Culture-how it is determined by the internet. Music and photography examined.

 “It feels like the internet's impact on culture is just beginning. A world in which culture is based on the internet, which is what I think is happening, is just the very start. Right, 'cause it had to get universal before it could set the culture.”

Marc Andreessen, co-founder of Netscape in the Dot Com era of the 90s

The internet's impact on culture - Richard MacManus (ricmac.org)

As Marc Andreessen asserts, the impact of the internet on culture is in its infancy and we are just about seeing the impact now. Andreessen was huge during the .com bubble of the late 90s. He founded Netscape as a browser. If we consider music and later photography both as cultural entities, music was shared by peer to peer file sharing (P2P). This was eventually curtailed by a legal system and the music business found ways to sell music digitally-through iTunes, iPod etc. This meant the traditional ways of selling music was not as big-CDs and albums. 

The music industry seemed to struggle to adapt at first to the internet due to P2P but eventually, it adapted to it. 

2015. This was the year that everything changed. 

According to The internet's impact on culture - Richard MacManus (ricmac.org)

"The advent of streaming, from Spotify and others, was the first sign that the internet might no longer be just a distribution channel for music. In fact, Spotify ended up fundamentally changing how we consume music.

With streaming and the online subscription model, by 2015 the internet had begun to shape and re-make the music business. Or as Marc Andreessen might say, set the culture"

Although like any new technological paradigm, music streaming didn't happen suddenly in a single year. There was a build-up - and build out - of several years.

Spotify was initially launched only in Europe, starting October 2008, but it didn’t really take off as a cultural phenomenon until its US launch in July 2011. By September 2011, Spotify had doubled its paying subscribers to 2 million. By the end of 2012, it was 20 million total active users, including 5 million paying customers globally. Fast forward another couple of years and it was 60 million users, including 15 million paying, by December 2014"

By 2020, Spotify has 248 subscribers. This is one example of how the internet has shaped and changed on business model that was once considered sacred-the music business. The internet changed how we consume and listen to music. Apple had witnessed the success of Spotify and in 2015 created iTunes Radio-similar to Spotify. Users had partial control over content and could stream music. 

Further advances such as YouTube and Facebook would emerge and become platforms of how we view music. The internet has created a lot of change in one sector of the creative arts. Now, CDs are almost obsolete. instead of our music consisting of hardware such as records (such as when I was a lad) now it is software which is on a storage device. There are many examples of how the internet has impacted on society, this is just one example. 

A term now exists called "The Standardization of Culture" this means that though forces such as globalization and the homogony of states, information has been standardized. According to Essay on the Effects of Internet on our Culture! (yourarticlelibrary.com) "With the newfound exploration of cultures, cultural uniqueness has decreased because people see there are other possible ways of living life. Persons of one culture may like the way another culture does something and then start to do that something themselves.

This can spread throughout the culture and soon the two cultures will contain fewer differences. Cultural homogenization will continue to occur as the number of cultures about which information is available on the Internet increases and the ‘diversity of the Internet’s content grows’.

In conclusion, the internet has affected every aspect of society. From information, education, economics to politics. Everything is affected by the internet. 

Source 

The internet's impact on culture - Richard MacManus (ricmac.org)

Essay on the Effects of Internet on our Culture! (yourarticlelibrary.com)

                                                      culture and the internet - Bing images

How has the internet affected photography. 

The camera and its evolution. 

The camera has come a long way since it was conceived 197 years ago. This change is evident not only in the type of cameras on the market-but also the way photographs are disseminated to the viewer. The first cameras  for mass consumption were created by George Eastman (Kodak) who created "the box brownie" in 1900 that used a paper based film and was less expensive then the metal based film used by previous camera film. By 1913, Oskar Barnack created a 35mm camera which would become very popular and make photography extremally accessible. By 1948, the only barrier that was not popular was the waiting times that customers had to wait for film to be developed. This was addressed when Kodak created a polaroid camera. The developing of an image was almost instantaneous. In 1986, photography was made more accessible to consumers when disposable cameras were created. Finally, photography moved away from film completely and moved towards digitally based creation and consumption in 1991. However, it took another decade for digital cameras to dominate the market. Camera makers such as Canon and Nikon recognized this earlier then dominant analogue film market leaders Kodak and would see both companies overtake Kodak as makers of cameras. 

