Who is the practitioner (what is their name?) and when were they practicing?

The photograph was captured by German-born American photographer and photojournalist, Alfred Eisenstaedt. He became a professional photographer in 1929 for a range of publications in Germany before moving to the United States, where he became a staff photographer for Life Magazine. His photographs has been featured over 90 times across Life Magazine covers and over 2,500 photo stories published as content.

What is the title of the photo you have chosen to analyse?

This chosen photograph by Eisenstaedt is entitled ‘V-J Day in Times Square’. It is also known as V-Day or The Kiss.

With the photo you are examining when was it produced (date)?

August 14th 1945 during Victory over Japan Day in New York City’s Time Square landscape where U.S. Navy sailors and the general public were celebrating. The exact location was south of 45th Street where Broadway and Seventh Avenue converge.

How was the photo authored? 

The photograph was taken by a Leica III; a rangefinder camera created in 1933.

How was the photo published? 

Since Alfred Eisenstaedt was a staff photographer for Life Magazine, this particular photograph was published in the magazine amongst other celebration photographs that highlighted the essence of the day. It was apart of a larger twelve-page spread entitled “Victory Celebrations”. V-J Day in Times Square coveted a full page display. A limitation of having this photo published in a print publication is that it wouldn’t be as easily accessible to the mass audience. Only consumers of Life Magazine would be able to access said photograph. This is an example of a constraint most photographers had to face back in the 1940’s; previous to age of digitalisation and the Internet.

How was the photo distributed?

According to Joanna Zylinska, photography in its’ purest form is “perceived as a tool for capturing and archiving personal memories” (Zylinksa, 2016). As previously stated before, Eisenstaedt was on site to capture images for the magazine and only had one chance to capture this truly genuine and candid moment in the haze of frenzy and celebration. It happened so quickly, he didn’t get the chance to get the names of the couple. It was a form of “naturalistic documentation” as described by Liz Wells when explaining photography in the early stages of life. Previous to the introduction of Photoshop and similar editing suites alike, a photograph “rendered a complete and faithful image of its subjects.” (Wells, 2015)

Over the years, this photograph has been re-intepreted and redistributed for consumption. Examples of this include cameos and reimagined in:

• Bronze life size sculpture in 2005
• Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009)
• Watchmen (2009)
• Letters to  Juliet (2010)

References 

• Kuc, Kamila, and Joanna Zylinska, editors. Photomediations: A Reader. Open Humanities Press, 2016, http://www.openhumanitiespress.org/books/ titles/photomediations/
• Wells, Liz. Photography: A Critical Introduction. 5th ed., Routledge, New York, 2015. (pp. 9-27 Thinking about photography: debates, historically and now
• Eisenstaedt, Alfred. “V-J Day in Times Square”, Life Magazine, 1929

 

(07/08/2018)

In this week’s class, we explored the concept of new media and exactly why is it labelled new? I’ve never really thought about this critically, and through describing this particular notion, I find myself constantly shifting my explanation of it by calling it digital media, online media, modern media and so forth, but these are limitations I am subconsciously placing on the term.

To simply call it digital media would be a limited description as “to posit that the technology is the defining dimension of the media overlooks the ways in which users shape them.” (Siapera, 2012) and to address it purely as online media insinuates that the element of connectivity is the core purpose of media; “and sure, connectivity is a crucial element, but focusing on it overlooks the other ways in which we relate to the media.” (Siapera, 2012). Words such as ‘innovative’ and ‘dynamic’ are constantly used to describe new media. A concept so fluid can’t purely be labelled as digital media or online media exclusively. It doesn’t necessarily mean these terms are incorrect because new media definitely exists due to technological advances and fosters a sense of connectivity amongst consumers but new media is constantly evolving and advancing to tailor to the needs of its’ consumers. It can’t simply be described with one adverb; that would be too finite and rigid for such a multifaceted concept.

“The failure to specify what may qualify as a new medium, actually allow us to include attributes such as digital, online and others as well without limiting or prioritizing any single one.” – Eugenia Siapera

This idea of connectivity really stuck out to me this week. In ‘Understanding New Media’, Siapera outlines that “connectivity is certainly a crucial attribute of the media under study: the ability to link to distant, and sometimes in, others, one or many at the same time, has had wide consequences.” (Siapera, 2012)

I was able to greatly relate to that considering the majority of my relatives are all around the world. The ability to contact them with speed and ease whenever I want to, makes me feel as though they’re right here with me, despite them being thousands and thousands of kilometres away. Social media platforms and the new age of media have created the ability for all to foster a sense of connectivity to those who aren’t physically here. Hinton and Hjorth describe it to be “fleeting moments of connection that take place through flashes of light, across deep-sea cables and microwave pulses that bounce invisibly between orbiting satellites.” (Hinton and Hjorth, 2013)

In addition to this, they discuss the rise of Web 2.0 and what it really means for consumers. The rise of new media introduces an array of platforms for individuals to express themselves in any way they wanted to. The constant flow of evolution invites free speech on social media platforms, inclusive of Instagram. Anyone with a profile instantly becomes a creator.

