Tenth International Conference on The Image

Abstract

Whilst it is true that analog and digital systems capture and hold a definite range of the electromagnetic spectrum in different ways and, for the most part, the outcome is comparable, there are inevitably useful characteristics of electronic capture that have already altered and extended or even shifted photography’s vernacular into new trajectories. Some of these changes are in terms of exposure, extended dynamic range, color fidelity, resolution and/or still images culled from HD video. Even so, it may be seen that the digital/analog divide over claims to veracity may close in short order as non-sequitur as digital photography proceeds at the least as a powerful parody of the analog or persists with arguments that the latent image exists electronically, resulting in a parodically similar camera obscura/lenticular apparatus and single point perspective, for the time being. Yet, as we attend to new media technology within its discrete, objective liminalities and possibilities, amongst these novel forms and paradigms, again and again, the question needs to be asked and shall be asked with increasing frequency: do we desire or need to continue to produce and consume still images?