Luminance : Day 1
On September 12 and 13, the photography portfolio website Photoshelter organized a conference to discuss the links among photography, technology and commerce. A dozen speakers were on the program each day to discuss these topics and share their experience. Can we still trust images? What is “social photography” today? And what is the real power of the image?
On paper, Luminance would seem like a welcome event. However, by giving the platform to speakers representing companies developing new technologies—from giants like Facebook and Hipstamatic to newcomers like Fourandsix and Blurb Books, a digital book developer—the discussions can sound more like advertisements.
We were first reminded that images have been retouched and manipulated since the invention of photography. Only in the last few years has the technology been refined, and this refinement, combined with other new technology, has made us suspicious, while at the same time it encourages imagination and creativity. Should we be wary of Photoshop? One is tempted to answer: only if it alters an image intended to communicate reality, as is the case with photojournalism.
Jonas Cuénin
Read the full text of this article in the French version of Le Journal.
Luminance, The intersection of business, technology, culture and photography
September 12-13, 2012
BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Center
199 Chambers St.
New York, NY 10007
