What is the future of Photography?

It is amazing, that although there is a digital divide that exists in relation to the technological advancement of the twenty first century, almost every individual GLOBALLY has been exposed to photography, from a simple encounter with an image to the use of a camera.

Photography has certainly developed over the years from the use of roll film and box camera to the current use of digital cameras. We the users and the audience of Photography are fully aware of its development and the manner in which it has contributed to our current day lifestyles; it has impacted on the way in which we communicate in the current global village. Photography enables us to adopt current trends, formulate our opinions about different topics of concern and it has with out a doubt impacted positively, on the preservation of our memories in a variety of ways.

Digital photography was the last major revolution in the photography industry and it has contributed substantially to the growth of the industry and to the further development of the photographic world. It has impacted positively on the photographic world in that it has contributed to the continuous increase in the use of cameras of present day. The question we should ask our self is WHAT IS THE FUTURE OF PHOTOGRAPHY? Digital photography has impacted to a large extent in the photography industry, so we should certainly consider what the next revolution of photography is and how it will impact on our lives and in the world of photography.

The expressive nature of photography

The capturing of photography is extremely wonderful and incredible because it exists in a wide variety of forms. We the receiver, user, and audience of photographs, do not acknowledge the existence of these significant forms of photography as well as it’s expressive nature. We are often ignorant of the impact that these different types of photography has on individuals. The manner in which photographer’s capture photographs changes our perceptions on the image or the topic of concern. It is essential for us as individuals to understand photography so that we can relate to it to our every encounter with images and our use with a camera. This will enable us to accept and appreciate the wonders of a photographic generation; in that way photography will begin to expand at an equal and proportional rate to technological advancement.

Photographer’s make use of a wide array of shots, which comprise of angle shots (wide angles), aerial shots, long shots, medium shot, close-ups, extreme close ups and a vast amount of others. This wide variety of shots enable the photographer to be more expressive and allow the viewer of the photograph to become more interactive with photography but more especially allowing the viewer to relate to the photograph. These shots allow the photographer to create a desired effect on its audience, enabling them to see the image from a certain perspective and to relate to the emotions of the image on the topic of concern enabling the viewer to be able to read what the photograph is trying to represent. For example, extreme close-up shots are used to stress importance of the object in concern, wide angle shot is usually used as an establishing shot; most viewers are unaware of this when viewing photographs. Aerial photography is usually used when gathering statistic, and used to locate places.


There are different types of photography that exist these are water photography, fashion photography, the modern black and white photography(modern), documentary photography, food photography, advertising, photography, technical photography, crime scene photography and a vast array of others. Obviously, we often take for granted that photography exists in these many forms. It provides us with perceptions of life allowing us to formulate our own opinions of life from these modern forms of photography, in particular water photography. Water photography is an amazing form of photography in that it allows the photographer to capture pictures of water falls, animals underwater using special techniques. We the receivers of the image are not exposed to these type realities in everyday which makes this an extremely impressive site for majority of its audience. The same applies to wildlife photography it allows the audience to experience the wonders of nature. This is indicates that photography is rather expressive and hence it allows the viewer to, respond to and interact with photography in positive way.

PHOTOGRAPHY in the contemporary world!

In the contemporary world, there are several aspects of our daily life of which we take advantage of, and one of these aspects is PHOTOGRAPHY. Photography plays an immensely significant role in our life; it exists in almost all aspects of our daily life experiences.

Photography has developed and expanded dramatically in just a couple of years, in that cameras have become extremely popular and storage devices have become more advanced, accessible, reliable, and less expensive. This relates to the fact that every mobile phone is produced with a camera feature on it, the photographs can be stored on one’s laptop or desktop computers as photo albums, therefore it is more accessible, reliable, and cheaper. Majority of individuals have moved away from traditional photo album’s because they are not easily accessible, takes up a large amount of storage space, photographs are usually damaged and lost, and it is an expensive medium. The advancement of technology has now provided a solution to these problems with the invention and the expansion of digital cameras, which does not require the chemical processing of photographs.

