Camera Phone Ready (Media=Embodiment)

This is my 1st project for my Rhetorical Theory & Practice course. I've chosen camera phones as my case study to investigate media's relationship with the body.

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"To photograph, is to collect the world."

Sue Sontag, cultural critic, said the above quote. She went on to say that when we snap a picture, position ourselves in relation to the world around us, which helps us measure if we are up to par. We also feel as though we are producing knowledge through the capturing of a certain image. Is this really our goal as members of the camera phone culture? We think little of how much the camera phone is integrated into our lives, as well as how it has made possible for the ease of story telling. Our use of the camera phone has been embodied into our culture, as part of the way we live our lives. This raises concerns about how embedded in our culture it has become. Celebrities purposely get dolled up knowing that there is a possibility that someone may take a photo of them at any time that can reach the web within seconds. Regular people are victim to this also. They may become the subject of blogs written online about fashion don’ts.

In composing(media)=composing(embodiment), Arola and Wysocki pointed out that our relationship with media isn’t a simple one. Our body’s interaction with a certain media creates a two way street.Camera phones have opened the possibility for people to experience live action without physically being there as well as use a hybrid type of communication that marries the image with text. This combination of the written and visual makes for a show-and-tell that people tend to find engaging. But the effect of camera phones on one’s own body as well as in relation to others is far bigger than that. Are camera phones becoming so embedded into our daily life that we don’t realize our constant need to photograph could possibly be interrupting our life-living. Will we become a stagnant society who lives on the sidelines, choosing to view photographs instead? Is this what will happen when we've collected the world?

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Why do we share our photos?

Philippe Kahn developed the camera phone with the intention of people being able to share moments of their lives with one another, right as it was happening. I don't think he foresaw how much our culture would run with the idea of photo sharing. Sites like Instagram, Flickr and Facebook give users a platform to share their photos, with every other user around the world if they choose to. 

According to Paul Karabinis, professor of photography at University of North Florida, photography has become more about sharing than about remembering. We want other people to know what we did or where we went or even what we bought. It stems from our need for immediate authenticity. A digital camera requires taking a shot, going home and hooking up to your laptop. By then, the image is old news. A camera phone photo acts as our "I was here!" in place of  movie ticket or plane ticket. It is a more subtle, yet blatant form of bragging.

"Hurry, take a picture so we can have fun!"

Camera phone picture trends has shown that users have become obsessed with photographing their meals. In a strange way, the photographing of food has elements that a photograph of a friend or a house may not have. Seeing the image of meal you ate may awaken your other senses, prompting you to remember its smell as well as its taste. Images of designer clothes are also popular on sites like Instagram, evidence of how much of a consumerist society we've become. Both these trends are reflective of McLuhan's theory that we use media as extensions of the body. Food and clothing are both extensions of who we are. They are forms of text that help to identify us. When photographed and placed on the internet, they contribute to our mobile identities  These two categories have also constructed a space where users have almost become competitive in the depictions of their every day life.

Because we choose to share images of with the public, rather than keep it to ourselves, our view of ourselves has changed. We no longer look at ourselves as we know we exist. Our view of ourselves has become what is on the camera screen. Women are now subject to their own gaze, rather than the "gaze" of men that is frequently referenced in critical literature.We attempt to construct a specific image of ourselves by positioning our bodies a certain way or angling the camera in a way that emphasizes certain areas. A realm in which this is popular is video chatting on a cellphone. Although it is a further development from the basic camera phone, video chatting allows us to interact with another person without even being remotely close to them. We can see their each and every move, making us feel as though we are literally watching them.

Photo sharing makes us eager to upload the perfect mobile performance that is sure to garner positive feedback from other users. We are used to the sound of the shutter about 30 times in the span of 5 minutes.

"Ugh, it's so hard to choose! Do I want to look like I'm having a party in front of my shower curtain? Do I want to come off as serious?"

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Why do we take photos?

The answer seems obvious. We take photos to remember important moments in our lives; to see what we did when we were too wasted to realize,but there are many more implications that come with this visually-obsessed generation, especially because of our natural inclination to share the images we take. 

The camera phone arrived at an opportune moment.  It fit perfectly into the private-to-public era that developed as a result of personal web pages like Myspace. It made the sharing of a photo instantaneous and the iPhone's front camera catalyzed the development of "selfies."

Here's mine:

We find ourselves viewing the world through the lens of an camera phone. The camera phone is the closest thing we have to eyes that can take photos. The camera may see the actual image before we do. We are willingly placing an object between ourselves and reality. We accept whatever appears on the screen as reality, when we could have just experienced that reality ourselves. This especially occurs when we are watching something of high-intensity that we hope to capture, but we must ask ourselves if viewing it later on our camera phone will give us the pleasure that seeing it then would've.

On the other hand, our inclination to photograph the world encourages us to notice what is around us. We take in everything, guided by the notion that we must find something impressive to photograph. We may look deeper to find beauty in something or may notice even more imperfections in something and decide not to photograph it. This is especially true with photographing food. If it doesn't look appetizing, despite its deliciousness, we may opt out of photographing it. The "point and snap" reaction we have is not completely blind. We are guided by our desire to produce aesthetically pleasing images.

I swear this salad was the best I've ever had!

Our memory seems to be at risk. Are these photographs replacing our need to remember specific events in our lives? Some people may argue that yes, photographs create false memories. In the future, when I look at this image of this unappetizing salad, will my memory of its deliciousness be replaced by this image of it? Photos may also cause us to look at our lives only through mobile lens. If it wasn't captured, it didn't happen. This deconstructs the the political, cultural and other implications that cannot be seen in pictures, things that transcend every day life. The way something is captured may completely change the way we remember it, defeating the purpose of the photo in the first place. Others argue that photos help combat the gaps in our memory that fall victim to embellishment. According to Michael Malone, author of a book on human memory, the most evocative parts of a memory are the parts we don't remember. 

