Photography, Video, and Society: Culture and Change | ShotVoice

The Unique Photographic Instant in Modern Photography

The ShotVoice Team — Thu, 20 Aug 2026 13:23:50 +0000

Contrary to the posed photography which requires time or a preliminary setting, the photography which captures the moment “on the fly” is a process which is always expressed in the immediacy. It is the one that captures a situation in a fragment of time, a truth of the appearance. And its uniqueness and authenticity will always be intrinsically linked to it, despite the fact that it can later be retouched, reframed through the game of applications present in today’s digital publishing.

Catching Instants “On the Fly”

This is also a term that best expresses the capture of this singular time.

To seize that which will not be reproduced any more, a kind of testimony “out of time,” a furtive imprint, the “decisive moment” of Cartier Bresson.
The most important thing is to really “harpoon” this moment, and for the amateur, it doesn’t matter what the photographic quality is: sharpness, framing, exposure or quality of the vanishing point; only the capture of a key element counts and becomes the striking affirmation of a point of view—their own.

A Photo = A Point of View?

The appreciation of the uniqueness and originality of the photograph is reinforced by

the fact that it comes from a look, that of a single person. An intimate transposition of a portrait, a landscape or a scene, just like the art students with their easels lined up, sketching their own unique approach to the same model.
At the end of the posing session: as many different drawings as distinct perspectives. The idea of an original and non-replicable photo is thus making its way.

The Inherently Personal Intention of a Shot?

If professional photographers have precise imperatives and consider the camera as a working tool, one can ask the question for amateurs. What motivates the capture of images, to carry with us a sometimes very heavy piece of equipment to photograph a children’s tea party, the ascent of a summit between friends or our spouse sitting in a tea house at the other end of the world?

What do these pictures tell us about ourselves?

Garry Winogrand (1928-1984), an experimental photographer, evoked his own look with a sense of humor when he said: “This is what the world looks like when photographed.”

Don’t we also have a desire to “freeze,” to inscribe ourselves at all costs in the society in which we work, and to display it in order to prove to others that we fully participate in the process?

Our photos suddenly become irrefutable testimonies—and may even become milestones that will allow us to tell and transmit our own personal story.

Photography: An Emotional Dimension of Our Lives?

Let’s notice that the photos taken in the friendly and family spheres are very often the guarantee of joyful moments, reunions or exploits.

The image offers us a real rereading of our past and present life, of our outstanding moments. It inevitably tints our vision, and even our memories themselves. A truly transitional object, the image also allows us to immediately reconnect with the emotion, then impregnated in the photographed moment.

A vector of feelings, photography carries these ingredients–invisible to the naked eye–in its DNA..

Photography: A True Ariadne's Thread

It is the sum of all these “points of view” that will, in the end, relate, trace and build the fabric of our life. The one we evoke, the one we transmit.

These images will constitute the thread between generations, between ancestors and descendants. Whether they are thrown loose in a shoebox, carefully labeled in albums or stored on our hard drives, photography holds a formidable and even essential place in each family for the understanding of an era and the destinies crossed.

Satellite Declinations

The image materializes happiness and provokes sharing. The tools of photographic editing today allow the photo to travel both in time and in quality: with the possibility of “refreshing” the original photo, of recoloring it, of reframing it, of offering it greater sharpness thanks to dedicated software.

This moment of grace captured on the fly at the origin, this unique photographic “matrix” can be altered at will and according to the dreams of each. And even if the image is manipulated, modified in its format, exported in another file or compressed, it will always come from this unique “essential and piercing glance” that Cartier Bresson evokes, the “source” in a way, of all these variations, to which it will always be possible to return at any time.

Symbolism of the Instant

Photography has this amazing power to freeze a fraction of a second for eternity. What the eye could not see, photography gives us the power to witness. Very intimate introspection of a scene. Out of time, which sometimes allows a fascinating deciphering of what is invisible to the naked eye. A mystery that does not always offer a resolution, like Antonin Artaud’s unfathomable, intense look that still bemuses us today. The image can enlighten or cause us to reflect.

"In my opinion, you cannot say that you have seen something if you have not taken a photograph."

Émile Zola

The "I Was There" Photo

“One can only do things well by oneself, one can only see things well when one photographs them oneself.”

Contrary to the reproductions proposed in the trade, your photograph has exactly the desired framing and is intended to underline a key moment of your life as you see it. It seems, therefore, that renouncing the purchase of a postcard in a tourist place and opting for your own interpretation, even though imperfect, is always more valuable in our eyes because it testifies of our presence.

One could evoke a strategy of adjusting oneself to the world and not the other way around: photographing the Leaning Tower of Pisa with one’s partner in the foreground or taking a family selfie at the foot of the Egyptian pyramids makes these exceptional monuments, known the world over, more “human,” less “external” and more accessible. They are present in the photograph, but not in a major way. Through our eyes, these mythical places invite themselves into our lives, and not the other way around.

The “I was there” testifies, once again, of its capital importance when this image will be shared, sent and then described to the following generations with all its cohort of feelings mentioned above.

To the aesthetics of a photograph, one sometimes prefers a clumsy photo over a perfect one.. the one that restores a personal, intimate time, and which shapes our future memories of that particular moment.

The Digital Photo: Instant Revelation of Our Memory

The tools offered by digital photography today serve our reflection. The exceptional amount of photo storage in an iPhone, tablet or computer allows us, in only a few clicks, to go back in time. Day…month…year… everything unfolds before our eyes and revives our memory with forgotten details. This time travel at your fingertips is simply breathtaking, because this super digital memory completes, rectifies and revives our own in an infallible way.

The photographic moments throughout our lives are like small white pebbles on the road. They constitute our virtual data bank of our life.

Photos Credits: Loli Galina, Joris Delacour, Laura Ockel, Cartier Bresson.

The post The Unique Photographic Instant in Modern Photography appeared first on ShotVoice.

AI and Photography: Is the Medium at Risk of Disappearing?

The ShotVoice Team — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 13:19:16 +0000

According to the classical definition, artificial intelligence, known as AI, is a process of imitating human intelligence that relies on the creation and application of algorithms executed within a dynamic computer environment. Its goal is to enable computers to think and act like human beings.

Its source? The thousands, millions, billions of pieces of information shared and available on the internet. Prose texts, slang, Alexandrine verses, dialects, analyses, audits, images of landscapes, portraits, still lifes, illustrations with brushes, chalk, spray paint… it’s an XXL inventory à la Prévert that is collected and made available with just a click. This digital deluge quenches our thirst, facilitates our most refined searches, replaces us, but is it really an improved version of ourselves?

Mid Journey, Dall-E, ChatGPT

The arrival of image generators is also shaking up the codes of traditional photography. In fact, the nuance is crucial: we use the term ‘image’ rather than ‘photography,’ a distinction that is not so insignificant.

The stars of these virtual assistants include Mid Journey, released in July 2022, which, for $10 per month, generates illustrations based on simple text requests. Its latest version gained attention by publishing an image of the Pope dressed in a pristine puffer jacket. The Instagram account of a certain Jos Avery, who has shared beautiful black and white melancholic portraits, is also signed by Mid Journey. Then there’s Dall-E, followed by Dall-2 and Dall-3, each version becoming increasingly sophisticated and better at responding to nuanced requests. ChatGPT in version 4, which can also create at will. These image analysis software tools resonate with our imagination so spectacularly that some images composed by AI have even received prestigious photography awards.

An Award That Sparks Unease... Or Not

The image that won the ‘creative category’ prize from the World Photography Organization during the Sony World Photography Awards was, in fact, entirely created by AI following the precise instructions of the photographer Boris Eldagsen.

