Smartphones have created an odd rift in today's society and what others have called a Face Down culture. I will keep this short since the video below explains it all pretty well. Ironically, these devices and technologies that were meant to bring us closer have divided us.
Remember to live the moment.
Over the past week, I had the privilege to experience one of the most unique photography workshops available in the United States. This year, After Dark Education was held in St. Louis, MO at the Union Station Hotel. What separates this workshop from most others is its overall design. Its neither a workshop or a conference. It's a hybrid of the two...with an extra kick.
Over the span of 3 days from approximately 1:00pm to 12:00am, attendees could choose among a smattering of sessions which were held in either "Pods" or "Bays." Pod sessions followed the more traditional lecture model where mentors would speak on their chosen topic and be available for questions. Sessions ranged from business models to photoshop creativity.
Though these sessions were valuable, I found myself gravitating toward the Bays, which were mini studios stocked with lights, modifiers, and models. Here, mentors took a more hands-on approach demonstrating their techniques and sharing their thoughts behind creating their image. With the event capped at around 500 attendees, the attendee to mentor ratio was kept low enough to maintain a high level of intimacy, which meant you were noticed!
After the first day, bay sessions took on another form. Instead of staying in the mini studio, mentors took their students on-location. These shoots introduced more variables into their creative process, such as ever changing weather conditions and balancing ambient light with strobe lighting. I found these to be the most valuable sessions. Instead of being in the studio where every element is in control, mentors had to analyze and solve problems in real time. Being that this event was being held in an old train station, we had plenty of places to go and be creative. What was normally a pretty vacant hotel during the week turned into a photographer's playground, swarming with small groups of mentors and AD attendees.
Snapshots of the Bay Session
One of the best aspects of this event was the freedom attendees had in regard to choosing the session that was the right fit for them. At any given time, attendees could choose among 10 different pods and 10 different bays. If you didn't like session you were in, you could easily step out and float into another. There was one afternoon where I hopped among 3 different on-location shoots and was able to pick up different techniques from each. And if the bays and pods were not enough, attendees could go to the check-out area, borrow studio strobes with light modifiers, grab a model and some friends, and go have a photo shoot of their own! Below are a couple of photos from location shoots.
Location shoot within Union Station
Once midnight rolled around, After Dark kicked into overdrive. The bays were now open for free-shooting. The music was turned up to 10 and models were ready for round 2. We were able to take control of EVERYTHING and play around with all the gear that was available. It was an unreal environment to be in.
fter midnight, I was finally able to play with a ring light and shot on a background, which I normally avoid because I find backgrounds to be cheesy, but I loved the look of this particular pattern/color. As a side note, I have to give a shout out to the models. They were all stretched to their limits. This particular model stayed with us until 3:00 am on the last day of the event when everyone had gone home.
My expectations of After Dark in St. Louis were surpassed. I learned a great deal and made new friendships along the way. But most importantly, I am more inspired than ever to break all my boundaries of comfort and create something new. This is just the beginning...
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Sharing life's moments has never been easier. In the early to mid '90s, upgrades in computer user interfaces and drops in production costs made home computers mainstream. People no longer had to wait multiple days to receive a message from across the country thanks to email. Today, we can stream video using a device in our pocket to share a moment with someone on the other side of the globe.
It is clear that the Internet has provided us with powerful tools and further developments in social networking communities and tools have brought the world to our fingertips. Social media, one of the Internet's many forms, has helped satisfy the seemingly never-ending need for instant gratification, one of the defining characteristics of Generation Y. This obsession, although not widespread in the entire population since the Baby Boomer generation is still present, has warped how we perceive and value photographs. Before the Internet, photos were exclusively used as a method of documenting time, almost in an archival sense. Today, more and more of the population are using cameras to share daily moments. Networking sites such as Facebook have integrated photos into their "stream" where moments come and go in less than a minute. Although this is not necessarily bad, it has come at a cost.
Social media tools have made photographs such commonplace, to the extent where the significance of photography, as an industry and an object, has become devalued. This includes both digital and print mediums (I am willing to bet there is a subset of readers who thought this was just about digital photography, which further proves my point). Don't get me wrong, though. As part of Generation X, I too indulge in what technology has to offer. In fact, it is probably what brought you here.
Recently, I printed out one of my favorite images. As corny as this sounds, when I finally received it in the mail and pried it out of the packaging, there was something special about being able to hold the photo. The feeling I got from it is what brought this post to existence. A coworker of mine took a picture of me holding one of these prints. At the time, I thought it was totally ridiculous to have this done, mainly because I do not like having my own photo taken. Call me a hypocrite. But when I looked at this photo, it was very odd to see myself holding something that for so long had only existed on my computer. It was at this point that I realized I had also fallen victim to what I previously outlined, how the digital world has warped our perception of photography. As a side note, I do not own a single photo album which I could pull off the bookshelf or out from under the coffee table. Up until recently, all of my photos were either online or on my hard drive.
It was interesting to me to see the impact a photographic print can have. This can be easily measured by comparing the amount of time people spend looking at photographs when on a screen and when in print. I showed a good number of folks the digital image of the Olympic Iliad and the Space Needle and if I were to ballpark an average viewing time, I would say people spent 3-5 seconds when viewed on screen (Update: According to Google Analytics, viewers spend an average of 7 seconds per page in my Seattle Street gallery. I was close!). But when I showed these people the same image in print, they spent at least half a minute. On top of that, some would come back and look at it again.
*Photo of print at Philanthro Seattle's 2013 Art with Heart event
Tangible prints and albums offer so much more than digital files. They convey and recall emotion/memories more vividly than digital photos through our auxiliary senses of touch and, in some cases, smell. They have that inherent wow factor. Honestly, I find it really difficult to adequately explain what prints do for people. They just do more and I sincerely hope the current generation does not lose sight of this value.
I think concepts such as this are best explained through example. The significance of a print can be extended to objects in general. The video below is of Adam Savage (host of Myth Busters on the Discovery channel) explaining how objects can carry extensive backstories in not only a historical aspect, but also in respect to the process of obtaining and creating them:
Regardless of whether you made it through the video, I leave you with one question:
If you were to pick between having 10 of the highest resolution photos which, for the sake of this example, were locked in digital form or having a single wall print, which would you choose?