The Digital Insider

When I have a chance I love to watch the Colbert Report on Comedy Central and I caught a segment on the show last week that I found particularly interesting and wanted to share with everyone.

The clip below is Steven Colbert’s interview with Chris Jordan. Jordan is a photographer focused on using photography to demonstrate the environmental impact of the American consumer. The point of my blog is not to necessarily make any sort of social statement, but rather the interview and Jordan’s work really highlighted for me the power of photos, especially in the context of making a social statement. Whether you agree with Jordan’s belief that our consumption is a “slow-motion apocalypse”, it is hard to argue that his photography brings to light something that is otherwise very difficult to grasp in our day-to-day lives. In his own words, Jordan explains his work:

Exploring around our country’s shipping ports and industrial yards, where the accumulated detritus of our consumption is exposed to view like eroded layers in the Grand Canyon, I find evidence of a slow-motion apocalypse in progress. I am appalled by these scenes, and yet also drawn into them with awe and fascination. The immense scale of our consumption can appear desolate, macabre, oddly comical and ironic, and even darkly beautiful; for me its consistent feature is a staggering complexity.

The pervasiveness of our consumerism holds a seductive kind of mob mentality. Collectively we are committing a vast and unsustainable act of taking, but we each are anonymous and no one is in charge or accountable for the consequences. I fear that in this process we are doing irreparable harm to our planet and to our individual spirits.

As an American consumer myself, I am in no position to finger wag; but I do know that when we reflect on a difficult question in the absence of an answer, our attention can turn inward, and in that space may exist the possibility of some evolution of thought or action. So my hope is that these photographs can serve as portals to a kind of cultural self-inquiry. It may not be the most comfortable terrain, but I have heard it said that in risking self-awareness, at least we know that we are awake.

The video is well worth the 6 minute viewing time, as is typical for Colbert’s interviews, the main message is not lost in the humor.

For more on Chris Jordan visit: http://www.chrisjordan.com/

For the past few months now I have been reading an online newsletter called Photojojo. The newsletter is published twice and week and I would highly recommend everyone check it out. They are constantly profiling new and cool things you can do with your digital photos, whether they be taken on a digital camera or photos you had converted to digital format everyone can find something new to do with their photos at Photojojo. The idea for Photojojo was born when two friends Amit and Kara realized they both had a love for digital photography and knowledge of all sorts of fun things to do with digital photos, but no way to share this knowledge.

“You probably own a digital camera and you’ve probably taken a bajillion photos with it. You may have printed a few. Well, it turns out there’s a whole world of things you can do with your photos and with your camera that nobody ever told you about. We find the most kick-ass photo tips, DIY projects, and gear and bring them to you. Turn a photo into a mural at home in 5 minutes, print your friends’ faces onto cupcakes, or get a bottlecap that turns any soda bottle into a tripod… subscribe and we’ll show you how.”

Topics tend to run the full gambit of digital photography which is something I love about the newsletter. Just in the last week they have profiled such things as major photography exhibits around the U.S., a way to turn your digital photos into a music video and a guide to creating your own photo journal books. In addition to the newsletter articles, you can also visit the Photojojo store and purchase all sorts of great photography related products. The site is useful, but keeps a light fun tone.

One of the best parts of the site is the forum where readers can post and discuss a wide variety of digital photography topics. Congrats to Amit and Kara on a great idea and keep up the good work over at Photojojo!

I have been thinking a lot lately about the impact of digital photography on the development of the social web. Sites such as Facebook and MySpace for better and for worse allow people not only to create online profiles, but what have become full online personalities. These personalities are defined, in part, by what people are writing about themselves, but more often defined by the photos and images individuals are posting of themselves, friends, family and activities. While there is some negative impact that comes from this (college seniors being cut from job applicant pools based on inappropriate photos) for the most part I view the impact of digital photography’s involvement in the social web as a very positive one.

Groups of individuals can link and bond in ways that were never possible before. A couple of weeks ago I finally read Chris Anderson’s The Long Tail, to me the social web really is creating the long tail of socialization. Allowing groups of individuals with very distinct tastes or interests to find each other and share their common bond. Digital photos only help to accelerate the speed at which these groups can develop, both by making it easier to identify new members with a common interest and also by facilitating better information sharing capabilities. This ability to share and community build allows these groups to truly capitalize on the long tail effect.

In thinking about the topic I came across a posting by Dennis Dunleavy on his blog “The Big Picture”, he offers interesting insights to this topic as well. For those that are interested the article can be found here: http://ddunleavy.typepad.com/the_big_picture/2007/08/the-role-of-the.html

As the social web matures, it will be exciting and interesting to see the impact of these new social communities. Let me know your thoughts on the topic!