The only drawback to the celebrations is that this image was never captured by a photographic device. It is, therefore, pure fiction, composed of a blend of faces collected from the vast global database, reflecting the requested era and illuminated in the style of black and white photos taken in the 1940s.

The artist intentionally presented this creation to better denounce the fact that AI is not art, and certainly not photography. ‘These images were imagined,’ he explains, ‘by language and re-edited between 20 and 40 times through AI-powered image generators. I entered this competition with this fake image to see if competitions are willing to welcome AI-assisted works. They are not,’ he continues.

Boris Eldagsen, of course, declined the prize. His intention was to provoke a necessary reflection on photography because, for him, this creation does not in any way constitute art, nor does it align with his own perception, let alone photography. It was an engaging debate with significant implications, but the organizers dismissed it by playing the denial card. The image was purely and simply erased from the ceremony.

Another example is the Digidirect competition, organized by a major Australian photography retailer. The winning photograph was announced on their Instagram account.

Behind the pseudonym Jane Eykes is actually a company specializing in AI based in Sydney: Absolutely Ai. The photographer’s name is a nod to the 15th century artist, creator of the most stolen painting in history! The company revealed the deception but unlike the previous price, Digidirect maintained and validated its choice.
The authors of the imposture explain:

“We did this to prove that we are at a turning point with artificially intelligent technology and which poses the following question: Could an image generated by AI not only go unnoticed ? Our image never existed. Neither this particular beach nor this stretch of ocean. It’s just made up of an infinite amount of pixels, taken from infinite photographs that have been posted online over the years by anyone and everyone.”

A Postulate: Reality No Longer Has a Place in Photography

Even though we feel like there’s no turning back, that the genie has definitively escaped from the bottle, and that it still frightens us a bit, in reality, all of this is the logical continuation of all the little adjustments to reality that we’ve all practiced in the darkroom. First, by using masks for developing our analog photos or later by making use of all the image-specific applications that flooded the market for digital photography.

Photoshop, Lightroom, Luminar Neo, Topaz Labs, and others took over in the digital realm, offering us unparalleled quality and astonishing execution speed. Let’s be honest, we were already amateur sorcerers before the advent of Artificial Intelligence!

Photography as a representation of reality or the world? The image in the press is no longer inherently proof, and with AI, we’ve taken it to the next level. This questioning is abruptly swept aside by its use.

Who will be impacted on the front lines? Certainly a portion of professional photography, such as war reporters, documentarians, those witnesses of history who gauge the world to inform us. We will need to sharpen our eyes for falsifications because AI continues to enrich itself and align with reality as closely as possible. And even if the deception is exposed, unfortunately, deepfakes will have already circled the globe.

AI can also make mistakes in its interpretation. Recently, when artificial intelligence was called upon to search for photos of schools in suburban and French cities, the result was disastrous. By relying on the quantity of images taken in the suburbs recently, particularly during the uprisings in May 2023, AI thus provides a false representation of reality. As for the second request, it’s worth noting that the schools in cities resemble more of a setting from Mary Poppins’ universe than our educational institutions.

This wave called Artificial Intelligence (which some might be tempted to label as malevolent) indeed brings about a radical change.

Fur Affinity, a rebellious community, tries to reverse the process like salmon swimming against the current of the river. However, it seems that issuing warnings and establishing ethical guidelines would be more productive than directly battling against this revolutionary and inevitable advancement, as it is within everyone’s reach.

Creative Photography: The Big Winner in This Revolution?

Creativity is always based on what nourishes us. Reading, learning, artistic exhibitions (and not just photographic), travel, concerts or the music we listen to every day, exchanges, philosophy, experiences, … Picasso, Soulages, Ucello , Margaret Cameron, Giacometti, Leonardo da Vinci, Bach or Mozart, all of them too, were touched by works existing at their time and they challenge our imagination in the same way.

Creative inspiration has therefore always relied on that of others. What does AI do today? Each image designed by artificial intelligence relies on millions, billions of elements “borrowed” from as many designers to create something new and quite stunning.

The 'Post-Photography'

This term, coined by American photographer blogger Andy Adams (FlakPhoto Digest), refers to artistic practices that challenge the traditional definition of photography by combining it with other media.

Indeed, today, the creative eye, accompanied by new techniques, does the job. Artists employ and blend various processes, including photography, so it is no longer the sole instrument of creation. It becomes a tool, just like a canvas for painting or musical notes for composing music. Combined with other instruments like drawing or painting, photography offers a whole new richness of expression that delights artists today. Some are already in a middle ground as they incorporate 3D elements or painting into their photos.

Michel Redon, a visual artist photographer, is already juggling these innovations, which he considers to be true instruments in the service of his creativity.

The Birth of “Promptography”

Let’s go back to Boris Eldagsen, who has decided to name ‘promptographies’ these visual works conceived by an artist in collaboration with AI. A new type of imagery that will undoubtedly multiply in the years to come.

Sensing the business potential, Fabrice Greco, who owns a creative studio in Paris, is already offering a collection of these unique works. The visuals are printed on high-definition photographic paper, providing exceptional quality.

We are witnessing the emergence of an entirely new form of imagery. Today, those who master photography, on the other hand, no longer know how to draw like a painter. Will those who create images always need to have real landscapes in front of them or someone to create a portrait? The words of the French philosopher Edgar Morin come to mind and echo his concern about the fading of complex thinking: ‘I fear superficial intelligence as much as artificial intelligence.’

What are your thoughts on this?

Acknowledgments: Laurent Breillat (Apprendre la photo), Robin Lamorlette (Clubic), Stéphane Lecalme (Developpez.com), Michel Redon.

The post AI and Photography: Is the Medium at Risk of Disappearing? appeared first on ShotVoice.

The Culture of Sharing Images and Emotional Transmission

The ShotVoice Team — Mon, 29 Dec 2025 15:39:03 +0000

The very first desire to share an image is undoubtedly that of transmitting the feelings it arouses while looking at it.

If words are limited by our vocabulary, photography can take over because it allows us to break down these boundaries and go beyond our reason to touch our being and unfold sensations that our own words sometimes cannot reach. The emergence of social networks in recent years has provided us with extraordinary territories not only to circulate ideas and promote exchanges, but also to share photos: aesthetic or disturbing, intimate or news, iconic or symbolic. When we decide to post a photo on our “wall,” it is a very significant act because it says a lot about ourselves.

The Social Network: XXL Field of Expression for the Image

“The digital revolution,” explains André Gunthert, historian of the image, “will first of all make the image explode in terms of its production and mobility. The fact of seeing images, making images, discussing them, sending them, putting them up for debate, has produced in a very short time, since 2010-2011, a new visual skill that has come to replace a non-existent education in the image.”

At one time, the image specialists had expert skills – but not the general public, who remained on the outside and were ultimately just consumers of visual production. This is no longer the case today. Internet users have a sharp eye for photography, and have access to ultra-high performance software that eliminates the need for a laboratory, which was once accessible only to image professionals.

What Causes People to Share?

Today, photography enthusiasts collect images, often discovered on networks. A kind of personal library is established. And as in the library of any honest man, the choice of the readings reveals the intimate aspirations, tastes and universes which enchant its owner.

Key Values of Sharing

This cabinet of visual curiosities summons emotions and lists the territories that animate us: beauty, tenderness, poetry, the wow effect, memories, aspirations, the surges of the world or the bright side of life…. All this constitutes the foundation of this intimate catalogue, perhaps even an identity–a kind of modest and intellectual selfie, that of our inner being.

