Najah Majors’13: “To photograph is to hold one’s breath, when all faculties converge to capture fleeting reality. It’s at that precise moment that mastering an image becomes a great physical and intellectual joy,” stated photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson, in his definition of photography which was accepted by photographers for generations.
“Oh my god your picture is so artsy!”
This comment is not uncommon today beneath the pictures of many current photographers, both professional and aspiring. Through the medium of Instagram, the immensely popular smartphone app that combines photography and social media, photography has been unquestionably redefined.
The classifications of photography as a form of art differ significantly today from photography’s public perception just 50 years ago. It is undeniable that advances have been made in photography, and these advances coupled with technological changes in society render today’s photography an evolving concept.
There is no question that photography has improved. The substantial improvements in photographic technology over the years allow photographers to capture pictures both efficiently and more impressively. However, a cry heard often heard from professional photographers of past generations is that the quality of subject matter, the passion behind each individual image, and the skill necessary to capture powerful photos has notably decreased especially in the last few years.
The exceptional ability to modify photos on applications like Instagram and these applications’ incredibly widespread use have altered the roots of photography. IPhones are programmed to take control of the thought process that precedes the taking of a picture. For generations, photographers mastered the ways to fix the camera’s setting in order to perfect the lighting, composition, focus, and shutter speed, all in order to get the picture just right. Past all this necessary knowledge, planning, and skill that make photography an art, the decisive moment was always captured with luck. Photographers needed to know their stuff.
Although the art of photography lives through the many who still practice classical artistic technique, the reality is that more and more modern-day photographers simply don’t need training. They don’t need the “eye” anymore. The eye has been replaced by a digital voice, the cell phone.
Photography has evolved immensely over the past hundred years, and photographs have revealed history, captured memories, and provoked dialogue since the 1820’s. A French inventor named Nicéphore Niépce made the first permanent photograph in 1826 with a camera obscura. Advances in photography became prevalent in 1975, when the uniform black-and-white-photo producing film camera transformed into the first digital camera capable of producing color photographs. Since then photography has improved exponentially.
Instagram has quickly become a phenomenon amongst teenagers, celebrities, and photographers alike all around the world. The tech start-up was created in 2010 by Kevin Systrom and Michel Krieger as a free photo-sharing program and social network. Both of the creators had no experience with photography whatsoever, as they were both programmers, and ended up creating the embodiment of the evolution of photography. At the press of button, a photo can be instantaneously converted from color to black and white. An Instagram user can mimic the skill and technique that Henri Cartier-Bresson used to capture the Allée du Prado in France of 1932 in less than 10 seconds. All the hard work, creativity, and precision are manipulated by the cell phone in the palm of the photographer’s hand. Whether this is positive or negative for photography as an art, however, can be debated endlessly.
Despite great criticism of modern technology, photography has come a long way. Digital photography provides many beneficial features that enhance the quality of pictures, and social photography is simply the next step in this evolution. While there are many positive aspects that come along with modern photography, it is important to remember why one chooses to take a picture, a question that is easier to reflect upon without a digital or social media aspect to the camera. It is essential to remember that pictures should contain meaning and raise questions that encourage dialogue. Photos of true value are not only “artsy” and are probably not “selfies.” Photography should make viewers question and discover a perspective, whether this is done on a film camera or on Instagram. And it should capture a memorable moment forever.

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