ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to refer to concepts from the fields of biology such as life, phenotype and genotype, memory, neural networks, emergence, and camouflage in order to discuss the role of contemporary photography in the potential deconstruction and reconstruction of images in general, and of the human image, and therefore of human identity. It analyzes what lies beyond the new automated photographic mechanisms, which, even more than before, maintains its opacity by its metaphorical, performative, and ontological reference to biological processes. The computational photographic image has evolved to become an ‘in-depth image’ that consists of a two-dimensional bitmapped surface and additional metadata, referring to different aspects of the image. Restructuring the affinity to reality is enabled by the fragmentation of the photographic space into its basic components, and the identification of objects and subjects photographed in real space. The most significant change in the sophistication of the photographic apparatus has to do with its ability to interpret what it photographs.