Examples of shared images

Game or Personal Challenge? The Playful Variations of Sharing

Another example is the photographic ritornello game on network walls. A digital acquaintance invites you to publish a photo every day for a week or every Sunday for a month. The selection, once again, reflects your state of mind, your culture, your interests and even your positions. The major ingredient of this game is certainly the will to transmit. To share with others what exactly animates us this particular day. The photo is an indicator of a moment T of oneself.

From Viewfinder to Viewfinder? The Field of Exchange Is Not Only Epistolary

Another device existing on digital platforms, the image is a dialogue without words between photographers who exchange an image every day. A kind of diary with four hands and two smartphones. Here again, photography transcribes information beyond words. This daily relationship, not epistolary, draws the striking profile of a friendship, the very foundation of the sharing between two people, nourished by the same passion.

Sharing Without Signature: A Certain Idea of Reappropriation?

Most of the time the signature of the person who conceived the picture is not mentioned because, explains André Gunthert, “…the images, once understood, are the object of reappropriations, of detour.” These images are subject to a new conversation, the one we have chosen. Through the act of posting the image at this moment, one wishes to say something to others, and there, the copyright does not matter. It is not so much the photographic work that is appreciated but what it conveys as an idea or underlines as a personal statement.

Other Territories of Sharing

What motivates the sending of a more disturbing image, one that takes a step aside? Is it to invite us to a deeper reflection? Depending on the subject and the intensity, the image will provoke a reaction, shake us up, take us out of our comfort zone; it intends to make us react. One thinks of Joel Peter Witkin‘s plastic images, elaborated with real human bodies, Eugene Richards‘ documentary photography on drug addiction in the United States or Lee Jeffries‘ work on the homeless.

To widen one’s field of vision, to apprehend the world in its happy or sordid dimensions – such are the implicit commands of these shares. Here, photography bears witness or captures a reality unknown to us, but once viewed it becomes indelibly inscribed in our visual culture, just like reading the pages of Primo Levi.

But hurry up, because this Duck Face is about to be dethroned by the Sparrow Face, the latest little revolution from Japan, which consists of opening your eyes wide and your mouth like a chick waiting for a meal, all accompanied by a V for victory.

Sharing Outside the Comfort Zone: Possible or Sometimes Impossible?

Sometimes a disturbing photo even transcends information and becomes an icon of a drama. How can we not remember the photo of Nilufar Demir that has circulated so much on social networks and traditional media, that of the little Aylan Kurdi washed up on a European beach, a powerful image that people found difficult–yet were compelled–to share?

Image Symbol: The Photograph That Escapes Its Author?

The image can also escape from the photographer himself, come to strike the collective conscience and challenge anyone who looks at it. Going beyond the photo, it becomes a symbol. It underlines pain, empathy and a whole range of feelings. It will be shared and reshared, and digital platforms contribute greatly to the multiplication of these exceptional photos, creating a circulation that quickly becomes exponential.

These images distributed on social networks do not need any caption or comment. “The strength of these photographs alone symbolizes the failure that we are experiencing,” comments Virginie Spies, Le Nouvel Obs.

Become Your Own Editor

The sharing of such symbolic images circulates meaning, and on the part of users it is a way of appropriating media space, of reclaiming it, of even envisaging a kind of editorial work in real time, as André Gunthert points out. Social networks have clearly allowed this field of application. Today, faced with the mistrust of traditional media, internet users, with the skills they have acquired in terms of images, have learned that they could take over this space and make it their own.

Private or Public Library?

This visual circulation is only possible when it is applied from user to user, from friend to friend, but it cannot be extended to the public field because the question of copyright legitimately comes to the fore.

The Power of Emotion: A Major Vector of Sharing?

At the end of these different reflections about sharing – its territory of expression, the idea of building a meaningful visual library, the different modes of transmission, whether in the form of an invitation or a conversation – it would be interesting to ask the question, “Why?” Why this desire to connect to the other or to others through an image often proposed without words or sentences? Wouldn’t the common denominator simply be emotion? The photos that arouse this feeling are the most diffused, and if we look closely, we notice that this emotion must be more powerful and must always surpass us for the sharing to take place. This is probably the real reason for sharing.

What About You?

And you, what is your culture of sharing images and photos?

What do you want to tell or transmit when you decide to share an image?
Who do you want to share it with first?
Will your choices also be governed by emotion?

Photo Credits: Markus Winkler, DR , Eugène Richards , Lee Jeffries , Sergey Ponomarev and Corentin Fohlen.

The post The Culture of Sharing Images and Emotional Transmission appeared first on ShotVoice.

Black Friday 2025 Deals for Photographers and Videographers

The ShotVoice Team — Thu, 20 Nov 2025 12:50:05 +0000

UPDATED DAILY

Black Friday is back — and so are the best deals for photographers, videographers, and visual creators.

This year’s selection goes beyond discounts, featuring tools and resources that truly help you create, organize, and share your work more efficiently. Whether you’re managing hours of footage, refining your edits, or growing your brand, you’ll find deals that make your creative life easier.

From AI-powered software to smart storage, essential gear, and learning platforms, this guide gathers everything you need to elevate your craft this Black Friday 2025.

Pick a category and see all available offers:

Essential Black Friday Starter Pack for Emerging Creators

Starting your creative journey means making the right choices from the start — the right gear, the right software, and the right way to protect your work.

Begin by selecting your equipment and accessories from trusted marketplaces like MPB or Adorama, where you’ll find a wide range of affordable, high-quality cameras, lenses, and tools to match your creative goals.
Next, choose the editing software that fits your workflow — whether it’s Adobe Lightroom, Luminar Neo, or Capture One for AI-assisted photo editing, or DaVinci Resolve and Premiere Pro for professional video production.
From the very beginning, organize everything with a Digital Asset Manager (DAM) like Peakto, which centralizes your photos and videos and uses AI to help you search, annotate, and stay focused on creating instead of sorting files.
Finally, make sure your art is safely stored. Use external drives or a NAS for local storage, and complete your setup with a cloud backup solution like Backblaze or Synology Drive, so your data stays secure no matter what happens.

Build your foundation wisely — and let technology simplify your creative life.

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The post Black Friday 2025 Deals for Photographers and Videographers appeared first on ShotVoice.

Impact of Technology on Environment: Be More Responsible

The ShotVoice Team — Fri, 26 Sep 2025 10:28:38 +0000

Smartphones, computers, cameras, internet networks, wiring…. We all own and use digital technology. However, we don’t really know the impact of digital use on the climate. No one can be perfect when it comes to ecology and respect for the environment, but we aim to raise awareness of many environmental values in our community. So, if you’re worried about your impact on the climate, here’s an article that will tell you a bit more about the issues and what you can do to help.

Digital Has a Bigger Impact Than Aviation

Are you using digital technology more and more? You should know that you would pollute less by making a round trip to your dream destination than by using so many digital devices. In fact, digital technology produces 3.5% of the world’s greenhouse gases, whereas air traffic only generates 2%.

This production of greenhouse gases is not noticeable and not necessarily visible to the naked eye. However, with the massive production and use of digital devices, we are polluting far more than we could ever imagine.

Manufacturing: The Most Damaging Stage

As with electric cars, hardware manufacturing makes up 75% of the digital carbon footprint. The manufacture of televisions, computers, smartphones, etc., causes a lot of pollution.