The storage of photographs through an electronic medium constitutes the growth of virtual communities in the twenty first century. Virtual communities are communities that do not require the physical presence of people in order for communication to take place, by means of the Internet to people all around the world. Photography enables the enhancement of communication in these communities in that it is easier and more accessible to upload photographs on one’s online profile, which provides a description of the person to the people that they are communicating with, a typical example of this is “FACEBOOK”, the worlds most current popular social network.

This also contributes to the concept of false identities as well as multiple identities, in that the photograph that represents the individual may not always be the “real” person that you are chatting to, indicating that these individuals have different online and offline identities reinforcing the concept of multiple identities. Photography has contributed to the contemporary world of communication, however the issue of multiple identities is of a major concern and therefore this issue should be prevented by the implementation of an achievable solution.

Lived experiences portrayed through cinema

Cinema and technology are used hand-in-hand to help educate and influence people and their behavior. In cinema so many times you hear the that a film is based on a ‘true story’, but what exactly does this mean; well it simply means that the story/narrative that is being presented, is the actual lived experiences of a person. Media together with the influence and help of technology help convey these lived experiences in the form of a movie.

THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS (2006) directed by Gabriele Muccino was an inspirational true story, and helped millions of individuals around the globe to persevere and live out their dreams. Many CEO’s of leading companies requested that their staff watch this movie, as it portrays the emotional struggles that an unemployed single father goes through in order to make a better life for his child.

Many people do not believe in being ‘possessed by the devil’ but in the 2005 movie, THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE directed by Scott Derrickson really made people question their beliefs. The movie was based on the lived experiences of Anneliese Michel, a young catholic woman from Germany who died in 1976 after several unsuccessful attempts to cure herself from the alleged state of demonic possession. The basis of this story portrayed her strong faith in god and her exhausting struggle and pain which seemed to be supernatural powers that took over her mind and body.

Many people do note of the fact that some movies are based on actual real lived experiences, and that some one in the world actually experience such hardships and sorrows.

MONSTER a (2005) production is a story about a female serial killer, whom happened to be a former prostitute. She was executed in 2002 for killing seven men in the late 1980’s and 1990’s. This movie was based on the true story of Aileen Wuornos and the power struggles, personality issues and life experiences that she went through. By the end of the movie one can actually comes to understand her state of mind.

These 3 movies are only but a few that represent movies based upon a true story. Some of Hollywood’s biggest hits were movies that were based upon a true story.

Through modern day technology and the media we are able to live other people’s experiences, understand their feelings, and connect with them on a personal basis. Cinema and technology serve as an educational service that work together to connect individuals, and these true stories may one day impact greatly upon our lives.

POSTED BY

NIRVANA DOODLA

WORLD CINEMA

Cinema attention normally falls onto Hollywood cinema. Every time you ask someone, what their all time favorite movie is, 99.9% of the time their answer will be a Hollywood film. Not much focus is on is placed on WORLD CINEMA – world cinema focuses on global cultural flows. World cinema refers to French, Spanish, and many other types of different cinema. World cinema aims to question the notions of classic Hollywood – classic Hollywood refers to the flowing narrative structure that a films flows, the way in which Hollywood films portray social historical facts, and the way in which classic Hollywood creates a stirred universal appeal; and the way Hollywood categorizes their movies into certain genres, example the gangster genre.

French and Spanish cinema is excellent examples of World Cinema that serves to question the notions of Classic Hollywood.

The French New Wave Cinema featured a host of extraordinary directors, from the likes of FRANCIOS TRUFFAU (1932 – 1984), whom directed 21 feature films; to JEAN-LUC GODARD (1930 - ), whom up and until today challenges the classic Hollywood cinema.

FRANCIOS TRUFFAU’s film LES QUATRE CENTS COUPS / 400 BLOWS (1959) reveals personal experiences and portrays the childhood of Truffau. In this movie Truffau challenges the notions of freedom and education in society.

JEAN-LUC GODARD is a highly intellectual film maker; he refuses to meet the normal audience’s expectations, and almost always intertwines Hollywood genres into his films. His 1959 production A BOUT DE SOUFFLE / BREATHLESS contains both the Hollywood gangster genre and the film noir genre; where his characters constantly make reference to or imitate famous Hollywood actors and directors.