The new millennium saw further changes to photography hardware such as cellphone cameras. The first models were primitive. Todays mobile phone cameras have different modes such as portrait and landscape as well as astounding megapixels which denote the quality of the images. Finally, in 2005, the first DSLR. According to The History behind Cameras – Kodak Digitizing

"Shooting like a pro wasn’t just for the professionals anymore. With the release of the Canon EOS 5D, it became the first consumer-priced full-frame digital SLR"

This digitalization of images and photography would be perfect timing as the internet was created in the mid 1990s. Out of this, social media platforms were soon created. Modest at first such as Myspace and later Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. We take 60 million images a year and share them on social media platforms. According to How the internet has changed photography (telegraph.co.uk) "Facebook, for instance, is one of the largest photo repositories in the world; users have uploaded more than 20 billion pictures to the social-networking site. Likewise Twitter is emerging as a key way of sharing pictures; users are taking pictures on their phones and posting them instantly to the web, resulting in some memorable images, including the first photos of the plane that crashed in the Hudson river"

This demonstrates a change in how images are disseminated to wider audiences. Before the internet, images were in a family album or a tin contained negatives in the attic. Now, images on social media are accessible to anybody (including the government or prospective employers doing searches). This way of showing images has "democratized" photography and made the way it is disseminated accessible. 

The way we store our images has changed too. Instead of keeping photos in an album, peoples memories are on a computer, memory stick, hard drive or on the cloud. Meaning people no longer have an that intrinsic relationship with an actual photograph anymore. All images are seen through a screen and housed on a hard drive. Using some storage and sharing platforms such as Instagram allows users to use editing tools. This is amazing when you consider the advances in the last 50 years of analogue photography  and the wait the customer had to endure before getting the images back.

But, is all of this democratization a good or bad thing? Some argue that the internets relationship with photography is damaging photography. According to How Social Media is changing Photography, and Why that is a Good Thing | by Ryan Waneka | Lab Work | Medium "social media is helping more than it is hurting us photographers. Take, for example, the fact that large interconnected platforms have created the best potential for photographers to display their work to the world. “In professional photography, Instagram has also had a strong impact with an increasing number of photojournalists using the image-sharing mobile platform to build large groups of followers,” said Olivier Laurent of the British Journal of Photography. If you are looking to make a profession out of your photography, take advantage of the virtually free photography exhibit that is the internet"

The other point of view suggests that "The opposition argues that photography used to be an art form, and the few photos people had were more significant because of their scarcity. “Photographs used to be something to cherish. A good piece of photography even more so. It seems people are no longer buying photo albums to house pictures of their children cross dressing because they want to ‘be a girl when they grow up,” said Elise Levee of Social Media Today. I get it, the more we have of something, the less we appreciate it. But just like everything else in the world, photography is changing with the times. Media has changed over time from the newspaper, to radio, to TV and so on until we got to where we are now with the Internet. Music has evolved over time, storytelling has changed with time. The culture we live in is an ever-changing one, and I think we need to accept and work with it instead of stubbornly fighting the flow"

How Social Media is changing Photography, and Why that is a Good Thing | by Ryan Waneka | Lab Work | Medium

This accessibility of photography does not mean that all genres of photography have improved. To understand photography, you need to understand "the rule of thirds" light, mechanics of the camera, composition and shutter speed. A lot of people put armature images online, as well as professionals putting their images online. According to https://medium.com/lab-work/how-social-media-is-changing-photography-and-why-that-is-a-good-thing-91d356adf77c