The manufacture of this digital ecosystem requires the import of all kinds of raw materials, and like any industrial product, a device needs a lot of materials for its design. In a few figures, digital technology is:

1,322 lb (600 kg) of raw materials mobilized for a 4.4 lb (2kg) laptop. 1,102 lb (500 kg) for an Internet box. It is also 251 lb (114kg) of CO2 out of the 344 lb (156kg) of CO2 emitted during its life cycle.*
70 different materials, including 50 metals (notably rare metals), needed to manufacture a smartphone. This trend is becoming more pronounced as mobile phones only contained around 20 metals barely ten years ago…
A 5 oz (150 gram) smartphone that required almost 33 lb (15 kilos) of raw materials to manufacture.

With the depletion of natural resources such as wood, water, and precious minerals at an unprecedented rate and with the deplorable working conditions in the mines (from which the famous rare metals are extracted), it is easy to see that the impact of digital technology on the environment is substantial. These are disquieting results for an industry that is supposed to be future-oriented in a current context where climate issues are at the center of concerns.

Overconsumption of Digital Technology at the Root of This Climate Impact

Users want more storage, 5G, and better picture quality…and this results in much more frequent equipment upgrades, usually at regularly prescribed intervals, than 10 years ago. We are constantly looking for more innovative products that will satisfy us, no matter what the cost or the impact on the environment and climate.

For most digital products, early obsolescence is still the general rule, despite governmental legislations in many countries against its continued practice. Buying refurbished products, settling for reconditioned or used, can be a huge money saver for consumers and helps the planet–especially when you consider that digital waste in 2021 was 57 million tons, and the amount continues to increase year after year. Sadly, only 17% of this waste is recycled.

Furthermore, the manufacturing of digital devices is currently centralized in Asia. This means that devices from Asia have to be distributed worldwide, and this multi-channel distribution (land, sea, and air) also has an impact on global warming. In fact, from design to distribution, our digital devices are transported around the world, which causes additional pollution. A smartphone, for example, travels on average 4 times around the world before its manufacture is complete.

What Is the Impact of Centralizing Data in Servers?

Once your computer, your camera, or your smartphone has arrived in your hands, you inevitably store data in data centers, which also consume and pollute enormously. A data center is a huge room made up of many servers that collect data such as emails, photos, music, videos, etc., from users all over the world.. To store and analyze all this data, data centers obviously need a huge amount of electricity.

These particular premises can be found all over the world, too often in countries that get their electricity from coal, like China, and not from nuclear power like France. Data centers in China take 2.35% of all electricity used, a number that is far too large. There are currently 4,500 data centers spread across 122 countries, all of which use a lot of electricity and, therefore, all of which emit significant levels of CO2.

With 10 billion emails sent per hour worldwide, this is equivalent to 50 gigawatts, or the hourly electricity production of 15 nuclear power plants!

Another huge energy user are websites, which are very popular and very numerous. The creation of a website requires the use of several servers, dependent on a single network. Each website creation generates pollution, especially when the website in question belongs to a large company such as Amazon or Netflix. Many of these huge servers, because of their location, rely on electricity powered by fossil fuels rather than renewable energy. It is important to know that streaming sites are the most polluting.

Video streaming worldwide emits in one year the equivalent of the CO2 emissions of a country like Spain. It should be noted that each time a better resolution is introduced, the size of the videos increases, and with the appearance of 8K, the number of data centers will also increase. Streaming is becoming more and more entertaining with the appearance of streaming platforms such as Twitch and YouNow, which complement energy-hungry platforms such as Netflix or Disney+.

However, it is possible to use green web hosting, which relies on the use of renewable energy–such as solar or wind power–on these servers. Apple, Google, and Facebook have committed to using renewable energy for their data centers, but unfortunately, this goal is very difficult to achieve at the moment.

Energy-Intensive Practices: The Case of Cryptocurrencies

For a few years now, the emergence of cryptocurrencies has been in full swing, but here, too, the carbon footprint is far from neutral. To collect cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin or Ethereum, you can either buy them at their current price or mine them. Mining refers to the process of earning cryptocurrencies by solving complex cryptographic equations using the computing power of computers.

This operation is increasingly questioned, as it allows anyone interested enough to figure it out to get rich, but mining is actually very energy-intensive and therefore generates CO2 emissions as a result. 50% to 80% of the mining is done in China, with highly carbonated electricity.

To put a figure on it, the electricity consumption of all the computers dedicated to mining amounts to 110 TWh/year (terawatt-hour/year) for Bitcoin or 41 TWh/year for Ethereum. The mining of all Bitcoins creates 52 million tons of CO2, consumes 110 TWh of electricity, and generates 10,000 tons of electronic waste. Per bitcoin, that’s 542 kg of CO2, 1142 kWh, and 107 g of e-waste. This massive consumption of electricity and a large amount of e-waste therefore also has a massive impact on the climate.

Alarming Predictions on Digital Use

We are hearing and seeing more and more connected objects coming onto the market, all of them bringing more and more interesting innovations. Personally, I have heard about connected barbecues and vegetable gardens. And I have seen a lot of connected objects on the market, such as scales, toothbrushes, and light bulbs that can be controlled by mobile applications. A connected object is a device that has an electronic part that allows it to send data collected on the internet, thus enabling it to be controlled via the internet.

In 2022, there are more than 16 billion connected objects on the planet, and we should reach, according to studies, more than 50 billion connected objects by 2030. This increase of more than 300% is the result of over-consumption, and the impact this will have on the climate will be a certain disaster.

With the IPCC report of 2022 more than alarming, continuing to deny the impact we are having on the climate is a mistake that will be crippling in the long term. Our massive use of digital technology does not correlate with current climate issues, either.

Some Tips on How to Become More Environmentally and Climate Responsible

So, right now, whether it’s through the manufacture or use of our digital tools, all these actions have an impact on the climate and our environment.

If you want to make a difference, consider keeping your devices as long as possible, and buying fewer or refurbished ones. You will then be tackling 75% of your digital impact.

But you can do little things to impact your online footprint, too. By consistently deleting your emails, your duplicate photos or videos, and your files, you can affect 0.0005% of your technology consumption. This may not sound like much, but if every person across the globe does it, it can add up to a large contribution.

Whether on a large or small scale, every step against the impact of digital technology on the climate environment is worth taking.

At CYME, we want to help you become more eco-responsible in the management of your photos, and we will always seek to be as environmentally friendly as possible.

Credit images: Chris Le Boutillier, Celestine Ngulube, Dion Beetson, Daniel Born, Naja Bertolt Jensen, Faye Cornish.

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Photography NFTs and the Future of Digital Ownership

The ShotVoice Team — Thu, 25 Sep 2025 14:45:19 +0000

Photography has long been a medium that has relied on physical prints and exhibitions to showcase and sell artwork. However, with the rise of digital media, photographers are now exploring new ways to sell and exhibit their work, and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are emerging as a potentially transformative technology. In this article, we will explore the potential of NFTs for photographers, how they work, and the copyrighting aspects to consider.

What Are NFTs?

NFTs are unique digital assets that are verified on a blockchain, a decentralized and secure digital ledger. This means that NFTs can be bought, sold, and traded like any other physical asset, but they exist entirely in the digital realm.

One of the main benefits of NFTs is that they can represent ownership of unique digital assets, such as art, music, and photography. This allows photographers to sell their work as digital collectibles, rather than physical prints or exhibitions.

How Do NFTs Work?

NFTs are created using smart contracts, which are self-executing contracts with the terms of the agreement between buyer and seller being directly written into lines of code. When an NFT is created, the smart contract specifies the details of the asset, including its ownership, provenance, and any other relevant information.

Once an NFT is created, it is stored on the blockchain and can be bought, sold, and traded like any other asset. The ownership of an NFT is recorded on the blockchain, and the smart contract ensures that the terms of the sale are followed.

