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InfoTrends Study Shows Significant Changes in Pro Photography Workflows as Image Capture Volumes Increase

Weymouth, MA, Nov. 28, 2007. According to a recent InfoTrends survey of over 1,000 professional photographers across specialties, the increased use of digital photography is leading to new opportunities in the imaging industry.
It´s no surprise that the percentage of total digital images captured by pros has grown from 82% in 2006 to 89% in 2007; however, a pronounced increase in the number of digital images captured per week by the average pro suggests that software, service, and printing solution providers are likely to benefit in the long run. Continue reading ‘Digital Imaging and Professional Photographers: InfoTrends` 2007 Survey Results’ »

Like all production aspects of a capitalist society, the photography industry is subject to a constant (economic) drive to expand. It has to expand its markets continuously to attract new customers for its products and constantly has to offer new products (innovations) to satisfy the customer’s desire for consumption and to remain competitive in relation to other companies. Continue reading ‘The photography industry’ »

When Benjamin (1977) spoke of the revolutionary significance of photography in terms of sensory perception (changes to usage) and the possibility of mass production in the thirties, the actual significance of his theories can be measured today. On the one hand a constantly (and still) expanding photography market has developed. It provides the necessary equipment, chemicals, etc. (means of production) and the necessary aesthetics in terms of user manuals are supplied as well. Continue reading ‘Photography and Society’ »

The technical reproduction as a new quality for the production and use of images results in a change of sensory perception. Photography, the medium which was described revolutionary in this sense, is the root cause of this change. It releases the work of art (image) from the

“parasitic existence with the ritual”

(Benjamin, Walter 1977) by abolishing the uniqueness and authenticity through a process of reproduction, which allows for an arbitrary number of copies and thereby changes all the social functions for works of art. Continue reading ‘Social Implications’ »

The cult value is specific to original images, dependant on the rituals with which the work of art is made available to the viewer. - Example: the God statue which is only accessible to priests – The artistic production begins with images which serve the cult. One can assume that for these images, it is more important that they exist than that they are seen. The technical reproduction uses this relationship on the basis of the characteristics given above. It brings what was until then hidden and difficult to access into the clear view of the public. The cult value with its ritualized usage habits is replaced by the display value, which allows for mass consumption.

“In photography, the display value starts to displace the cult value across the board.” (Benjamin, Walter 1977).

Before photography, the defining characteristics of an image were its originality, its authenticity, and the specific perception of the original in a ritualized situation. Benjamin (1977) called this combination of elements “aura”, which can arguably be translated best as the sensory impression of atmosphere. This aura was destroyed through technical reproduction, because the question of authenticity, of the original, is meaningless for a reproduction, since an unlimited number of reproductions can be made. Continue reading ‘The demolition of the aura’ »

The old methods of reproduction, such as lithography and xylography, still required the “whole person” (in terms of integrity). His hand carried out what the head ordered. During the course of the industrial revolution and the related social changes, this entity was abolished through photography. The image (negative) develops through a physical/chemical process, without help from a person, and without his “craftsmanship”. His perspective of nature alone determines what will later be seen in the image.

“With photography, the hand was for the first time relieved from the most important artistic responsibilities. Henceforth, these fell alone to the eye which looked through the lens” (Benjamin, Walter 1977).

Here we should have some notes regarding the fundamental character of photographic images. The quick expansion and marketing throughout the middle classes of the 19th century is indicative of the fundamental change in the nature and manner of human sensory perception through the medium, which Benjamin (1977) described as the first truly revolutionary method of reproduction - photography.

During the Weimar Republic, the foundation was laid for today’s representation of photographs in illustrated mass media. The individual photograph was replaced by the reportage (series of related pictures). The reportage was/is pivotal in shaping the character of magazines and the reader’s world view. On the one hand, the reader was provided with an illusionary world with the tenor

“look, the world is good, life is worth living”.

Continue reading ‘Photographic reportage’ »

The use of photography in mass image media (magazines, daily newspapers) was the next qualitative step in the history of photography. Photographic reproduction methods and print technology (gravure, rotary printing) had already developed to a point were the use of photographs was, in principle, possible. But it was only after World War I that photographs attained the exclusive significance in the media which they still hold today (in 1904 the Daily Mirror illustrated its pages exclusively with photographs, and the New Yorker Illustrated News followed in 1919). Continue reading ‘Photography in mass media’ »