These two directors produced some of the best French cinema, and compete with likes if ALFRED HICTCOCK (1899 – 1980), a world famous classic Hollywood director.

PEDRO ALMODOVAR (1949 - ) is one of Spain’s most famous and talented directors. He directed 16 feature films, and his latest production was his 2004 VOLVER. Almodovar questions the notions of classic Hollywood, he constantly questions gender roles and how they are portrayed within society.
He makes his films in such a way that the audience never makes judgments on or about the range of different sexual and social identities that make up the cast of his films, rather we understand the cast. Almodovar is a gay director, and in his movies he looks deep into the friendships that women share with each other. An excellent example of this is his 1999 production ALL ABOUT MY MOTHER.

As individuals we need to explore and take an interest in world cinema, by doing this we will be able to learn so much about the different cultures that surround our very existence. World cinema refers to African, Italian, Asian and many more types of cinema.

We need to look beyond classic Hollywood and start understanding issues and the way in which other countries portray them. World Cinema forms a big part of new media, and definitely impacts on our identities and subjectivities as human beings.


POSTED BY

NIRVANA DOODLA

Technology’s impact on the world of Photography

The technological boom and globalization have continued to expand during the twenty first century. This sudden influx and continuous increase of technology has impacted in several ways towards the world, society, current trends, and more especially identity. The question that one would ask is:

What place does photography occupy in relation to the world of technology?

Evidently, from current trends the answer to that is DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY and in particular DIGITAL IMAGING. This is a method of using sophisticated computer technology to manipulate photographs to achieve the effect and output, which one would like to create. This has contributed in many ways towards changing realities, false identities, and forged documents. Another popular term used for the manipulation of photography is “airbrushed photography”. Airbrushed photography has become an extremely popular form of digital technology. It manipulates a standard an ordinary photograph into an extraordinary and impressive image. The process of airbrushing is made possible by contrasting and addition of colors, editing the image, inserting of additional images and many other techniques to formulate the image exactly the way we want it to be created.

This technology is exceptional in that it is extremely difficult to identify and distinguish between an airbrushed photograph and an authentic photograph. This is an amazing form of technology however it can be a major cause for concern in that important documentation are being forged, false identities are being created, but more especially a contradiction to the belief that every photograph tells the truth. On the other hand, airbrushed photography has its advantages, it enables the enhancement of the image, and it can conceal imperfections and remove unwanted images to our advantage. This concept of airbrushed photography will make every viewer of a photograph question whether that image which they are viewing is a true representation of reality. Although there has been an increase in the amount airbrushed photography, in during the twenty first century, it does not mean that every photograph is a false representation, we can still preserve memories, capture special moments and it can still be used as a contemporary from of entertainment.

FAKING SOUND

MUSIC MIXER

Today there are main musical technologies that allow us to fake sound. What do I mean by fake sound,those sounds that are generated and mixed by musical programs.

It is no surprise that over the years as our interest in technology has grown, therefore it is no surprise that we constantly are experimenting with those technologies in music. Many original sounds such as running water, bells and chimes, live performances etc are being recording or uploaded in to these musical programs. They are stored, sorted and when they are needed they are tweaked to form fake music.

I have found that one of the Major negatives of this, is that record labels make use of these technologies to dupe their listeners.

This has lead to many artists having terrible live performance and even sometimes the artists opt for lip sinking to there recorded studio tapes.

Ashley Simpson

Many fans are left disappointed and their expectations not meet. That is why today many people prefer to listen to music straight from a cd or mp3 player than endure the expenses of seeing live performances.

Mirach Carry
There are many artists that have been caught lip sinking recently, such as Ashley Simpson and Mirach Carry (photos featured above).

However music mixers can be useful to bring about new sounds , they can also store sounds that are nearly impossible for the majority of the population to listen to like the cry of dolphins or wales mating underwater.

Well its just like everything in the world it has both pros and cons.

Today's society however are not to stirred up about listening and see fake images because we prefer the fake stuff to the real. We have come to live in a socially acceptable virtual reality.

I guess its due to the blurring of what is considered real and what is considered to be fake or may be because we are just not that interested.

