“In Our Own Image” Response

Advancement in photography technology has given photography more and more precise control to manipulate with the digital images, to not simply capture a moment in time, but to communicate something about the world that is distinct to every individual. Those skillful with this manipulation can take advantage of their enhanced capabilities to deceive the viewers and introducing them to the photographer’s own perception of the world. 

What Ritchin means by the “fluidity of the digital” is the drastically various forms and purposes digital images can have. One singular form of media, a photo, can be used to describe, persuade, entertain, or even artistically communicate a profound ideal. A photo can be taken by a journalistic photographer to capture a moment of time at an event they’re writing about. Or, a wildlife photographer capturing the vivid dots of a leopard. Or, even a NYUSH communications lab student taking pictures for their Diptych project to form a meaningful connections between photographs and invite viewers into their perception of the world.

Even though advancement in technology has allowed for greater distortion in the representation of reality for digital images, doesn’t take away any power they have to capture reality. I believe the more dimensions of media is added to a platform, their ability to capture reality becomes more accurate along with their ability to distort reality more drastically. For example, text is a one layered media platform. There isn’t much room for the distortion of reality because of the scarcity of information communicated. Whereas, in comparison, a photograph communicates more about reality (“a photo can say a thousand words”), but has greater ability to distort it and manipulate it as well. This continues with the addition of each layer of media: –> video –> virtual reality. Virtual reality is meant to accurately simulate real life so the amount of information conveyed through the experience is immense. At the same time, the experience can easily introduce users to an alternate reality.