There are several platforms and startups that allow artists and photographers to benefit from NFTs. Some popular platforms include Nifty Gateway, OpenSea, and SuperRare. Startups such as ArtByte, Artax, and ArtVenture are also providing new and innovative ways for artists and photographers to monetize their work through NFTs.

What Are the Benefits of NFTs for Photographers?

There are several potential benefits of NFTs for photographers:

Ownership: NFTs allow photographers to sell their work as digital collectibles, rather than physical prints or exhibitions. This means that they can retain ownership of their work and control how it is exhibited and sold.
Royalties: NFTs can be set up to pay ongoing royalties to the artist, providing a new revenue stream for photographers.
Reach: NFTs can be bought and sold globally, allowing photographers to reach a wider audience and potentially sell their work to collectors anywhere in the world.
Authenticity: NFTs provide a way for photographers to prove the authenticity of their work, as the ownership and provenance of the asset is recorded on the blockchain.
Longevity: Digital assets can be preserved indefinitely, ensuring that a photographer’s work will be accessible for generations to come.

Examples of Successful NFT Sales by Photographers

In recent years, the world of photography has undergone a significant shift with the emergence of NFTs.

Photographers are now able to monetize their work in a new way by selling unique digital assets on blockchain platforms. These assets can include anything from a single photograph to a series of images, and can even include videos and 3D art.

Some notable examples of photographers using NFTs include Kevin Abosch, who sold a photograph of a potato for over $1 million, and Mike Winkelmann, also known as Beeple, who sold a digital artwork for a record-breaking $69 million at Christie’s auction house. Other photographers, such as Trevor Jones (Trevor Jones, sold a collection of his photographs as NFTs for a total of $100,000 ) and Mads Madsen, are also utilizing NFTs to sell their work and build a new revenue stream.

Andreas Gursky, whose photograph “Rhein II” sold for over $4.3 million as an NFT is another impressive example.

These examples demonstrate the potential of NFTs to revolutionize the photography industry by giving photographers more control over the distribution and ownership of their work. As the use of NFTs continues to grow, it will be interesting to see how they will impact the way photographers create, share and sell their art.

Copyrighting Aspects to Consider

One of the key issues to consider when using NFTs to sell photography is copyright. Photographers should ensure that they own the copyright to the images they are selling as NFTs, or have permission from the copyright holder to do so.

It is also important to consider the terms of use for the images. For example, the buyer of an NFT may not have the right to reproduce the image or use it for commercial purposes. These terms should be clearly stated in the smart contract for the NFT.

In addition to copyright, photographers should also consider other legal issues, such as trademark and privacy. For example, if an image contains the likeness of a recognizable person, the photographer should obtain their consent before selling the image as an NFT.

Other Precaution to Have in Mind

In addition to registering copyright, Photographers using NFTs can take several precautions to avoid infringement and issues.

If a photographer is using someone else’s work or content, they should obtain permission from the copyright owner before including it in their NFT. It’s best for artists to use original content that they have created themselves. This eliminates the risk of infringing on someone else’s rights. Keep records of their original work and any licenses or permissions photographers obtain for use of other people’s content can help to prove ownership and avoid disputes.

Photographers can also use watermarks to protect their work and prevent others from using it without permission. And they should consider seeking legal advice if they are unsure about the legality of using a specific piece of content or if they have concerns about infringement or copyright issues. Finally, it’s important to consider using a reputable NFT platform that has strong anti-counterfeiting measures in place.

Conclusion

NFTs are emerging as a potentially transformative technology for photographers, providing a new way to sell and exhibit their work. While there are several benefits to using NFTs, it is important for photographers to carefully consider the copyrighting and legal aspects of selling their work as digital collectibles.

Photos Credits: Rostislav Uzunov, Nathan Watson, Trevor Jones, Andreas Gursky, Arthur Mazi.

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Smile in Photos: Why We Started Smiling for the Camera

The ShotVoice Team — Thu, 25 Sep 2025 13:15:37 +0000

How did the smile become essential in photography? Smiling, as we know, is a facial expression that highlights a happy state of mind, a benevolent opening to the world on our part. It is intended to create a bond, by attracting a real sympathy, to abolish distances and establish a climate of trust by naturally provoking empathy. But there are all kinds of smiles: silly ones, dazzling and bright ones, cornered ones, nervous ones, snide ones, mysterious ones, mystical ones, manipulative and deceitful ones, marketing ones, warm ones, implicit and ambiguous ones…any way, the smile is actually able to show a whole range of emotions, and rather contradictory ones at that.

So why is the smile the most used expression when we pose in front of a camera or a selfie? Until the 1920s, we didn’t smile in photographs. Why did we start to smile at the camera? Here’s a short story about a parade of expression that is much more complex than it seems.

The Art of Smiling

With the exception of the angel’s very sweet smile at the Cathedral of Reims, which dates from 1240, a smile in art was seldom seen during the previous centuries. Its presence in painting or sculpture was even considered scandalous because it transgressed social conventions. British historian Colin Jones explains that it was fashionable to control one’s body and emotions. Art is only a reflection of this. Of course, poor dental hygiene also encouraged portraits with tightly closed mouths because 30 years old was often synonymous with unsightly teeth!

We had to wait until the 16th century, when Antonello of Messina painted a sailor with a grimacing smile, and the renowned Leonardo da Vinci, a few years later, introduced Mona Lisa with her enigmatic smile. And these portraits were game-changing firsts. The museum of Cefalù in Sicily, where the work of Messina is presented, asserts that its “Portrait of an Unknown Sailor” is the second most famous representation in the world of a smile in a painted portrait (although it predates the Mona Lisa). By being displayed in this way at this time, the smile also testifies a change in social behavior.

This “mark of interior satisfaction,” as defined by Diderot and d’Alembert in their Encyclopedia, was still timidly displayed in the 17th and 18th centuries. Let us thank especially the dental prophylaxis born in the 19th century for ushering in the appearance of real smiles with white teeth!

Say Cheese!

With the appearance of cameras intended for amateurs, the smile would become the key to photo albums. At the beginning of the 20th century, Kodak held a monopoly on the photo industry and launched a campaign to make posing a joyful and festive moment…and thus increase its sales…. The smile has become necessary to show good health, prosperity and the joy of living. It is more than de rigueur in the world of images; it has even become a photographic injunction!

It was during this period, in the 20s and 30s, that the word “cheese” began to be uttered in front of a camera to produce a smile on command. The smile became the norm and was displayed everywhere: in advertising campaigns, corporate portraits, election posters, famous people in their daily lives: everyone smiles on glossy paper and in developer trays. In 1950, the Gibbs toothpaste brand advertised its product with the impeccable smiles of Pierrette and Pierre.

But in the end, what part of ourselves do we want to offer to the world when we smile for a photo? The joy of an aperitif with friends, the happy summertime get-togethers, the precious moments captured on the fly, or the reward for an effort?

It’s all this, of course, but isn’t it also a social posture that implies displaying our well-being, our exceptional life and the chance to enjoy it at any cost?

The arrival of smartphones has changed the space dedicated to photography. In a matter of a few years, the image has been invited into our lives: it accompanies our intimate spaces; it reveals every moment of our life and makes them known. With this tool so easy to handle, photography has become a daily act and accompanies us in practically every situation. And in tandem with smartphones, applications specifically developed for photography have also appeared. Easy to use and often very powerful, they have truly revolutionized the practice of photography and led to amazing creations…

The Smiles of Olly Gibbs...

London artist Olly Gibbs has created a photographic work where the smile becomes the main element of his creation. Thanks to the FaceApp application, he decided to give a smile to all the paintings and sculptures with depressive tendencies. The result is joyful and brings a sparkle of pearly whites to the most melancholic Flemish portraits!

