Barefoot
05-11-2016, 11:54 AM
So, I was thinking about how many people there are with cameras out there today and the resulting number of photographs that are made each passing year.
And then it got even deeper.
I began to wonder how the number of photographs made and how the notoriety of photographers has changed from photography's earliest days compared to how its practiced today.
Some estimates are that only a few million photographs were made in the first 80 years before a commercial camera came along. After that happened, by the 1930's nearly a billion were taken each year. Through the 70's and 80's we were snapping at a rate of about twenty-five billion a year.
Something happened in the 90's and the number of photos made more than doubled to nearly sixty billion a year and by the year 2000 that number climbed to an amazing ninety billion a year.
I can't quite put my finger on it, but there must have been another event in photography's history, because ten or twelve years later we were knocking them out at almost four hundred billion a year and it is believed that this year alone we will collectively make over trillion photographs.
And then it got even deeper.
I tried to imagine the difficulty that the earliest form of photography presented to it's practitioners and what might have enticed anyone to endure the labors involved. I'm going out on a limb here, but I'd wager that anyone in first twenty years of photography with a camera and the ability to use it was considered accomplished and maintained some degree of notoriety while making a part of or maybe all of their income in the business of making portraits.
It struck me that although the number of photos taken each year is now almost beyond imagination, the number of recognized and accomplished living photographers has remained the same through out all the years. In fact, on the basis of number of photos made/famous photographers alive, I'm inclined to think that their numbers may have declined. Even when you discount all the photos destined to end up in the “jpeg asylum”(fifty-eight million uploaded to instagram each day alone) and examine only those that are made by someone who genuinely seeks fame and notoriety it would seem the deck is stacked against them.
And then it got even deeper.
I was left with a few inescapable facts. There are a blue million people out there with a camera that think they are photographers with a capitol “P” that don't even have a clue. There are a large number of people out there with a camera and the potential to become a photographer with a capitol “P” that may or may not overcome the obstacles. And then you have your true Photographers.
I'm getting too old to keep doing what I've pursued as a line of work this many years. Time to start thinking about something else to make the lires I need to maintain my comforted lifestyle.
So, I've decided to become a photographer with a capitol ”P”. Cut straight to the chase, so to speak. Forget about all that “your photos suc”, “pay your dues” and “do not pass Go, do not collect $200” crap and just jump straight into the scene with a fame and notoriety that has yet to been seen by any photographer.
Yes, I do have a plan. It would seem that to be successful in photography today, it helps to be somewhat avant garde. Being on the cutting edge leads to discussion and discussion tends to lead to fame, notoriety, and all the riches that pertain.
What will be my approach, you might ask? My debut showing will be in a solid white room. White walls, ceiling, and floors. No windows and mixed lighting. In the center of the room will be a white pedestal about four feet high. Perched upon the pedestal will be a gold fish bowl. In the gold fish bowl will be the countless number of exposed, but un-processed, rolls of 110mm, 35mm, and 120mm film that now reside in my refrigerator. Photographs that will never be seen. What an astounding statement on the affairs of photography as we know it today.
Pure Genius!
And then it got even deeper.
I began to wonder how the number of photographs made and how the notoriety of photographers has changed from photography's earliest days compared to how its practiced today.
Some estimates are that only a few million photographs were made in the first 80 years before a commercial camera came along. After that happened, by the 1930's nearly a billion were taken each year. Through the 70's and 80's we were snapping at a rate of about twenty-five billion a year.
Something happened in the 90's and the number of photos made more than doubled to nearly sixty billion a year and by the year 2000 that number climbed to an amazing ninety billion a year.
I can't quite put my finger on it, but there must have been another event in photography's history, because ten or twelve years later we were knocking them out at almost four hundred billion a year and it is believed that this year alone we will collectively make over trillion photographs.
And then it got even deeper.
I tried to imagine the difficulty that the earliest form of photography presented to it's practitioners and what might have enticed anyone to endure the labors involved. I'm going out on a limb here, but I'd wager that anyone in first twenty years of photography with a camera and the ability to use it was considered accomplished and maintained some degree of notoriety while making a part of or maybe all of their income in the business of making portraits.
It struck me that although the number of photos taken each year is now almost beyond imagination, the number of recognized and accomplished living photographers has remained the same through out all the years. In fact, on the basis of number of photos made/famous photographers alive, I'm inclined to think that their numbers may have declined. Even when you discount all the photos destined to end up in the “jpeg asylum”(fifty-eight million uploaded to instagram each day alone) and examine only those that are made by someone who genuinely seeks fame and notoriety it would seem the deck is stacked against them.
And then it got even deeper.
I was left with a few inescapable facts. There are a blue million people out there with a camera that think they are photographers with a capitol “P” that don't even have a clue. There are a large number of people out there with a camera and the potential to become a photographer with a capitol “P” that may or may not overcome the obstacles. And then you have your true Photographers.
I'm getting too old to keep doing what I've pursued as a line of work this many years. Time to start thinking about something else to make the lires I need to maintain my comforted lifestyle.
So, I've decided to become a photographer with a capitol ”P”. Cut straight to the chase, so to speak. Forget about all that “your photos suc”, “pay your dues” and “do not pass Go, do not collect $200” crap and just jump straight into the scene with a fame and notoriety that has yet to been seen by any photographer.
Yes, I do have a plan. It would seem that to be successful in photography today, it helps to be somewhat avant garde. Being on the cutting edge leads to discussion and discussion tends to lead to fame, notoriety, and all the riches that pertain.
What will be my approach, you might ask? My debut showing will be in a solid white room. White walls, ceiling, and floors. No windows and mixed lighting. In the center of the room will be a white pedestal about four feet high. Perched upon the pedestal will be a gold fish bowl. In the gold fish bowl will be the countless number of exposed, but un-processed, rolls of 110mm, 35mm, and 120mm film that now reside in my refrigerator. Photographs that will never be seen. What an astounding statement on the affairs of photography as we know it today.
Pure Genius!