phone is always there to take a quick picture of the beautiful sky during a sunset or a spontaneous family photo on a weekend outing. This may seem very stupid but also looking at the photo gallery of the pictures I've taken is also one of the best things about photography on a personal level. Whenever I'm feeling a little homesick at college, being away from my friends and family, I can always scroll through my gallery and reflect on the memories each photo brings. From running around town and going out to eat with my friends to going on road trips up and down the east coast with my family, I will always have those memories saved for future viewings. That's the beauty of a photograph, it is more than just colored pixels arranged on a screen or paper, it can be anything the viewer wants it to be. Happiness, sadness, love, or hate. Whatever you want to feel, a photograph can express it.

Sources:

Heiferman, Marvin, and Merry A. Foresta. Photography Changes Everything. Aperture, 2012.