“Where boundaries between personal and professional identities no longer apply.” – Hinton and Hjorth

“Underlying this concept is an array of questions about the changing nature of what is public and what is private, and where work ends and life begins, as social media infiltrates every facet of everyday life.” – Hinton and Hjorth

This idea of free speech and no limitations as to what can be said and presented to the public gets users drunk off freedom, BUT, as users with this infinite amount of power of freedom, are we really controlling or are we simply being controlled? The ability to post and say whatever on social media platforms means that we are also subjected to scrutiny and constant monitoring from our peers and Instagram itself? Hinton and Hjorth state that in participating in new media innovations such as Instagram, invites “hundreds or even thousands of potentially critical eyes watching every entry. A faulty fact will be challenged, a lie will be uncovered, plagiarism will be discovered. Cyberspace is a truth serum.” (Hinton and Hjorth, 2013)

Due to this, users of Instagram are now seeking privacy in the public sphere by having a secondary account on social media platforms that are private. These secondary accounts are usually where people are truly able to express themselves and post photos they actually want to. Which intrigues me because isn’t that the point of having a profile on Instagram, to begin with? This isn’t the case anymore as it’s considered to be the norm for someone to have a primary profile that is public to all; only presenting polished images and having a secondary account for close friends and family to view.

Take this as an example, Jade Tunchdoruk is a social media influencer with a following of 306K. Her profile consists of ‘candid’ shots of her and her friends on the foreground of gorgeous international destinations.

If you have a look in her bio, it provides a link to her secondary account entitled @therealjadetunchy and these are the difference in content and aesthetic:

These are one of the many social media influencers and content creators that possess a secondary account where they are able to showcase their genuine self.

References

• Siapera, E. (2012). Understanding new media. SAGE Publications Ltd.
• Hinton, S. and Hjorth, L. (2013). Understanding social media. London: SAGE Publications Ltd.

(02/08/18)

This week, I thought it would be a cool idea to discuss how the affordances of Instagram affect the way COMPANIES author, publish and distribute their advertising materials to the public. (I know right, trust the PR gal to twist the class prompt and place it under a business/marketing lens.)

When reading ‘New Media’ by Martin Lister, this particular quote stuck out to me.

“Desire for communication and the pressures of commercialisation have interacted to bring us Web 2.0 and its expression in the form of social networking sites.” (Lister, 2009)

It led me to reflect on how in this day and age, companies are all about cultivating relationships with their customers. There’s this idea that businesses want to stray away from the whole ‘one-way communication’ flow whereby, businesses acts as a sender, pushing out their products, advertisements and services out to their targeted audiences with no real intention to hear an immediate response or opinion; thus making them mindless receivers. This one sided form of interaction leaves little room for genuine relationships; making the interaction between the two incredibly limited and sterile.

Businesses want to be seen as human entities, less so than corporate robots. This can be shown through the array of millennial age brands that relate to their demographics through publishing relatable content on Instagram, whilst simultaneously promoting their products and services.

With the introduction of social media platforms such as Instagram, businesses are able to directly communicate with their consumers, thus fostering an intimate and personal experience when individuals choose to purchase from said companies.

Think about it this way- when a business publishes a photo onto their profile, it is usually with the intent that it will urge their consumers to respond in some way; whether it is simply liking the photo or commenting/tagging their friends- which will eventually lead to visibility of the brand and eventual purchase.

Here’s an example:

A photo like this is one of many examples of brands with an Instagram account trying to engage with their followers. Princess Polly is famous for treating their customers like friends. This is done so through the continual usage of pet names when addressing them. By hosting frequent competitions that involves participants to actively comment and engage with, it showcases the perfect example of Instagram harvesting a “symbiotic relationship with media culture which has offered audiences participatory opportunities.” (Lister, 2009)

“The capacity of networked communications to connect with a multiplicity of niche markets ensures that lower volume products can attain a sustainable margin of profitability” (Lister, 2009).

This quote relates to the case study of Princess Polly as a brand. They have no physical flagship store; all of their clothes are sold online and promoted through their Instagram account. In short, they would have monumentally failed prior to the digital age. The brand is known to publicly reply to comments on their photos, follow their customers back and like a photo where customers have tagged them in when wearing their clothes. Without social platforms like Instagram, brands like Princess Polly would never take flight as they would have zero visibility.

Conversely, the ability to tag brands in photos, mention brands in stories and utilise appropriate hashtags to gain their attention are all examples of how the increase in brand marketing on social media platforms alters the way we publish our photos and behave on social media platforms.

On another note, the second reading by Adrian Miles discusses the term ‘folksonomy’ which refers to the act of categorising posts by appropriately assigning them tags. This allows users to easily search others’ content on the basis of specific tags and discover new profiles (Miles, 2012). Switching it back to how this can alter the way individuals author, publish and distribute their Instagram posts would be tagging clothing brands in their photos to gain the attention of said brand to then respond.

All in all, Instagram provides a platform for not only consumers to share and communicate with one another, it spans beyond that and serves as a vital marketing tools most, if not all brands must embrace in order to deem themselves successful.

References

• Lister, Martin, et al. New Media: A Critical Introduction. Routledge, 2009.(Networks, Users and Economics 163-169/ Wiki Worlds and Web 2.0 204-209/The Long Tail 197-200/User-generated content, we are all users now 221-232)
• Miles, Adrian. Soft Cinematic Hypertext (Other Literacies). RMIT University, 2012. (Network Literacy: The New Path to Knowledge 201-208)