Tonight I’d like to talk a little about filters as described by Jill Walker in Seeing Ourselves Through Technology. According to the author there are three types of filters: visual, technological and cultural. The first is a filter you can add to a photo like a vignette-ing or vintage faded color effect. The second is how not just pictures, but text and information are distributed and shared with you on social media sites. Each one is different, and facebook’s program has algorithms that keep what’s been receiving the most attention at the top of your feed. What’s interesting, is depending on the overall mood of what our peers and family post effects the what we say. So what’s trending really does stay a trend. Lastly, cultural filters are what people find acceptable and in what circumstances.
The outside images I would like to look at combine all three filters. It is the story of a military man named Damon Winter who took photos of his journey through combat and called his work journalism. This person ended up submitting his work to a major photography contest and won Pictures of the Year International. (Woah, what a cool thing! What an honor. Well… some people were not so enthused.) Some people got very upset because the cultural norm is that photojournalism entails the use of incredibly high quality cameras by professionals. Some upset people even called it the death of photojournalism as you can see by the title: “Hipstamatic and the Death of Photojournalism” which also refers to visual filters and apps. Damon Winter used Hipstamatic while underfire in the war in Afghanistan alongside the 2nd Platoon. His use of filters make the job look kind of dreamy and beautiful even though they are images of war. As the chapters we read mention, the overuse of filters can sometimes water down the impact of photos because they become somewhat glamorized. It is a weird sort of juxtaposition when you see his photos which a lot like movies, even though the overall message seems to be that war is not the answer.
there are a few articles but here’s the one I found first
hipstamatic and the war in Afghanistan
http://gizmodo.com/5756703/is-hipstamatic-killing-photojournalism