Our need for visual souvenirs shows our desire to impose meaning in our daily lives, to prove to ourselves and more so, others, that we are living.

"Omg, that looks like so much fun. I should've joined that crowd instead of taking the time to take this photo for Facebook. Now I don't remember what was so fun about this particular moment because I didn't experience it." - Left Out Lucy 

"Lost in the digital flood."

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Citizen Photojournalists

Prior to the invention of the camera phone, photographers and photojournalists were trained professionals who could be identified by their constant carrying of cameras and their work badges. The general population carried cameras around on few occasions  holidays and vacations. Tourists, however, are in a category of their own. 

The invention of the camera phone democraticized the job of the photo journalists. The general population is now armed with a camera everywhere we go, because as constantly connected individuals, we never leave home without our cell phones. 

While some critics argue that there is the surplus of user generated content has weakened professional journalism, the proliferation of mobile journalism has proved to be much stronger.

This proved especially true when Alexander Chadwick used the point and shoot response in a deadly situation, rather than the usual fight or flight during the 2005 London bombings. He managed to snap a photo and send it to BBC instantly. BBC placed the image on their front page, despite the bad lighting and poor quality. 

Chadwick's cellphone made possible for the his interaction with the world outside; a world that was going through a radically different experience than he was. It connected us to him, to his current experience and made for our greater understanding of foreign experiences. By producing that image, Chadwick created his outward identity to us as the "brave victim." BBC and the world's reception of Chadwick's image gave the "ok" for these types of photos to be printed in the news.

This new sense of agency displayed by an average citizen has helped to construct a world in which citizens must become active participants in news making. We now recognize the urgency of situations around the world because the camera phone allows us to see what is happening right now! We are meant to accept that challenge and expect others to do the same. This assumption of agency can go one of two ways: we may take on the role of an investigative journalist and seek out news to report on or we may remain stagnant, confident that there are enough people out there doing the job for us. The proliferation of #photojournalism images on the web makes me think that citizens are leaning to the former. Somewhere in the pool of mundane photos shared on the web are hidden gems that may accompany the next breaking news story.

Citizen photojournalism has become common, especially on networks like Twitter. Some professional journalists are even picking up on the practice of shooting with a camera phone. In an interview with Poytner, J. Syllba Smith, curator of an camera phone art show, the lack of interface in camera phones makes for a more immediate and intimate photo. Plus, photojournalists can enter into dialogue a lot more quickly with the public. 

The popularity of photojournalism has created an unprecedented amount of news and knowledge sharing on the web. 

The benefits, drawbacks of using camera phones as a photo journalist

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Creation of the Camera Phone

....no, we don't mean this.

Philippe Kahn looked at his three devices, a Casio QV-10 camera, a Motorola cellphone and a Toshiba laptop and knew that by the 21st century, it would be necessary for these three to join together. "We already had the building blocks necessary to enable the public to point, shoot and share photographs anywhere, anytime and wirelessly. What we needed was for internet servers, cellular networks, cellphones and camera to work together seamlessly and intelligently."

The birth of his daughter catalyzed his effort to create the first camera phone. On June 11, 1977, Kahn was blessed with a baby girl and 2,000 lucky recipients received the world's first Picture-Mail message. The camera phone made possible for the publicizing of a normally private event to the public before even leaving the hospital.

Despite his friend's and family's astonishment with the instant picture mail, Kahn's invention wasn't received too enthusiastically by cell phone companies. Their focus was elsewhere, on improving voice communication. But they found receptivity in Japan and launched the first commercial camera phone in 2000. By 2005, camera phones were available world wide. 

Kahn rightfully credits his invention with the rise of citizen journalism, an increased sense of personal freedom and the ability to share pictures instantly. The camera phone's greatest accomplishment, according to Kahn, seems to be that the world is better connected, making it "a step closer to world perfected."

Photography changes the way we communicate - Philippe Kahn

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composing (media) = composing (embodiment)

The study of “embodiment” in relation to media, urges us to recognize how our body’s engagement with media helps to shape us. Both the media we produce and consume “embodies” us. When we produce media, we are, sometimes unknowingly, expressing what is important to us. When we consume media, we are accepting the structures and limitations that exist. The pieces of media that we consume guides the way we function in the world. We must begin to take notice of what we do on a day to day basis, especially now that media presents itself in almost every aspect of our lives. 

Arola and Wysocki question specifically how certain media encourage or discourage senses of the body in the world as well as in relation to others. The pair are also are curious about how changes in media has made for new possibilities. I’ve somehow merged these these two questions during my investigation, because I find it necessary to not only examine a certain media’s current relations with the body, but also its development into something that has resulted in more, or even less engagement with our bodies and how we relate with others.

I’ve chosen to focus on the camera phone, a tool that has revolutionized the way we look at ourselves, at others and how we interact with people we’ve never met. Cell phones in general has changed the way people identify themselves and others, but now with a camera, there is an added layer to the mobile performance we fall victim to.

Camera phones have also revolutionized how quickly we can share images and videos with others. Its development has been successful in creating new breeds of photographers;  citizen photographers who may have access to news-worthy content before a professional news photographer and domestic photographers with camera rolls and Instagram pages full of images of their morning breakfast cereal. The camera phone has been successful in heightening our sense of sight, whether it be initially or later when we look at the image. It has become our second eyes, sometimes seeing things before we do. This may seem problematic. It brings up questions about images replacing our memories.