how visual life logging is changing photography

by David McNamara 08/02/14

How is visual life logging changing photography?

#sigvisuals @deemac99

The past is a story we tell ourselves about ourselves

100 1,000,000+

Source: Eric Kessels

Visual life logging: the act of visually recording your life

Source: National Media Museum

Source: Atget / Walker Evans / Vivian Maier

Master collectors Eugene Atget Vivian Maier Walker Evans

“An unexamined life is not worth living.”

Socrates, 470 – 399BC

“learning by being” Source: Steve Mann in ‘Lifeloggers The Movie’ by Narrative

Quantified (Objective)

Qualified (Subjective)

Art (

mea

ning

) Science (truth)

Visual life

logging

Make better decisions Reach higher goals

Create meaning Find insights

Capturing unguarded private moments

Averaged 687 photos per day

Total 49k photos

Total 58 days

#Commute #Food

#Ceiling #Nappies

#desk

Source: Inspired by Cathal Gurrin

Reflection Recall Retrieval Reminiscence

Life logging is hard work

Passive Active

Un-composed

Objective

Authorless

Composed

Subjective

Narrative

Source: @deemac99

Source: Yahoo / Ellen DeGeneres

1 trillion+ photos will be taken in 2014

“…the desire to photograph the whole world is not an attempt to recover or create memories… It is a need to affirm experience as expressible and to create an aura of talismanic protection. Sometimes to gain that affirmation you have to give up pursuing it.”

Source: Photographs Not Taken, Will Steacy

Will Steacy

Source: Linda Henkel, Fairfield University, Point and Shoot Memories, 2014

Taking photos can impair your ability to remember…

“…finding highlights key differences between people’s memory and the camera’s “memory” and suggests that the additional attentional and cognitive processes engaged by this focused activity can eliminate the photo-taking-impairment effect.”

…but can digital archives make memories more ‘true’?

Source: Scott Fraser

We need a Search Engine For The Self Source: Memory Mesh: Cognitive Psychology Linking for Ememories / Cathal Gurrin

Source: Yang Yong, Fancy in Tunnel

Expressive & Intimate

The New Aesthetic

Source: John Rafman / 9 Eyes

Explorable Mindscapes Source: Kwan Alan

Source: Chino Otsuka / Imagine Finding Me

Source: ‘Her’ Warner Bros

Source: Cognea

Personal AI agents

Curation can save us all!

Algorithmic Photography

data context creativity

From real EXIF data…

…to ememory meta data

Source: @deemac99

Source: @deemac99 / Creative Commons

The  Life  Cura,on  Agent  is  your  complete  visual  life  logging  pla9orm.    It  can  integrate  with  all  your  tracking  devices,  auto  curate  your  life  and  enhance  your  life  stories.      Choose  your  cura,on  avatar  type  that  will  learn  how  to  explore  and  find  the  paBerns  of  significance  in  your  archive.    

Life Curation Agent

Source: @deemac99 / Creative Commons

Find your halo moments Source: @deemac99

Source: @deemac99 / Creative Commons

From libraries… …to exhibitions.

Algorithmic Photography is a new lens for a new world

Log life not data

Thankyou

#sigvisuals @deemac99

Slide 2 - http://sploid.gizmodo.com/scientists-watch-how-the-brain-makes-memories-for-the-f-1509923347/@barrett Slide 3 - http://www.embeddedmetadata.org/social-media-test-procedure.php Slide 4 - http://www.nomadarte.com/ Slide 5 - http://www.exporevue.com/artistes/fr/radisic/act2.html Slide 6/7 - http://fqwimages.com/about-myself/ Slide 10 - http://phototrails.net/bangkok/ Slide 11 - http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/is-facebook-making-us-forget-study-shows-that-taking-pictures-ruin-memories-8994917.html Slide 13 - http://selfiecity.net/#findings Socrates - http://www.emersonkent.com/history_notes/socrates.htm Atget Organ Grinder- http://www.metmuseum.org/collections/search-the-collections/283261 Real Life Instagram - http://reallifeinstagram.com/ Imagine Finding Me - http://chino.co.uk/ Steve Mann / Lifeloggers The Movie - http://vimeo.com/61947763 Karl Baden - http://vimeo.com/user6454056 Kodak - http://www.flickr.com/photos/nationalmediamuseum/ Vivian Maier - http://www.vivianmaier.com/ Apple Mood Ad Serving - http://appleinsider.com/articles/14/01/23/apple-investigating-mood-based-ad-delivery-system New Aesthetic - http://jonrafman.com/ Point and Shoot Memories - http://pss.sagepub.com/content/early/2013/12/04/0956797613504438.abstract Molecular Basis of Memory - http://www.einstein.yu.edu/news/releases/968/watching-molecules-morph-into-memories/ Neural Networks - http://cs.brown.edu/people/tld/note/blog/13/07/26/ Memory Mesh - http://hma.dcu.ie/HMA/Home.html Search Engine For The Self - http://hma.dcu.ie/HMA/Home.html Lisa Congdon - http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/lisa-congdon-photography-journal# Eric Kessels - http://www.kesselskramer.com/ PhotoTrails - http://phototrails.net/ Exhibition - http://blogs.chicagotribune.com/news_columnists_ezorn/2010/09/hangme.html Jenny Davis - http://thesocietypages.org/cyborgology/2013/03/13/the-qualified-self/ Richard Billingham - http://www.bbc.co.uk/photography/genius/gallery/billingham.shtml I trillion photos - http://bgr.com/2013/12/24/how-many-selfies-were-taken-in-2013/