Photography: The effects of media
In 1840, Edgar Allan Poe wrote about the invention that first brought us photography: the Daguerréotype. He was very excited about the possibilities that were opening up thanks to this new technology:
The instrument itself must undoubtedly be regarded as the most important, and perhaps the most extraordinary triumph of modern science. The results of the invention cannot, even remotely, be seen—but all experience, in matters of philosophical discovery, teaches us that, in such discovery, it is the unforeseen upon which we must calculate most largely. It is a theorem almost demonstrated, that the consequences of any new scientific invention will, at the present day exceed, by very much, the wildest expectations of the most imaginative.
In this blog, I will share ideas about the influence of photography as a technology by exploring the four effects of media as described by Marshall McLuhan (in Laws of Media): enhancement, obsolescence, reversal and retrieval.
Poe wrote:
The technology's impact on communication has been profound and at different times throughout history, photography's invention and evolution has affected us as people and as a society.
I believe that Poe could not fathom how we would use photography 180 years later. Could he have imagined that more than 2.5 billion people around the world would have camera-enabled smartphones on them everywhere they went? Full-colour, high resolution, digital, instant, connected... at that time, these concepts didn't even have foundations yet.
And, how will we use photography in another 180 years?
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