Run for the hills! The new technology is coming ...

[gr82bart]

[The new technology has] "created an army of photographers who run rampant over the globe, photographing objects of all sorts, sizes and shapes, under almost every condition, without ever pausing to ask themselves, is this or that artistic? …They spy a view, it seems to please, the camera is focused, the shot taken! There is no pause, why should there be? For art may err but nature cannot miss, says the poet, and they listen to the dictum. To them, composition, light, shade, form and texture are so many catch phrases…"

Hmmm ... what on earth could this quote be talking about? Sounds like digital right? Nope. Dry plates. The source: E. E. Cohen, "Bad Form in Photography," in The International Annual of Anthony's Photographic Bulletin. New York and London: E. and H. T. Anthony, 1893, p. 18.

So, whaddayathink? Have they run rampant or not? Does science and technology supercede art in photography?

Regards, Art.

 

[digiconvert]

100 years time when we're all dust someone will be sending a message through the brain implant of subscribers bemoaning the latest upgrade to the optical nerve bypass chip which allows users to process their images when asleep for download to the Jessops mainframe and delivery to the cyberpost- or whatever .

Some of the images produced will be stunning , some will make serious comments on the current way of life and some will have Aunty Sally with her head out of frame !

Not sure if I would enjoy making images that way but I'm a product of the mid 20th Century so my comments will be as relevant as Ug's brother who bemoaned that a good club was far more useful than the new fangled flint arrows !

My two pennorth.

Cheers CJB

 

[MurrayMinchin]

So, whaddayathink? Have they run rampant or not? Does science and technology supercede art in photography?

No.

Artists supersede whatever medium they choose

Murray

 

[Sparky]

dry plate. pshaw!!!
WPUG, please!

 

[jd callow]

Does science and technology supercede art in photography?

Regards, Art.

yes <edit> amoungst most, but it needn't be that way</edit>

 

[Vaughn]

Well, with 60 pounds of 8x10 equipment, I won't be running for the hills...just taking my time under the canopy of trees.

Science, technology and art are not animate things, but closer to tools -- they can not supercede, walk, talk, or otherwise move on their own. Humans, sometimes defined as the tool-user, are capable of a large variety of things, motivated by a large variety of ideas and emotions. What they will do with science, technology and art will be all over the map.

Vaughn

 

[phaedrus]

Just the other day, Jeff Curto mentioned in his podcasted lecture on the history of photography how the introducition of dry plates changed a whole lot, made photography so much more accessible as an avocation and led to an increase of photo enthusiasts gathering in "camera clubs".
Well, it's history all over again with digital photography and flickrish sites.

 

[copake_ham]

The more things change, the more they......