BY RITANIA GOKUL

South African Cinema

South African cinema dates back right down to the 1930’s. In 1931 the first ever South African film was made that incorporated sound, it was an Afrikaans film called Sarie Marais directed by Joseph Albrecht. After that point in time many more films followed, most of which were Afrikaans films. However after the 1994 elections and the oblishment of the apartheid many African and fully featured apartheid films and documentaries were released.

Nowadays many of our local productions make it to the big screen, allowing us as South Africans to enjoy and support our local producers and movie houses. The ‘new’ South Africa has the resources to both make films and market international films. The black population is potentially an important new audience in South African Cinema, due to the past decades of censorship and the selection of films that were available at the cinema.

There are 3 major South African Film Distributors-namely Nu Metro Productions, Ster-Kinekor Pictures and United International Pictures. These are the 3 most famous film houses and distributors in South Africa.

South Africa is not just a wonderful destination to shoot a film, but rather is becoming a fully-fledged production destination. Studious are being built in order to support the South African film industry and to promote young producers.
Tsotsi was the first South African film to receive an Oscar award for Best Foreign Language Film. The film was made in 2006 and the writer-director of the film was Gavin Hood. This movie saw South Africa break into international ground, and finally get recognized in the international scene.

Just like the Oscars, South Africa also has awards ceremonies to salute and honor our local talent. The inaugural South African Film and Television Academy (SAFTA) Awards celebrates and promotes the talent and accomplishments of the South film industry.

Local Broadcasters, filmmakers, students, producers and local film and television industries all submit their entries to SAFTA, and the judging process than takes place. Entries include feature films, short films, documentaries, television dramas, soapies, sitcoms, news, wildlife, children’s shows, reality programs and magazine productions. Although most of the entries are judged by the chosen panel, the audience was able to express their favorite soapie by voting via a phone-in and SMS competition. This allowed the audience to share in the voting experience and to be directly involved in the chosen winners.

South African Cinema is continuously developing and improving. Hopefully one day our local South African productions will be more appreciated as Hollywood and American productions are. As South Africans we should take an interest and support our local productions.


done by
NIRVANA DOODLA

The wonders of ANIMATION

Animation is a beautiful part of cinema that covers all the illusions of life, from fairytale's to the real world. It is an interesting type of film making that incorporates camera, frames, projections,screens, laser beams, computers and even artists. Animation has really evolved over time, from free hand drawing of a story board, to computer generated animation.
Animation has evolved from FANTASIA, the 1940 production to SHREK the 2001 production. We can clearly notice the difference in animation and how it has evolved and changed. In 1914 Windso McCay produced the first ever proper animated film for cinema entertainment called Gertie the Dinosaur, and it was a silent black and white film. In the 1920's sound was integrated into silent animations, and in the 1930's colour was added into animation and the feature movie was Snow White.

In 2000 Fantasia was the first full-lenght animation film made by computer to be shown on the huge IMAX cinema screen, and in 2004 Shrek followed as the first technical software movie which allowed characters to naturally bounce from surface to surface. Animation is still evovling, and will continue to surprise us.


Animation brings drawings to life and creates motion within puppets. Computer animation is growing rapidly especially in our technology driven world. Computer graphics allows the producer to create extraordinary animated movies such as Cars a 2006 production. Computer animation is essentially the digital successor to the art of drawing storyboards and frame-by-frame pictures.




Disney's 2007 ENCHANTED, is an excellent animated and part real movie. It incorporates both animation and real figures within one movie. A real fairytale movie, and it begins in the true fairytale setting, the beautiful animated princess surrounded by dozens of cute animals singing ENCHANTED melodies. But not long after, the animated fantasy is gone and live-action pictures begin. Very clearly the first 10minutes of the film evoke feelings of a classic fairytale movie, and then the fairytale ends an live-action begins. We get a happy feeling that fairytale's do come true, even in the furthest of places such as New York. Amy Adams whom plays the peppy and charming Giselle in ENCHANTED, can be reasonably compared to Julie Andrews in the movie MARY POPPINS.



Cinema and especially animation has evolved over time, and now producers and animation artists create a hyper-reality for the consumer to enjoy and be entertained by. A man-made world of fantacy.



