Technology & Meaning in Photography

Contemporary Canadian photographer known for capturing landscapes altered by industrialization and technological advancement. Burtynsky's photographs often explore the consequences of human activities on the environment and society. In his 'Manufactured Landscape' (2003) series, Burtynsky presents a critical perspective on the consequences of rapid technological development, consumerism, and globalization. His images highlight the massive scale of human impact on the planet and raise questions about sustainability, resource consumption, and the interconnectedness of modern society and technology. 

Richard Prince is known for appropriating and recontextualizing images from popular culture, including social media platforms like Instagram.  In 2014, Prince made a series called 'New Portraits,' which he created by taking screenshots of other people's Instagram posts, including images and comments, and then printing them on a large scale. Through this series, Prince addresses issues of privacy, ownership, and the commodification of personal information in the digital age. 'New Portraits' raises questions about the blurred lines between public and private in the realm of social media. By appropriating and displaying these images in galleries and art exhibits, Prince challenges the notion of authorship and copyright in the digital era, where content can be easily shared, reproduced, and disseminated.

More of his series can be found here. TW: Some Partial Nudity.

Reddit user, u/trippy_art_special generated an image using AI program, Midjourney and posted it on Reddit before it spread across Twitter and TikTok. The image sparked ongoing debate over the role that AI will play in Art, photos and journalism as deepfake content, including videos such as Tom holland and Nicki Minaj dating, which can make it look like events have occurred that have not, fooling large portions of the internet, if only for a short while.

While the visual choices are part of AI development, you can see in this image signs that it has been generated by AI, such as the pope's smudgy ear, his glasses melting into the shadow across his face, and his hand, clutching a coffee cup, is warped. Skin texture, as always, looks a bit waxy. Nothing a few Photoshop changes couldn't fix.

This type of content will challenge the roll of the photographer and the artist as well as making all of us in society continually ask the question, is this real?

A black and white empty room evokes loneliness, emptiness, and abandonment through the lack of colour, absence of human presence, and signs of neglect. Capturing a large portion of empty space, highlighting the brightness outside and contrasting this with the dark interior can also connect to the idea of feeling lonely on the inside in a way others do not see.

A black and white sky with a storm just starting to roll in can represent anger, agitation, and aggravation through the subject being swirling clouds, the dramatic atmosphere represented and the contrast of the light and dark clouds. Light and dark and the use of nature associated with storms can related to power and unpredictability, mirroring inner emotional turmoil.

Overlapping scratching black lines on a white backdrop can symbolise stress and overwhelm through its visual chaos, lack of focus, and intense contrast. The disorderly appearance reflects the overwhelming nature of stress, while the absence of a clear focal point mirrors the lack of direction during overwhelming situations. The stark contrast intensifies the sense of tension and emotional strain associated with stress and overwhelm.