“We’re losing our appreciation of photographers in favor of a love of people who snap a photo with their iPhone.” I disagree. We know the difference. There is something in the human brain that can tell the difference between a beautiful, well-composed photograph and a pixelated image of a Starbucks coffee cup with an Instagram filter on it. We know what is aesthetically appealing, because certain visual stimuli pleases us"

Therefore, if a photographer is good enough and their image stimulates a response from us, that photographers work will get noticed. This saturation of imagery has created more photographs but the public still have the ability intrinsically built in to tell a bad or mediocre photograph from a professionally mastered image. As well as a saturation of imagery, social media has created content that is not only inspirational but inspirational also. A look on social media can inspire the viewer to improve their work. During the Covid lockdowns of 2020, the world got creative in part due to social media. This is a good thing surely. As mentioned above about the music business and how the internet has made music assessable and open to all, this is evident in photography and it is unavoidable. The internet is changing every aspect of culture in our world and there is no escaping it. 

Feedback received.

 I informed my tutor about the amount of photographers who have let me down in giving me feedback recently. I was given the email address of a photographer called Jack Boniface-he has given a few students feedback and his an accomplished photographer and has a has his own photography business'. 

I sent him a total of 5 still life portraits that collectively created my narrative of the rise and decline of The British Empire via email.

1

2

3

 

Feedback.

Hi mark 

So I was a little unclear in what it is you imagine you will do with photography. I would say your images fall into still life...your personal interest is in historical narrative using still life photography. Bear this is mind when shooting next time have a look at other still life work and how it can improve your very unique interest. Historical Diagramas are very cool and could be very interesting....so a great start good subject and still life technical approach.

Looking at you images, to keep it purely photo to start.  A hard light as you have tried works well in still life, can be dramatic not quite there in your images but keep playing and should find the sweet spots. The first image is my favorite and would love to see a series just on historic boat replicas. Unfortunately all your image a floored technically. They all have too much contrast and under exposed in general. 

Moving to your  sets, they felt a little sparse, however this could be very cool but it would require a massive commitment on set building and design with the photo only being the tip of the ice burg. Yours are a little underwhelming but feels there is great scope here to create something bigger. Possibly find someone to collaborate with that likes to build. 

Good luck 

Jack 

My response. 

I see that in terms of lighting I have some way to go to find "the sweet spot" that Jack refers too. I have just bought a snoot for my lighting equipment at home, hopefully this will create a better source of lighting in the future.

In terms of creating dioramas with a contextual theme, I am currently looking at this and was on this path prior to Jacks comments. I agree with Jacks comments regards to the first image (HMS Endeavor) being the best as this images I created was with a lot of tutor assistance and direction. Instead of being eager and doing all my images at home, with my lighting set, it might be a good idea to use the universities resources (while I can) and the tutors experience. Finally, I know my idea is sound and the concept is interesting. In the future, working with somebody on this or another concept would be good practice and would be good for my creativity. 

Creating a logo

The recent work on a zine was the catalyses for creating a logo. This is due to having a logo was a requirement for the zine. I wanted the logo have a dark background and white writing. Also, some imagery which is associated with photography such as a aperture ring. I also want to keep the design simple and not over complicate it.

I have researched other photographers logos to draw ideas and inspiration. 

Bing images.

As I have articulated, the most simple ideas are the best. To create my logo, I am going to use Adobe Express-as it has a logo, flier function. The first design was one I used on my zine. It used a blue aperture ring on a dark background with a white typeface font. A simple message was conveyed to the viewer was simple, my name and the the companies name.

Researching logos.

According to 5 Tips for Creating a Memorable Logo Design | Design Shack

"The mistake that most designers make when creating a logo is that it contains too much information. To ensure simplicity in the logo design, consider these guidelines:

 1 Use no more than four words (or 30 characters).

2 Stick to three or fewer colors.

3 Don’t use more than one design trick or effect.

4 Avoid thin elements for type and artwork"  

It is important that your logo is an accurate representation of your company or product. It should have a meaning that’s unique to what you do.

