Van Dijck, Jose 2008, “Digital photography: communication, identity, memory” Visual Communication , vol. 7, issue 1, p. 57–76 .
Summary
In the article “Digital photography: communication, identity, memory” Jose van Dijck argues that recent decades ago contemporary society changed the relationship towards photography function: if earlier the main purpose of personal photography used to be a collection of a family’s pictorial memory, then nowadays people use photographed images as a tool of communication , identity formation and cultural memory in virtual life which means that it became available to manipulate images easily. The author supports the idea with research aimed at young generation priorities and “four repertoire” images by theorist Roland Barthes, which prove that digital technology has extended the purposes of using digital devices to make possible to socialize with people and remodel personality using only images. Through the whole article Van Dijck points out that due to the flexibility of using personal photographs, each person accept a photo subjectively and try to make a story in it, whether it is a real memory or a misinformed interpretation in order to be a part of networked environment where the border between private and public images is erased.
Review
The end of XX century remains significant for photography and media nature due to inevitable shift from analogue technology to digital electronics. While some people state that digital technology made life easier for producing photos, other people argue that with occurence of digital photography the value of images changed impressively.
The article explores the changes of photography in general,‘the role and function of western digital photography seem to have changed substantially’. One of the most remarkable changes is the ability of manipulating images but the flexibility in this process is also diminishes control on images’ objectivity and intentions , forcing us to admit that pictorial memory changes due to easy distribution. However, it does not mean that photography was not used as a part of conversation and personality creation since the practice has begun ‘Photography’s functions as a tool for identity formation and as a means for communication were duly acknowledged, but were always rated secondary to its prime purpose of memory’ (Barthes 1981[1980]; Sontag, 1973)
Relevance of the topic: the article will be helpful and interesting for people studying photography and for people excited by photography generally because there is explained the potential of digital photography as social practice and how it is important to take control over personal images as they will remain in networked memory.
Structure of a document is composed of an introduction, three paragraphs, conclusion , notes and bibliography.
The first paragraph outlines the observation of list of the anthropologists who had a detailed focus on ‘the relationship between picture taking, organizing and presenting photographs on the one hand, and the construction of family, heritage and kinship on the other’ (Chalfen, 1987; Chambers, 2001; Hirsch, 1997; Holland, 1991; Slater, 1995). During the studies they found out that older generation prioritize photography as a memory device, especially in the implementation of family life while teenagers prefer sharing pictures as a part of conversation and intensification of experience.
The second paragraph has the psychological exploration of the theorist Roland Barthes in 2980s, focused on persona’s cognitive aspects of the self-concept through the four- image repertoires system which described human’s desire to form ideal identity in a self- image even if it contravenes reality. With the digitization, people find easy to get photos in an advantageous way to the public by retouching and remodelling images , ‘Retouching and manipulation have always been inherent in the dynamics of photography’ (Manovich, 2001; Ritchin, 1999; Wells, 1996).
The third paragraph emphasizes sharing photographs has meaning of personal and cultural memory in digital environment, which means that images distributed via internet remain there forever ‘Yet in these microcultures, memory does not so much disappear from the spectrum of social use as take on a different form’ . As an example were used photographs of tortured prisoners from Abu Ghraib penitentiary made by American guards in 2004. Most of the pictures soldiers were made for communication but they did not know that all the shared pictured become distributed through social media virtual memory: this is a clear instance of personal photographs being shown in public instead of being private memory keeper.
How convincing, though, is the idea of using notes? First of all, not all of them match the topic, that’s why they look a little bit extra in the article. Second thing is their distracting role in the text- when a reader tries to reread article, his attention becomes unfocused.
Speaking about unfocus: it is worth to mention the problem with sentences’ length- some of them are too long that reader will forget what is the main idea. Thus, a reader should reread one sentence several times to understand it.
It is also worth mentioning the experience from author’s real life where she described her student situation with taking photographs: by making innocent joke , students’ roommates uploaded pictures with her surrounded by tons of alcohol to the blog. This experience reflects examples listed above - in other words, we unconsciously use photographs where the stories can be depicted but it is complicated to recognize the real experience from a false one.
The conclusion the author made is well- organised, the idea is precise and clear, a lot of literature was used to prove it. The main point is that personal photography and photo- manipulation in digital media has a huge impact on society in the future ‘Personal photography may become a lifelong exercise in revising past desires and adjusting them to new expectations.’
For me, as a student studying photography, this article was definitely helpful: it made me think more about the potential of digital photography in the future; I found out more information about extraordinary technologies made in XX century ( i. e. , four image- repertoires) which can highly explain a bond between photography and psychology. Although the article has some drawbacks, it is possible to not pay attention on them.
References:
Larsen, Jonas (ed.) (2013) Digital Snaps: The New Face of Photography. London: I. B. Tauris
Gómez Cruz, Edgar and Lehmuskallio, Asko (ed.) (2016) Digital Photography and Everyday Life: Empirical Studies on material visual practises. London: Routledge