Discussions on the Camera

Deconstruct to define "the optical device"

What is seeing?

- internalizing - intuition - feeling

What is representing?

Terms

- film - cinema - moving image - motion picture - video

How does the camera shape what you make?

"Digital makes me want to shoot very sharp." (Sonia)

"When I make pictures I don't care if they are sharp or not." (Marieke)

Consider:

shape, sound, weight of the camera

"Carrying that at 6am in London in February. No more of that!" (Susanna)

position of the viewfinder (TLR vs. eye-level)

- How is it like to be without a viewfinder? (eg. GoPro)

Where does the camera begin and where does it end?

Discussions on the (Moving) Image

When you reduce the amount of information, does it become more poetic?

If we define information as FPS...

Experiments

Devise an experiment to test an assumption you had about the camera. (suggested by Barend)

Think about what you want to explore in making a camera. (suggested by Mathijs)

Today I jotted down this phrase, analog as meditation. Consider the actions associated with using an analog camera:

I load the film and wind it in place.
With a viewfinder, I set the aperture, shutter speed, iso.
I focus on the subject.
I press the shutter button.
I notice how much film is left.
--- post-device ---
When I am at the end of the film, I rewind and unload it.
If I have access to a dark room, I develop the film. (This is a process I don't know anything about, so I can't break down the actions yet.)

Now consider the actions of a digital camera:

I turn on the machine (or maybe I check the batteries and memory cards beforehand).
Assuming I am on autofocus, I half-press the shutter button and let the camera focus for me, more or less.
I probably perceive a focus through the viewfinder as I hear a beep indicating the focus is done.
I press the shutter button.
--- post-device ---
I take the memory card out at the end of a trip, or until it fills up.
I transfer the files.

My relationships with the image creation are very different in the two processes. The first requires more physical actions, in which each action — load, wind, set, focus, press, etc. — indicate intention. I am in touch with the medium, and I treat it more like a canvas on which I paint.

The second is more hands-off (quite literally in autofocus), and the process is more passive — let, perceive, hear and the actions are reduced to half-press and press. Perhaps unthinkingly, I have outsourced important image-making decisions. (See how the process of autofocus takes place. [1])

It's "getting" an image rather than "making" one.

Of course I would be unfair to only compare these two scenarios. After all, I can buy a disposable point-and-shoot analog camera whose process resembles the autofocus in an DSLR, and I can shoot in manual mode on a DSLR with actions similar to those in the first. The differentiation lies more in the mentality of treating the image:

Are we translating what we see, or are we pursuing a representation (that has probably been shaped by other processes)?

This is not an attempt to judge which process is better. As a creator of images, I am glad I am starting to articulate my relationship with devices and technical processes.

How to embody meditation in using the analog camera?

Proposal: 24/09

What are the physical interfaces on a camera? How can I make these interfaces more tactile the interactions become more tactile?

The viewfinder has been the connection between the photographer and the subject of the photograph.

- Is the viewfinder a division or bridge? Can we use a box camera — without a viewfinder, but with configurable shutter speed/aperture — to make the process of light manipulation more deliberate?

- The notion of being behind the camera

For mindful photography: perhaps the camera has a breath-controlled shutter???

Also, along with making images, consider the introduction to seeing even before any image is taken. Would be interesting to introduce pedagogical value to this camera: why do we make an image?

"Not long ago a science writer named Gabriel Popkin began leading walks to identify trees for city dwellers in Washington, DC, many who do work that takes place on screens. That’s right, tree blindness—and the broader concept of blindness to the natural world—might be the real danger screens pose to vision. In 2012, Popkin had learned about trees to cure this blindness in himself and went from a naif who could barely pick out an oak tree to an amateur arboriculturist who can distinguish dozens of trees. The biggest living beings in his city suddenly seemed like friends to him, with features he could recognize and relish.

Once he could see trees, they became objects of intense interest to him—more exhilarating than apps, if you can believe it. “Take a moment to watch and listen to a flowering redbud tree full of pollen-drunk bumblebees,” he has written. “I promise you won’t be bored.”[2]

Metaphors from other analog processes

Woody Allen writes in a typewriter everyday and edits the script with a pen.

Data Visualization from 1987

Etymology

Although painting with light sounds a bit trite, it happens to be the etymology of photography: from photos (ϕοτοσ), light, and graphos (γραοσ), writing, delineation, or painting.[3]

Terminologies

Focal Length

A longer focal length leads to higher magnification and a narrower angle of view; a shorter focal length leads to lower magnification and a wider angle of view.