Think about the meaning of colors and shapes when planning the design and how those associations can impact users. (You don’t want to communicate the wrong thing by mistake.) It’s also important to think about the logo in context of your overall industry.

 

1 Does the logo show what you do or sell?

2 Does the imagery communicate the right thing?

3 Can it stand alone?

The first logo created was used on my zine.

I added a border around the page o fit the rest of the zines pages. However, as I got more technically competent using Adobe express, I began to experiment more. I did another logo using some on the same ideas from the first such as using the aperture ring.  

The example above is roughly the ballpark I wish to use for my logo. I added a shape (a camera) to the middle of the aperture ring.and used a different font format. 

Registered with Curator Space.

 To keep up to date with information and treads involving curation, I have registered for a newsletter with the website.

Competition entry

 The competition was again with Photocrowd. The brief was sunset. 

I submitted 

Entry submitted. 

Elevator Speech

 An elevator speech is a speech given in a hypothetical elevator to perspective clients. Therefore, it has to be a very concise, captivating and simple speech which "hooks" those listening. It should be about 90 words. 

The mean questions you should consider are.

1 Who am I?

2 What do I offer?

3 What problem is solved?

4 What contributions can I make?

5 What should the listener do after hearing this speech?

My Elevator Speech. 

I'm Mark Baigrie, I'm a photographer whose work has conceptual elements which are political and look at historical events. I know I'm a bit old, but that gives me the flexibility of addressing history because I've been around for 50 years. 

I am committed to researching any contextual project I undertake to make sure the finished product is completely satisfactory. If you are interested, don't hesitate and contact me, here is my zine i worked on recently with contact details included.

Thanks.

   Bing images. 

Summery of what I have learned. (update)

I started engaging with the college in 2021 when I started my diploma in Photography. in that time, I have learned a vast array of different skills with regards to photography. The most important elements I learned is the fundamentals of lighting and understanding the cameras reaction to light. Working in the studio taught me how to create decent still life and portraits while creating contrast, shadow, tone, texture, shape, space, color and line. This information helped me to create images that said something. 

I have applied what I have learned in the studio into other genres of photography so that I am adaptable to any demands or opportunities which may arise.

For my current live brief, I am producing images which reflect stages of empire.

I have also learned stop motion photography, which I enjoyed very much. Also, light painting and wire wool photography has become something I do in the winter months when there in little daylight as a way of still getting out with my camera.

The thing I am most impressed with is how I have been able to learn appropriation and creating digital images manipulated out of numerous images. I have learned this through learning how to navigate Adobe Express, Lightroom and Photoshop. I especially enjoy using famous paintings and recontextualizing their meaning.

This ability to adapt and have many different styles of photography to utilize will benefit me in the long-term and make me much more flexible in the market place. 

My style of photography. (how I define myself)

Like anybody, I go through phases of being inspired by something, wanting to learn it, achieving learning and moving on to the next project. This might sound "flakey" but this desire to learn new skills will benefit me in the long-term and lead my work to be more varied in its scope and subject matter. In terms of contextual influences, my work is influenced by politics and history. At the moment, I am reflecting this through still life photography and appropriation. I am guessing in the future I will find other way of expressing myself as I progress.

I define myself as a photographer and something of a digital artist who is currently inspired by installation and street art. I enjoy using miniature people and creating indoor and outdoor images which reflect an historical event or my ideological standpoint. 

Branding. 

The most recent life brief I am engaging in involves me creating a logo and branding myself with a zine.

My logo is quite simple of an aperture ring and my corporation name.

A work in progress but I am currently looking for an aesthetically acceptable logo which I am happy with. What I am excited about is I now have the ability to create a logo digitally and put it on all the material I produce. This is progress I am excited about when i consider how far I have come. 

Competitions. 

I have engaged with multiple competitions which have included numerous live briefs. I have a stock also of images that I have taken that I have used. I cannot just go off and go for a shoot, as I work long nights that leave me exhausted the next day. I therefore sometimes use images shot weeks ago that fit all aspects of the brief demanded. An example is a brief requested images of spring, I posted these entries.