...Or Those Of Beeny Vd

Photographer Beeny VD proposes a super-feel-good work by offering to put his talent as a professional photographer at the service of people on the street. “I thought it would be nice to go to the street and to make people smile.” Vincent, alias Beeny VD, camera slung over his shoulder, traverses the cities and calls out to people in parks, bus shelters and queues to offer them a shot of themselves with a smile. And it works–because everyone plays along with the game of happiness displayed and immortalized by a pro.

The "Selfie" Phenomenon

The arrival of social networks has brought an emphasis of our life and our activities in a phenomenal way. Naturally, the photo has become part of this XXL magnifying glass on our life. Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat relay moods, habits and situations night and day, and the self-portrait has naturally imposed itself in this continuous overflow of information. The self-portrait, always flattering, inspiring, in group or in close-up, has been a real revolution in our society and in our relationship with each other. Influencers, politicians, artists–even Pope Francis–have taken selfies.

The self-portrait has therefore quickly become a marketing tool, with brands jostling for the smallest influencer. The selfie smile has even become a secure payment method for Amazon. Here, too, the apps that shape the “selfie” are plentiful and rather well done: animations, plastic surgery-style retouching, fun ways to personalize your selfies.

Is the “selfie” a narcissistic act? Certainly, but not only. It is of course to take a photo of oneself, that is to say to put oneself in the scene by turning the camera towards oneself, thus with one’s back not turned to the world. But it is also to share, to create, link, exchange, comment, “like” or testify of a community identity, as for example to show a membership with a party or a soccer club. According to Pauline Escande-Gauquié, lecturer at the University of Paris Sorbonne CELSA, there is a huge fascination with the selfie because it creates a completely new game of look: I look at myself, you look at me, and I look at you looking at me. It is therefore an act of sociability that underscores the fact that if someone looks at me, I exist. The selfie thus plays not only a very important part in the construction of identity, but also the collective–and the smile is part of the winning combo.

Are You Duck Face or Sparrow Face?

If the “selfie” smile was the inevitable pass to the “like,” other expressions come to heckle this good old expression of happiness. So, forget the smile (considered a bit old-fashioned), and make way for the Duck face, the mimicry that consists of tightening and advancing the lips while drawing the cheeks in.

But hurry up, because this Duck Face is about to be dethroned by the Sparrow Face, the latest little revolution from Japan, which consists of opening your eyes wide and your mouth like a chick waiting for a meal, all accompanied by a V for victory.

The Last Mood Made In XXI Century

It seems that the smile these days is in a sad state, and that it is even a bit old-fashioned and not only for the “selfie.” The latest trend is the closed and impassive face, as evidenced by the pout of the famous fashion journalist Ana Wintour, who has long since stopped smiling at the fashion week shows.

What interpretation should we draw from this radical change of facial expressions in front of the lens? Is it a backlash against the banality of the smile on the pictures? A distanced and studied version of the world around us? Testimony of a new social posture?

That’s the question we ask you.

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Silver vs Digital Photos: The Environmental Impact

The ShotVoice Team — Tue, 23 Sep 2025 13:05:19 +0000

Silver photos, digital advances or programmed obsolescence: what impact does photography have on the environment? For all those who, like us, are wondering what impact a photo can have on the environment, here is an article on the history of the environmental impact of our photos. Our ambition: become eco-responsible photographer.

A Polluting but Innovative Object

1839 marked the beginning of the first silver cameras. They already had a name borrowed from the vocabulary of chemistry, referring to the tiny aggregates of silver that make up the images produced by this process. Let’s take a look at its components and their environmental impact.

Although they are durable and reusable, silver cameras are composed of many polluting materials.

But which of these components pollute the most?

The number one pollutant is the vital component: silver film. In order to receive colors and black and white, the silver film is composed of highly polluting materials: plastic (cellulose triacetate) and silver halide (based on chlorine or bromide; a bromide is most often used). These essential elements are very harmful to the planet.

The second major pollutant is, of course, the chemistry used to develop the films. This includes the use of chemical developers (hydroquinone) and fixers (sodium thiosulphate). These products cause waste that is toxic to nature, and end up in wastewater and the environment.

Democratization of Printed Photos

Did you know that before silver films, photographs were printed on fine glass plates? These two impractical and time-consuming processes were later replaced by Plan film and Roll film in 1925. A few years later, in 1935, color made its appearance and became widespread in the 1950s.

With the advance of consumer cameras in 1948, Edwin H. Land decided to develop a process that would allow him to print his photos instantly. The images were developed on special polarizing films, which were based on a polymer film stretched with diffuse iodine. Named Polaroid, this concept marked the beginning of the democratization of consumer photography and mass printing.

On the consumer camera front, the 1980s saw the birth of disposable or “ready-to-photograph” cameras. Their films had to be flexible and resistant at the same time, with a low coefficient of elongation, good resistance to aging and perfect compatibility with emulsion. But here again, in order to meet these technical requirements, the films were designed with chemicals and pollutants. Just as with silver prints, cellulose triacetate and polyester are included in the list of ingredients.

The processes used in these heyday years for photography have had a huge impact on the environment. The mass of paper used was significant; with the ease of printing, even failed photos were printed and the paper used was treated with chemicals. In addition, the plastic housings made of many hazardous materials were not recyclable. At that time, the concept of ecology was far removed from that of today.

The Great Illusion of “Greener” Digital Technology

With the arrival of the Cloud, in the early 2000s, the purchase of digital cameras skyrocketed. Thinking that the Cloud was an immaterial cloud and that our photos were dematerialized, the storage of photos increased incredibly. However, the reality is quite different.

Photography and Harmful Materials

Indeed, a lot of natural resources and harmful materials are used to make our cameras. The electronic chips that make powerful cameras are made from arsenic. Gold, platinum, copper and aluminium are also found in our cameras, while lithium-ion and nickel-cadmium power the batteries. These substances are far from being recyclable, and their extraction endangers the planet.

The problem of programmed obsolescence is also a negative point: according to some figures, an SLR camera has a lifespan of only 5 years.

Storage

Image storage is also a problem. Storing thousands of photos in an online cloud, on hard disks or memory cards increases the carbon footprint of a company or individual. The massive production of memory hardware and the consumption of electricity for data centers has a huge ecological impact. According to the Veritas study, about 6.4 million tons of carbon dioxide was unnecessarily released into the atmosphere in 2020 due to unused or forgotten data (photos and videos). This would be the equivalent of driving around the world 575,000 times.

Return to Print

After the peak in digital photos, we are now seeing a return to print trends with easy access via web ordering. These prints are made on paper and all types of media and objects. CEWE for example, was on the market long before the digital age, installed its first printing terminal in 1997. Over time, the brand developed its market on the web, and in 2019 it reached its 60 millionth photo book.

Some Tips on How to Become an Eco-Responsible Photographer

It is difficult to say which of the two photographic methods—silver or digital—pollutes the most. Beyond the debate about which of the two pollutes the most, it is advisable to carefully consider each one: review its defects and look for ways to improve it.

On the side of the professional or amateur photographer, the levers of action go through the awareness of the environmental impact we have when we invest in a camera and when we take pictures (sometimes in very large numbers). Trying to reduce this impact by replacing your camera as seldom as possible, favouring more respectful processes such as using less chemical products for development, taking fewer photos and making the effort to eliminate those that are not of interest…are a few avenues for action.

Photo Credits: Reno Laithienne, Toa Heftiba, Ian Dooley, Ivan Bandura and Jon Tyson.