BY: NIRVANA DOODLA

Musical Dialoge

Music is one of the purest art forms therefore it is not surprising that true poets seek to express the universe in terms of music.The singer has everything within him , he uses his present and past experiences to determine the content of his song. He chooses from a variety of musical instruments each with its own unique sound ,which stirs up different emotions in the listener.

Musical instruments give the lyrics of the song an added bonus, which slowly whispers into the listeners ears. The most simplest of instruments add the final touches; such instruments include: the drums , triangle , flute and maracas.They each have their own history and cultures attached to them.They are the inspiration for today's digital instruments. Music is not only heard but also represented in its own language . Musical notes are used to record beats and narratives , this enables humans to correctly copy and understand musical scripts. Whereas a computer is able to understand musical language through analog as mentioned in the previous posting.

Musical instruments can be created very easily and most musicians opt to personalize them . Rock bands are famous for doing this. For a musician his musical instrument acts as an extension to his/her body. A musician loses track of time while spending hours on end fine tuning,cleaning and practicing. Thus musical instruments play a ever growing part in our societies and cultures.

Digital musical instruments Sounds and Analogs

Digital musical instruments make sounds by generating streams of audio .
we often want to know , what and how digital audio is created and controlled.



Digital auto is represented by audio waveforms as a series of numbers, these numbers represent amplitude waveforms at different times. kind of like waves that clash against the sea shore at different time intervals.These wave forms are measured by sampling rating.


Sampling rating is able to determine the different frequency's that are present in an audio text.
The highest audio frequency that can be coded is half of a sampling rate.


Another name for audio signals is analog. Theses analogs can be converted to and from their digital representation.This is done by using digital-to analog converts(DAC) and Analog To digital converters (ADC).


below is a picture of such a device.

Which would we normally consider better?

I would say digital analog because it is easier and has much more benefits than analog.
Some of these benefits include:

1. making very accurate copies of an original very simply.


2. when it comes to music and electronic instruments, it has a large capacity and is flexible so it can easily be manipulated.


3. analog recordings of tape has a hissing sound , in digital you don't get this


4. allows editing to be done easily

Digital analog enables digital signaling processing(DSP). This technology is now used in Mobile phones, multimedia computers, video recorders , CD player, hard disc drives and modems. It is said that it will soon replace analog circuity both in TV sets and telephones. DSP allows for both compression and decompression of signals which is used in mp3 encoding.

it is therefore no wonder why Many musicians who build digital instruments use DSP synthesis and processing to create a unique sound.

NEGATIVE EFFECT OF MUSIC TECHNOLOGY

We as consumers can never believe the negative effects a device might cause, we are always to willing to conduct research but never willing to put our findings into practice.

We only look for the present. If a device enables to satisfy our need we don't give them a second thought.

Take for example the negative effect of the tiny Ear bud style head phones.

These tiny ear bud style music technology devices are used to enable us to listen to music from our iPods, mp3 players and Cellphones. However the damage from this tiny ear bud style headphones are greater than that caused by the muff-type headphones that are used on Walkmans and portable Cd Players. This is due to the fact that these tiny devices don't block out sound as effectively as the muff-type thus leading the hearer to increase the volume of the device. Even if you listen to music on your iPod at low levels, the ear phones still have a higher output level of volume.

According to a study done by Australian research group a quoter of iPod users between18 and 54 years of age listen at volumes enough to cause hearing damage.

Keep in mind that Continuous use of these tiny earphones will cause permanent damage to your eye drums.

Other devices add to the effects these tiny earphones have on us.

The longer-lasting batteries and more storage capacity on iPods and mp3 players encourage users to listen longer, thus not giving the ear drums a break to recover.

We should be careful of how long we listen to music and not exceeding long periods of time. We should allow our eardrums to recover.

Photography

“EVERY PICTURE HAS A STORY TO TELL . . .”
Photography is the capturing of reality. It captures everyday life experiences, special moments, classical, dreamy, romantic, serious, dramatic, erotic and several other precious and exciting moments. The camera does not lie; it freezes moments, and presents the truth.

Photography is a method of constructing and creating permanent images by means of capturing light on a light -sensitive medium. Photography constitutes to an essential part of our life as a source of information, it enables the preservation of memories, it is adopted as a hobby, and used as a form contemporary entertainment. It also plays a major role at every level of business and industry, being used in advertising, surveillance, photojournalism, in documents (for example, crime scenes), as fashion photography and editorial photography.

