Is the physical object that is the photograph, to be replaced by the photograph as an image purely consumed through electronic sources. Does the print have a future?
I believe that print will always remain, but more and more as an object in a niche market, as far as the general population goes, imagery i believe will be consumed in the most direct and appropriate manner, and that will always be through electronic means... the photograph as object, its important isn't it? That tangible thing that we can inspect for ourselves, verify it authenticity with our own eyes. Would it matter tomorrow if all the imagery we consumed was purely through electronic means, if the print ceased to exist, is there reason for it to continue?
Even photography in the print media is being digested through sources such as the iPad et al. Those images within it exist only as long as some one is looking. Does that make sense maybe not, I think that the advent of this portable technology will bring about a shift in the way we consume and reproduce imagery, it is happening at the moment. It has been happening for the last few years, imagery, the photograph has transcended its original form, it has grow into form where the images we produce balloon in number, and the effect of reproductions add the ever staggering amount of imagery circulating in the world today.
Will the photograph remain, the photograph as tangible object, the photograph that ages, the photograph that is torn and only one half remains, the photograph that is incomplete, the photograph that stands as the only evidence for the fact that this was. The importance of a thing is tied up with how unique we imagine it to be, an image reproduced innumerable times pitted against the only photograph left of a distant relative. Of course we have our archive that we seek to hold precious, to pass on. But what happens when that archive becomes integrated into the vast web of images, it becomes detached from its original meaning, its importance, its significance shifts and floats in and out of understanding, it may become a historicised image, men at work in the early 21st century or something like that. This will probably happen even in terms of the print, it becomes a historical object, cut off form it s original context.
In a situation where all the imagery is consumed and distributed electronically, do we enter into a situation where imagery is edited and dropped out of history simply because they are seen as no longer relevant? It may be far fetched to suggest this, but as I see it, the imagery of the world is chronicled and moulded into nice neat packets of history as ‘the unity of the archive is imposed by it ownership’ we can see that imagery is selected for its adherence to what is perceived as fact, what fits.
I’m getting away from the point, it the object that is the photograph even important as a physical object and are we entering a point in history where the photography is consumed primarily electronically, and the print becomes an Objets d′art. A symbol of our importance, of our status. I don’t know, but I believe in the importance of touch, the ability to turn the thing over in your hand and see the surface of the print, its flaws and it failings. I know there is lot more that is involved here but this is just my slice of the pie. I don’t assume to know much, but ‘The beginning of knowledge is the discovery of something we do not understand.’*
*Frank Herbert
US science fiction novelist (1920 - 1986)
