Photo-Sharing Sites

Computers, the world wide web, and cellular phones have changed the world in which we live.  These technologies have had a huge impact on the medium of photography.  Photography is no longer limited to a camera and film, but it has jumped into the world of computers and phones and the world wide web!

In my last post, I shared with you a means through which photography could very negatively impact a person's life.  I talked about the incident with Michael Phelps and how a picture taken on a cell phone instantly took a private moment and made it massively public. Photography has become so mobile, so easy, so accessible that a picture can be taken anywhere, anytime, and by anyone.  In some cases, this is an unwanted phenomenon.

However, just as technology has it's downside, it also has an amazing and wonderful upside.  Today I would like to explore photography in relationship to photo-sharing websites. The great thing about photos is that they tell stories.  In and of themselves, they tell stories, and in conjunction with written word, they enhance stories.  Thus the explosion of photo-sharing websites isn't surprising because people love to share their stories, they love to share their lives with others, and photo-sharing websites enhance the sharing experience to a whole new level.

I have included a link below, which includes an article from The New York Times, which gives a short explanation along with feature comparisons of the top eight free photo-sharing websites on the web right now:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/05/technology/circuits/05pogue.html

Photography - The Snapshot

I love this quote, "Any American who takes a snapshot contributes to a compelling and influential genre." Have you ever thought of that fact when you were snapping a picture? It's pretty amazing to think that as an individual living in a world of so many individuals, when we are busy capturing moments in our lives through picture taking, in our own unique way we are contributing to a genre!