It is amazing how photography has developed from the early years of the 20th century, and from the use of roll film and the box camera to the current use of digital cameras. Initially photography was monochrome, however with the advancement of technology color photography was made possible. A black and white photograph is not out dated it is a current trend, created to provide a classic look. The 21st century presents professional photographers with a large variety of cameras and accessories due to the technological boom of this century.

Have you ever considered what the world would be like if photography did not exist?
Certainly, photography enhances our perception of the world. If photographs did not exist, life would be dull, monotonous and boring. Photography influences our everyday life experiences and has contributed towards shaping our identity. Photography enables us to keep up with the latest trends, which occur around the world. This influences us as individuals and unknowingly we relate to a particular style and a trend that appeals to us and we begin to adopt it into our lifestyle. A typical example would be fashion photography as well as advertisements. Photography also serves as a means of communication. We are able to communicate with people in different countries via the Internet, due to the availability of new technology we are able to view a photograph of the person that we are chatting to, this makes communication easier and enables us to meet new people from around the world.

Photography also makes it possible for us to be enlightened about events, which occur all around the world, increasing our general knowledge. It is therefore evident that photography plays an extremely important role in contributing towards our identity as individuals.

Varishma Hariparsad

Music in a Ever Changing / Ever Evolving Digital Age

The way we create,listen and absorb music today has changed. This change is due to the evolution of musical technology. From the simple days of live music, to the creation of sheet music which was transported to numerous destinations, to the invention of the radio and to the first ever record composed . The creation of the caste ,caste player together with TV brought about changes which are visible today. With the invention of the computer just like its predecessor created, has improved the way we listen to music and changed it diverse branches, which spread into our cultures and societies.

With regards to the computer (which brought about the digital age) is known it to be a tool which is regard to have logical malleability. These programs/ applications are ever changing and evolving, thus evolving the digital age. There are many musical programs which enable us to listen to music on our computers namely Windows media player, Nero player and each can be set to the listeners preferences. Music is stored in file formats as either Cda , mp3/mp4 and wav formats. These formats make it easier of music player software to read music and it store. These programs often come with help menus.

The best way to store music on your computers hard drive would be in mp3/ mp4 / wav format because they allow for the compression of files thus leading to storage space minimization. these formats of music can also be downloaded quickly and easily.

Computers make it easier for record labels to compose music as well as advertise both their artists and their music as well as with invention of the Internet, we are able to listen to music from around the world by numerous artists and well as visit websites. there are many websites which teach us how to create music with regards to creation of lyrics, how to play musical instruments eg. piano, etc. They also teach us how to read musical notes such web sites would http://www.musictechteacher.com/ this leads numerous people being exposed to music. This eventually creates an evolution in music in terms of composition and understanding.

thus the digital age has evolved music as a whole

The Beauty of Cinema

Cinema is one of the most extraordinary types of entertainment, there's always something for everyone, from animation, to adventures, and exciting thrillers, to power struggles in gangster flicks, and star-crossed lovers in romantic tear droppers, and most importantly everyone has their favourites.


we are allowed to wonder off into this majestic world created especially to entertain and fulfil our emotional needs and drive our wildest dreams and desires. In a matter of minutes we become part of the movie; we begin to relate to the protagonist and almost feel their every move. We are swept into their fascinating world of creation, were dashingly handsome actors and stunningly beautiful actresses invite us into their world, or rather their jobs. We are taken to visit vast destinations, we are placed in riveting circumstances and in explosive situations, and shown the unreal world of science.

We owe all this amazing work to the directors, script writers and produces, whom put all this together into one package just for us.

Once you switch on your television, there's no going back, we become part of the adventure, we drift into this man-made world of "lights, camera and action". We become hero's, princesses, scientists, gangsters, and cops; we become the protagonist.

Each of us after watching a movie, takes away a personal experience, and we relate it to own lives. We go on thinking and pondering about what could have been, and later share the movie with our friends.

That's the wonderful work of what a few actors, and the use of extraordinary technology has done to us!!!