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Photophone Revolution: Smartphones Transform Photography

The ShotVoice Team — Tue, 23 Sep 2025 10:34:53 +0000

In the early 2000s, researchers in South Korea and Japan marketed two phones equipped with photo sensors. The Samsung SCH-V200 and the Sharp J-SH04 were the first, but images were still far from perfect (0.1 and 0.3 megapixels). In 2002, the word photophone was introduced to refer to cell phones whose sensor allows them to take high-resolution digital pictures.

The Battle Of Manufacturers

At the time, who would have thought that we would take more pictures with our phones than with our traditional cameras?

It wasn’t until 2008 that mobile photography reached the 8 megapixel bar and the subject became “serious.”

Today, about 67% of people in the world own a cell phone and use it to take pictures. According to 2020 figures, out of 1,400 billion photos taken in one year, nearly 1,200 billion were taken with smartphones.

Phone manufacturers have found that the ability to take photos instantly and to share them is a differentiating feature when buying a smartphone.

The war between manufacturers is being catalyzed by innovations in integrated cameras and the race for megapixels. Now they are devoting much of their expertise to enhancing the photo quality of their products. Some lenses offer a resolution as satisfactory as a digital camera. These innovations are all the more appreciated since images are now shared instantly thanks to the evolution of social networks. Instagram is widely used by amateurs and professional photographers alike (nearly 1 billion users per month).

Innovation in Hardware

2020 represents the culmination of this race, with the release of a 108 MP sensor for Samsung and the introduction of a brand new format for Apple. The Apple ProRaw in the iphone 12 greatly improves the quality of the pictures with algorithms (such as Deep Fusion and Smart HDR), taking advantage of the power of its mobile chips.

They are not the only ones to dominate this market, where Google and Huawei (purchaser of Leica in 2016) are also battling it out, bringing their hardware and software innovations. Now, three lenses on high-end smartphones are almost a standard: an ultra-wide angle to see very wide, a wide angle to capture classic photos, and a zoom to see further.

The photophones adapt to each use and each user. The LiDAR sensor and the distance sensor are more present in our phones. LiDAR is used to speed up focusing in low light. The distance sensor allows us to analyze the 3D environment and to know the 3D placement of the subject. This facilitates the application of innovative treatments.

For example, changing the depth of field after taking the picture, changing the lighting conditions and separating the background from the foreground – an essential operation to apply the blur of the portrait mode.

A new concept of objective has also appeared. Pixter has created lenses for phone cameras that can be added directly on the camera to improve its pictures. They are compatible with all types of phones.

The quality of cell phone photos is now much closer to that of reflex; however, they are still less sharp and less sensitive in low light, the size of sensors and optics being smaller…

Artificial Intelligence

This is where the embedded software in photophones intervenes with spectacular evolutions. Algorithms and artificial intelligence take over from optics, which remain limited by the small size of the phones. For example, Deep Fusion, a combination of images taken in bursts, improves the final image and increases sensitivity. HDR selects the best image from among three photos with different exposures and combines them to improve the contrast ratio.

Not only has the quality of cell phone photos improved immensely, software editors’ photo retouching softwares have also “entered the picture”; these integrate powerful and extremely easy to use features, often based on Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Let’s take the example of Luminar AI released in 2020. Just as embedded software in smartphones uses AI to “make” the best shot, Luminar AI analyzes the scene to suggest styles or retouching adapted to the subject and conditions. In addition, Luminar provides intelligent tools to facilitate tedious tasks that are often based on prior cropping. Replacing a sky or thinning a face becomes child’s play.

Over the last two years, the number of people retouching their photos has doubled and Lightroom, Luminar or Capture One are among the most used applications for this.

Photophones have certainly revolutionized the digital age and the way to take pictures or share them, but they will (always) be less powerful than a reflex or hybrid camera, which also evolves and integrates remarkable innovations every year.

Smartphones and DSLRs Put to the Test

The Best Camera for You...

The comparison between the two types of devices is not necessarily relevant to the point, however. The goal of the new technologies embedded in photophones is to allow everyone to make the most beautiful pictures possible without being an experienced photographer.

This camera starts taking pictures even before we press the shutter button and chooses the best one. It is not only always with us, but it also goes faster than we do. So, users of photophones are not necessarily looking for optimal photo quality but enough to capture a moment, create and share memories.

"The Best Camera Is The One That’s With You”

Chase Jarvis

Link: The Best Camera Is the One That’s with You by Chase Jarvis

Photo Credits: Jayson Hinrichsen, Rodion Kutsaev, Lukenn Sabellano, Cyril Caiazzo,Daniel Gold, The Registi and Pixter.

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History of Photography: From Origins to Today

The ShotVoice Team — Fri, 19 Sep 2025 14:00:08 +0000

Today, we are immersed in a civilization where images are omnipresent.

It seems normal to us to see images appear, to create them ourselves with a single click, but do you have any idea of how photography was born?

How photos actually came to be? Who were the creators of this exalted invention? Do you have any ideas? Let’s retrace in a few broad lines this fabulous (and a bit crazy) epic of the image.

Darkroom's Mystery

First of all, we should note that it requires the sum of two parts, optics and chemistry, for the photo to exist: a darkroom, a camera obscura, and a developer.

Try it out in real life: imagine yourself in a room completely closed, where you only let the light in from the window through a tiny hole. You are in the dark.

A few moments later, you can see an image (of your street) appear on the wall in reverse. Explanation: the light rays that penetrate an optic (in this case, the small hole in your window) send the image backwards.

Our brains are used to turning what our eyes see right side up, which is more practical. But let’s continue the experiment: if you put a specific chemical medium, such as silver chloride, on the wall of your room, then the projected image will print itself; it will fix itself on this medium and become a photograph. Simple, isn’t it?

Historical Dive With Niepce, Daguerre, Fox And Lumière

Although, the first camera obscura is said to have been created in 1671, a more elaborate light machine was devised by Nicephore Niepce in 1816 to capture images. A few pioneers in turn added to the photographic tower and made the technique more sophisticated. However, these images had a flaw: they gradually faded in daylight.

Building on their work, Louis-Jacques Daguerre developed the principle that would become the basis of the camera.

In 1838, Daguerre developed the principle that would take his name: a direct positive on a copper plate coated with pure silver and exposed to light. The daguerreotype was born. It was a photograph, but it could not be reproduced. Another invention quickly followed the first: immersion in water saturated with salt finally made it possible to fix the image definitively. In 1839, we can say that photographic development was born.

Five years later, William Henry Fox developed the calotype, an intermediate negative that would finally allow the same image to be multiplied. The photo thus became reproducible! This negative-positive principle would be used until the arrival of the digital image.

The arrival of the shutter in 1880 further improved the exposure time and, therefore, the quality and intensity of photography. As for colour, after a few early attempts around the three primary colours–red, yellow and blue–it was the brothers Auguste and Louis Lumière who, in 1906, proposed the autochrome.

With the advent of all these wonderful inventions, photo studios would soon appear in Paris. It was common to go and have your portrait taken by these photographers who handled the camera with dexterity. Nadar, who immortalised many celebrities such as the great tragedienne Sarah Bernard, and the poets Rimbaud and Baudelaire; Gustave Le Gray, who became the official photographer of Louis Napoleon Bonaparte; Eugène Disdéri, who created the visiting card holder (the ancestor of the photo booth, so to speak); and Emilien Sully, a hatter who became a photographer and distinguished himself at the International Exhibition of Photographic Art in Algiers in 1910. Wealthy industrial families were fond of photographic portraits of couples, children, and individuals. Photography was popular because it was less time-consuming and faster than painting.

