Images
There are a billion
cameras out there, an under estimate. In another not too distant age a
billion would have been gross hyperbole. How many cameras were there
before the Kodak Brownie, cumbersome cameras and difficult process?
The age of the exquisite photograph as a choice among a few well
considered photographs is past. There is this welter of images with
gorgeous color and compelling composition. The marginal cost of
taking another picture is small and taking a camera with you may only
be the inconvenience of remembering.
I saw Yosemite
twice in the past two years. It is hard not to take a picture without taking one of the (still) grand breathtaking scenery. Yet, the
picture has become trite. Millions take countless pictures of this
place. When the early photographers conveyed their photographs out, it was of a rarely seen place. Now there is hardly a
place on the planet that cannot be viewed in the electronic meta space in moments.
The recorded image
has assumed another place beyond the traditional. It is now the
chronicler of the mundane and the small if not still important. The
wearable camera, the ever present smart phone camera, and pocket
camera records the detail of lives that would have been lost.