Engaging with employers

This I haven't done and I don't wish to just yet. My current job working in social care allows me to spend hours doing my university work while, doing my job and earning money that gets me through this period of transcendence. I will feel more comfortable considering this next year or going on to do a masters. I have a long way to go so I don't want to run before I can crawl.

Social media 

This I have done. I have many local and national followers who are on Instagram, Linked In and Facebook. 

CV.

My CV is updated to reflect my new skills and pervious skills, education and employment history. 

Barriers to my ability to get a career in photography. 

Simple, not having confidence in myself and comparing myself to others who have been doing photography for years. This can be debilitating and undermine your confidence. The best way around this is dwell instead on where you are now, what you know compared to what you knew a year ago. My age is a bit of a barrier but also an asset. My age means I am dedicated to my work and I am consistent. I also look at my success in other areas of work which I have achieved and how I managed that. Hard work is rewarded-fact.

What motivates me

The thing that motivates me the most is constantly learning and developing. I am not happy unless I am learning new skills or processing facts. The thing which motivates me in photography is being able to be inspired by an image then replicating it in my own style. I also love looking at the finished product of any photograph and feel satisfied. 

What approaches and qualities do I bring to me work

I research the topic I am asked to reflect upon to create a image which represents the brief. I see my work as continuously evolves and adapts in scope. I am a hard worker who is diligent in my work and sees things through. My creativity is defined by research and being completely absorbed in any topic. 

What am I trying to achieve in my work?

At the moment, my work is trying to achieve a look at different aspects of a period in history through photography. This is done through engaging in research in a particular historical time and trying to reflect this in my images. I also like to add a satirical element to my work which is aimed at politics or the modern world. I am hoping the viewer reflects on the images of mine they have seen and question what it is about. 

An example of my work. Appropriation created showing Putin as a warmonger. 

What matters to me?

Whatever work I am involved in, my reputation is important and doing a good job is important to my reputation. In terms of photography, creating something that the client is happy with and hopefully they then spread my name thus helping my reputation. Therefore, how others see me and my work is important. I have a good reputation in social care with professionals in the council, criminal justice, probation and third sector organizations, I'm certain I can expand this into other fields too.

How I work is interesting. I have worked 6 years as a loan worker and 5 years as a manager with a team of kitchen staff and support workers. This demonstrates I am flexible and can work independently or part of a team. The type of clients I hope to attract are varied. I would give anything a go at the moment as its all practice. I can decide what I don't like and not do it again. However, at the moment, I am open minded. 

What characteristics are unique to my practice? 

My inspirations are contemporary and historical. This is reflected in my work. Rather then recreating a scene with live models, I prefer to use miniature people to represent history. This reflects how inconsequence we are as a species in the grand scheme of life. Mankind's narcissist tendencies means men elevates himself about even nature. This is preposterous and I try to reflect that in using small people-a similar concept as Slinkachu. 

Who is your audience?  

Those who share my views of the world and wish to buy my work hopefully. This could be anybody who is political or conscious of social issues. 

There is a market for my work as Peter Kennard does very well creating contemporary appropriation for mass consumption. In terms of historical narrative works, I want to create reenactments of lesser known events-not just battles (which is done by others) instead, pivotal events like The Peasants Revolt or The Charteris's taking demands to Parliament. This work has a message and a social conscious.

Is there a client who buys your work? 

In researching people who build diorama scenes and people who create model villages, there is a market. This genre is big and companies like Hornby make models for this market. In terms of appropriation, yes. Banksy is an example also of graphic works which is big money in contemporary society.

Why should people buy or hire me?

Because my work is original. Despite appropriation being popular, I.ve not seen any images that I have appropriated with the same contextual narrative I have created. Therefore, my work stands out. All I need to do now is get it noticed. 

Mark Baigrie. 2023