‘Manufactured fictions in the Age of Instagram’
When coming across Instagram, you are faced with over hundreds of images a day which to someone on the outside can seem very overwhelming, however, that is not the most overwhelming part. Images we see daily are heavily edited as we have photos that show flawless skin, the perfect body proportions and the most luxurious of settings as well. When looking at these photos, it is hard not to compare yourself to what you see as people can change themselves without leaving a mark that shows it is edited. It has now come out that normal Instagram videos are also being edited which makes the user believe that there is no edit at all. If we take filters as an example, we can see how one can completely change what they look like and try and pass it off on social media. We have set the standards so high on social media that people feel the need to look completely different than what they look like naturally. We are creating a figment in our heads of how we need to present ourselves.
Using artificial intelligence makes it even harder to know what is fake and what is real as I think that we should have the right to know when photos or videos are edited. This would stop the spread of false information and do less harm than these photos do. An example of this would be the Tom Cruise photo as we all know what Tom Cruise looks like so to see his face edited, we can tell what has been done however, if we did not know what he looks like, it is scary to see how much that looks like a normal photo of a normal man.
What is Citizen Journalism
This is the act of an individual that goes out and records the story themselves either through photos, videos, or voice recordings. At this time in our society, it has become immensely popular to record the issues we face during this time as supply evidence and show others around us how things can be seen through the person holding the phone. We live in a society where it sometimes feels like guilty until proven innocent, so many people when they feel a situation is going to happen will record to protect themselves. This form of journalism allows many people into the situations we are dealing with and with the power of social media, we can spread news that was not highlighted by news companies.
Social Photography
These are the photos that we take on our phone, digital camera, or disposable ones as we capture the life around us. Social Photography has a very casual feel to it as it does not require all this equipment or high-tech tools. It is so accessible to us that we can now take a photo when we want. Taking photos has now become such a normal way of life. With the introduction of social media, we can now use these images to interact with one another and control the way we appear to others. We can like, share, and save these images we see and post while receiving others’ opinions as well. It really has highlighted the freedom we have now.
Nostalgia of Now
How I can interpret this is by showing that the trends that used to be popular in photography are now coming back and are being seen in the modern way to approach photography. Getting these hazy photos or black and white images are now being used as well to show off a contemporary style to modern photography.