A yearning for the past

[Scotness]

Here's an interesting series of articles - too bad he didn't actually mention Super 8 and how it fits into this (both for what it is and what it was)

http://thesocietypages.org/cyborgology/ ... instagram/

Scot

[carllooper]

Like.

Some great articles. A good read.

The appearance of digitally aged images might be due to the fact that aged images remain recognisable as photographs. Even the young recognise aged images, if only because they will have seen them in dad's shoebox (or grandad's). The digital image lends itself to manipulation. Aging is one manipulation out of many. But the recognition factor of aged images plays a part in their appeal. At least that's my theory.

Mind you, my daughter (8) loves doing unrecognisable images on the iPad.

In the articles is a theory about a search for authenticity. However it's not authenticity in the traditional sense. For that you would have to take up traditional photography. If it is a search for authenticity it's only at the level of appearance. For example, app A is more "authentic" than app B (in terms of simulating age). One can admire the technical skill and knowledge embedded in the app. There is "authenticity" in how well the programmers simulate age, etc.

The articles are at their best when working through questions of time: history, the present, and the social network. I don't necessarily agree with the author's understandings but the questions are certainly in the right direction.

Personally I think 'authenticity', (whether traditional or contemporary), is more of a problem than a solution. The superficial can often be very surprising and novel. And the authentic can often be very stiffling.

My interest in shooting film, for example, is partly out of a desire for authenticity, but if that was all it was, I wouldn't shoot film. I can be just as authentic shooting digital - even more so - because I understand the digital domain extremely well. Better than most because I've been working as a software developer for decades. Various factors play a role in my interest with film, the technical qualities of film (not just the look), the challenge, the conversations it strikes up, the insanity of it, the near death experiences, the threat of extinction, all sorts of weird crap. Authenticity is right down the bottom of my list. I'd just as soon remove it from the list, except that it does play a part - but as a question, rather than as an answer.

[Nicholas Kovats]

Interesting thread.

I shoot film because

1. That is my recording instinct, i.e. I visualize analog capture first not digital.
2. The Stanley Kubrick virus inflected at the age of 12 is permanent. There is no cure.
3. I am immersed daily in the digital world at work yet I fantasize analog dreams of film and film gear.
4. The historical antecedent of cinema is analog and I feel a part of it.
5. I am fascinated by digital emulation of the analog.
6. That's it. I am a hybrid creature.