Reading Response 3

The article I selected was Stephen Trachtenberg's "The Art of Instant Gratification". I picked this article because I enjoy photography very much and this was interesting to read. I do see the main points and think back to the way things were, it was much more difficult to make sure you got the shot you wanted the first time. I purchased a digital slr a while back and thinking about how many pictures I took with it to learn the correct modes to be in and what the iso should be set at make me wonder how much film I would have gone through and how much harder it would have been to figure out what I am doing wrong. With digital I was able to snap the picture, look at it on screen and then either move on or re shoot.

The essay begins to talk about how portrait paintings where the first methods of photography. They were the only way people back in the day were able to capture a moment and have it forever. Next came a camera that allowed people to take pictures, send in the camera and a receive the camera back with film and their set of pictures. This took a while be people still loved it. Cameras then moved on to being able to take the film out yourself, and then something that allowed people to instantly see what they shot. Polaroid came out with a camera that would spit out the picture seconds after it was taken and users would then have a picture in minutes. Now we have cameras that display the image on screen in seconds and printing pictures isn't as common now. Most are displayed on ones computer or online. Things have changed extremely.

3. How are the ideas or arguments in this article relevant to your own practice as a media artist?
I guess what I get out of this is that things with media and technology are always changing and it's always good to know both technologies. Digital is great but it does have it's downfall with the possible of losing imagines easily due to faulty hardware. With older technology such as film, you have the negative which is something that cant be deleted like a picture on a computer. I guess another thing maybe is not to always take a picture and look to make sure it turned out. Maybe jus keep shoot and look later and what you get is what you get.