In Pioneer's Wagon

The mid-19th century was characterised by a taste for discovery, particularly nations, peoples, sites and landscapes. Photography became an essential tool for explorers. Despite the technique’s cumbersome nature (camera, tripod and large film shots), some photographers became itinerant and did not hesitate to travel the world. Let us mention two of them.

Edward Sheriff Curtis is undoubtedly the most exceptional ethnologist photographer. He dedicated his life to taking pictures of the American Indian tribes with his camera and created the photographic heritage of these native people.

At that time, cameras were constantly evolving. The modernity of photography was underlined by an increasingly short response time, which, of course, modified its relationship to current events or an event taken on the spot. Smaller, more manageable cameras with shutter release allowed fast shooting: “You aim, you shoot.”

The Devices of Instantaneousness

Ernest Bourgarel, a French diplomat who travelled the world at the end of the 19th century (Asia, Middle East, Latin America) and French ambassador to Colombia from 1895 to 1900, quickly grasped the interest in photography. He was one of the first buyers of George Eastman’s (Kodak) invention in 1890, the first portable camera with flexible film (cellulose nitrate) that would replace fragile glass plates. The Kodak revolution had just begun.

“The Eastman Kodak brought instantaneousness,” explains Charles-Henri Dubail, editor and custodian of the Bourgarel Fund. Thanks to this small camera, which was certainly not very efficient in terms of image quality, everything became possible: taking a picture of someone walking towards you, of armed men passing by. The camera technique, which required a “mule train” to move and whose rendering was more static and less lively, would soon disappear and, with it, the “Ave de paso” (the bird of passage) as the itinerant photographer was called in Latin America at that time.

The principle of the Kodak system? Eastman sought to simplify operations. It reduced the separation between taking a photograph and the part left to the specialist, i.e., the development of the images: “Press the button, we’ll do the rest” emphasized the advertisements.

*Bourgarel, le Colombien” – French’s trip Diplomat in 19th Century Colombia, (ediSens, 2017).

The Tiny Vintage Shop Of Instantaneousness

Who Remembers “Clic Clac, Merci, Kodak” ?

The Kodak brand, created 140 years ago, was truly revolutionary because it was aimed at amateurs. The world of photography was becoming simpler.

The memory of every family would be nothing without Kodak. Remember the shared moments of your parents, immortalized by the yellow reels, the arrival of the Instamatic with its film inserted in a cartridge, and then the tiny yellow cardboard cameras created later, which made the happiness of neophytes and children?

What is less known is that the inventor of digital photography in 1975 was Kodak. They had designed a prototype called “filmless photography” that had a definition of 0.01 megapixels! But alas, the giant made the worst strategic choice: it decided not to market its innovation for fear of killing the film market, which was dominant at the time. Sony, Canon and Fuji would soon surpass Kodak. In 2012, it was time to liquidate.

Polaroid, The Freshly Baked Bun

Polaroid was also a product that truly shook up the world of photography. The Polaroid company developed an instant development process in…1948! Amazing!

This all-in-one camera was very popular with amateurs, who snatched it up despite the relatively expensive cost of the cartridges. It was also very popular with professionals, who used it as a test to control their light during their shooting. As for explorers, they didn’t hesitate to carry a Polaroid in their bag, ideal for offering instant portraits to certain distant ethnic groups. An almost magical object!

In 2009, Polaroid also switched to digital. The Polaroid Two was created, a 5-megapixel digital camera with a built-in printer that allowed you to select the photo you wanted to print. We salute this latest digital version’s frugal and economic dimension, but it did not meet with the success we might have expected.

Argentique? Did You Say Argentique?

Silver photography owes its name to the light-sensitive film that was exposed to light. This plastic film was covered with an emulsion, a kind of gelatin containing silver and iodine ions. That’s about as far as the chemistry goes!

But in fact, we have only really been talking about film since the year 2000. Do you know why? It was necessary to distinguish between traditional photography, known as silver, and the new, digital photography.

Leica, The Big Slam

Back in 1905, a German engineer invented the 24 x 36 mm negative. His brilliant idea? Borrowing from cinema, the 35mm film used a horizontal panorama to increase the width of the shot.

In 1924, the Leica company created a compact camera with a fixed lens of exceptional quality (the Leitz lens, still in use today) and its famous 24 x 36 film. A real Rolls Royce!

Leica introduced simple, light, robust models that would seduce (and still do today!) several generations of photographers. The Leica-M was the camera of choice for Henri Cartier Bresson, Robert Capa, Robert Doisneau, Edouard Boubat and Marie-Laure de Decker…. Since 2005, Leica has been in digital mode. The M9 is the ultimate and most elaborate version.

From Grain To Pixel

The digital age has changed our perception of photography and our relationship to it. We no longer count the number of shots we take, thinking about our limit of 36 views and the price of the contact sheet. We rectify the frame or the luminosity immediately because we can instantly visualise our work. With AI, a blurred photo becomes clear again, and the applications dedicated to photography rectify, straighten, recolor, remove a character or propose a bright blue sky. It’s hard to miss an image, even if we know that more than 80% of a successful photograph is due to the eye and not to the tool. Its easy distribution and archiving are also significant advantages.

On the other hand, film offers better quality in large-scale prints. Digital still struggles with definition when enlarging.

“I look for the pixel to situate the photo in time,” explains Olivier Thomas, reportage photographer. “It’s a sort of dating of my work.

There was the period of the grain, more or less acceptable, and then the arrival of the pixel. Digital tools have their good qualities and their defects. You can’t make a photo today like you would with a film camera. And when you use digital to create images in the manner of film, you make a severe mistake, in my opinion.

Just like video in its early days, in the face of 35mm, with its images that lacked precision and offered a particular texture, digital has its assets–and it is precisely these that must be played with rather than attempting to imitate what has already been produced. And then there is a point that seems essential to me: digital invites a profusion of images, so one takes less care of one’s shots. Globally, if I analyse my work between film and digital, I notice that the number of good photos on a reportage are less numerous in digital than with my old film camera. This gives me food for thought.

As you can see, there is a lot of balance between the two. Digital has immensely popularised photography and has made the work of talented photographers known through social networks and the incredible apps that exist on the market.

For the nostalgic, modern digital apps offer photographic renderings of legendary cameras: Instamatic and Polaroid are now offered by the Hipstamatic app. Faded colours and frayed outlines tend towards overexposure, but let’s not fool ourselves; we are talking about vintage texture, not the concept of the instant photo.

When Digital Technology Helps To Delve Into The Past: 3D Printing

And if some photographers, weary of digital, want to go back to the roots of photography, digital also offers a way back in time. Traditional 3D printing, FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling) technology, is used to reproduce many accessories, but the offer is less efficient on the camera side.

The most reproducible models are the pinhole camera (remember the camera and hole in the window exercise). The pixelvalley.com website offers you a digital pinhole camera you can make yourself!

As for real cameras, there are two innovations: the Open Reflex by Léo Marius, an open-source camera compatible with Nikon lenses but which only offers a single aperture at 1/60 s, and the SLO, created by Amos Dudley, a fixed-focus compact camera in which all the elements (even the lens) are printed in plastic.

In conclusion, from the camera obscura to the camera plastique, photography has come a long way over the years. Yet throughout all the innovations, changes and improvements covered in this dizzying overview, there is one common denominator that will never change and which constitutes the absolute talent of the photographer: your eye.

Whether you are a fan of the camera, still present today, a lover of film or a fan of the new technologies and digital, it is your eye, your vision, that will ultimately create your own memorable images!

We look forward to seeing what you can do!

Photos Credits: Mick Haupt, Kodak Brand

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