ABSTRACT
The winning image of the World Press Photo of the Year 2013 taken by John Stanmeyer (fig. CS4.1) is a beautifully symbolic image of the mobile phone in contemporary culture. The picture depicts African migrants attempting to get a cheaper mobile phone signal at the shore of Djibouti city. However, more than this, Stanmeyer’s picture also describes the new phenomenon of global connectivity. In 2014 it is predicted that 40 per cent of the world’s population is online, a statistic that suggests media theorist Marshall McLuhan’s idea of a ‘global village’ is becoming a reality (Internet World Stats, 2014). Both computers and mobile ‘smart’ phones now access the World Wide Web. A recent headline predicted that ‘Mobile internet devices will outnumber humans this year’ (Arthur, 2013). At the time of writing over six billion mobile phones are currently in use and half of these devices are purported to include in-built cameras. More than ever before, photography has become an accessible, democratic medium. In the developed world, many people have a camera with them at all times, as part of the functionality of their mobile phone. In an earlier case study on the digital camera (in Part 1, pp. 141-8) we described the development of the digital camera and introduced the idea of the mobile phone camera. In this case study the effect digital and mobile phone photography has on our culture is examined. We also consider the implications for both amateur and professional photographers. We will discuss three main areas: personal or snapshot photography by amateurs; photojournalism and the rise of the ‘citizen journalist’; and the influence of digital and mobile phone cultures in contemporary art practice.
A Tsunami of Images It is estimated that in 2014, one billion photographs were uploaded to the Internet each day (Blodget and Danova, 2014). Contemporary writing on the new realm of the networked image and mobile photography usually begins with mind-boggling statistics for the numbers of images uploaded globally to the Internet on a daily basis. When discussing several of the online platforms for photography below, we will mention statistics to give the reader a sense of the volume involved. However, these figures are often hard to grasp, bearing little relation to the individual and most often are superseded by more phenomenal statistics by the time the article has been published.
