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Sharing Memories:
Family Photos in the modern age

Web207 - Kim L.

Sharing family memories is a part of everyday life.

Within seconds, it is possible to snap a picture and share with friends & family online and in real time...

Sharing Memories: Digital Age

Take a photo with a digital camera, download it to your computer, upload it via the internet to facebook, share with family & friends...

But it wasn't always this way...

To appreciate where we are today, we need to review the past...

Ancient Egyptian Paintings & Carvings

Carvings & Paintings such as this one from Aswan typically depicted Gods and Royals.

Ancient Greek Art & Sculpture

Greek art was often sculpture based, such as this portrait head of the emporer Lucius Vertis (AD 161-169).

Artworks took time to create and were not easily reproduced.

Were seen as historical keepsakes.

Christian Artworks: Religion

Created by professionals, the costs of production limited artworks to the most wealthy.

This Christian image was painted around 1320-1330 by Giotto di Bondone.

Over time, society evolved...

Portrait production costs reduced, and it became popular for the wealthy to record their place in society...

English Portraiture

This portrait of King Henry VIII shows English portraiture of the 1500-1800s it reflects the status, wealth and power of the subject and is painted in his likeness.

Noble English Family Portrait

The Ottley's were a noble family from the 1600s. Their portrait depicts a wealthy and powerful status in society at the time.

In the mid 1800s an important discovery occurred..

Photography!

Daguerreotype Cameras

Original photographic process, invented in 1839.

Scientific process to capture a scene.

Was not originally seen as artistic.

Photography equipment was expensive and restricted to professionals.

Daguerreotype Photography

Family portrait of Otto Natt och Dag (1794-1865) with his wife and daughter.

Although unique images, copies can be produced by re-daguerreotyping the original.

Black & White Camera

Technology improvements reduced exposure times.

Film and negative photography became more popular and production costs reduced.

This image shows the Kodak 3A Autographic camera.

Eventually the cost of photographic equipment became cheaper...

This allowed photography for the Masses!

Photography for Everyday

Photography moved from being professional to amateur.

Equipment was cheap and readily available.

Film processing was available over-the-counter at film processing stores.

Photographs in colour

Colour photography became mainstream.

My parents wedding, 21st December, 1974.

Mass amateur photography also saw different styles emerge from posing to...

Everyday SNAPSHOTS

Portraits to everyday moments

While portrait and posed photography retains a place, we see the introduction of snapshots capturing a non-posed moment in time.

Digitisation: The next stage for photography...

Computers + Photography =Digital Photography Revolution

Digitisation: Computers

Allow photographs to be stored in digital format and viewed on a screen.

Allow duplication and perfect copies, without charge.

Special software allows editing of images.

Digital Photography

Digital cameras remove the cost and need for developing film.

Images can be reviewed immediately via viewfinder embedded in back of camera.

Images can then be downloaded to computer without the need or expense of processing film.

Digital Photo Editing

Allows images to be touched up and perfected with special image editing software.

The Internet:

Allows text and images to be shared via WWW and email, anywhere in the world.

The Internet Expanded: Web 2.0

Web2.0 sees WWW sites as a platform.

Users contribute as well as share.

Examples of social media platforms include Facebook & Flickr.

Digital Photography + Web2.0 Platform + User Interaction =

Convergence (in it's most basic form)

Smart Phones: Inbuilt Camera & WWW

Allow photos to be taken on-the-go in virtually any location.

Internet access allows the photo to be uploaded and shared instantly via social networking or photo-sharing platforms.

Lastly: Don't forget Copyright!

Because images can be shared, it is important to remember copyright.

Share & Protect what is yours with Creative Commons licensing - http://www.creativecommons.org

Always check the terms & conditions of social media platforms to ensure you retain ownership of your images!

Summary

Recording memories is done for historical and artistic purposes.

In earlier periods cost and technologies limited the availability.

Over time, barriers were eroded until photography became part of the everyday life.

With digitisation and convergence, family memories can be shared instantly around the world.

Manage reproduction rights with creative commons copyright.

Image Credits

For full image credits and references, please see http://uni.au.com/?p=218

This slideshow was created for Web207 in SP1, 2011, by Kim L.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License.