"I don't think digital looks very authentic. I'm more fascinated with the way light is transferred to film... With film, there is still the possibility of accidents ...  of something spontaneous happening. I generally think it's a more beautiful medium all around" (NOW: Stephen Bulger). 

For centuries, people have been fascinated with the idea of capturing images and printing them in order to keep, share and enjoy their memories and experiences.  Unfortunately, many people today do not know or understand the process of taking proper pictures or developing film negatives and photographic prints in a darkroom because " ... film refuses to die. {But neither can it be resurrected ... }"(The Economist, Robert Burley). 

Over the past 15 years or so, technology has greatly advanced, impacting our lives socially, academically and artistically.  "The moment of photography's 'puberty' was around the time when the technology moved from analog to digital although it wasn't until the arrival of the Internet-enabled smartphone that we really noticed a different behavior" (TIME, Stephen Mayes).  With this increase of digital technology in our society, art mediums, specifically photography, have dissipated due to the rapid increase of social media and smart technology, particularly cellphones.  This causes many to live behind the screens of their phones instead of enjoying what is right in front of them.  As a young adult, a student and an artist, I have noticed these drastic changes affecting my life daily, in a variety of positive and negative ways.  

Photography, especially the darkroom, has always been a passion of mine.  It is a way for myself, and other artists, to express our feelings in a creative and meaningful way without having to use words. It allows us to stay in touch with the original methods of developing.  I never believed that I was artistic in any way, but as a freshman in high school, I chose to take a photography course. I was intrigued with the idea of learning about cameras and developing black-and-white photos in the darkroom.  Although these high school classes I took were very basic and repetitive, they educated me on the patience, technique, and understanding of the camera's parts and functions.  These key factors when learning about photography helped me not only with film developing and image producing in the darkroom, but also with the transition to digital.  According to one of my high school photography teachers, Steve Baris, who teaches photography in his Studio Art and Digital Design Courses, "Students have a deeper sense of the optics and the mechanics of photography by doing it through a traditional method" (Shipley School Magazine).  By stating this, Baris is agreeing that students understand and recognize the techniques and steps better by having this background of traditional photography. I learned to be patient when using a digital camera in order to get the correct lighting, focus and subject position to produce my perfect image. This practice and experience allowed myself and other students to understand the process behind the simple click of a button, while also giving us the opportunity to share and expand our abilities and admiration in order to continue this art medium.  

Photography began with the idea of Camera Obscura, which is Latin for "dark room." Camera Obscura is a darkened box or room where images of external objects, received through an aperture, with a convex lens, are projected upside down onto a screen inside. This basic photographic technique, also known as the pinhole camera, "was first mentioned in 400 BC by the founder of a Chinese philosophy called Mohism"(PBS).  Scientists and artists began to experiment with the idea of creating permanent images during the 17th century when the process was in frequent use by artists.  This would allow people to have physical copies of their memories from experiences forever.  Throughout the 19th century, the process of producing photographic images continued to advance, especially in 1871 when English doctor, Richard L. Maddox, proposed the "dry plate process," which is the use of an emulsion of gelatin and silver bromide on a glass plate. Kodak was founded in 1888 by George Eastman, which led to greater advancements in the photographic world. For example, "by 1900, Kodak introduced the Brownie Box Roll-Film camera at a retail price of one dollar, with rolls of film selling for 15 cents"(PBS), which permitted your everyday middle-class citizen to enjoy this amazing hobby.  Lastly, during the 20th century, a variety of inventions were introduced, leading us to the technological world we are in today.  These inventions included: the Photostat for reducing or enlarging images, photoflash light bulbs for a flash, the Kodachrome process of color photography, photocopying (first known as "electron photography" and "xerography"), zoom lenses, Polaroid cameras, the first point and shoot cameras, the disposal camera called Quicksnap, Adobe Photoshop and the first methods of storing and sending images over the Internet.  This all lead to the 21st century advancements of digital cameras, which ceased the productions of large amounts of film products, specifically Kodak products, in the early 2000's. 

As the person behind the lens, the biggest difference between digital and film cameras is that with digital you can take hundreds or thousands of pictures rapidly and view them instantly. While with film you can only take a certain amount per roll and have to wait until they are fully developed. Once the process of color photography came to the public in the 1900's, the next generation began to take the next steps in creating digital cameras.  This invention would support the idea of taking large amounts of color photos instantly and saving them to a hard-drive or computer. This is the beginning of how our sense of photography has greatly altered since the invention of digital:  

"Digital capture quietly but definitely severed the optical connection with reality, that physical relationship between the object photographed and the image that differentiated lens-made imagery and defined our understanding of photography for 160 years" (TIME, Stephen Mayes).  

A majority of our population spends up to thousands of dollars on digital cameras and other photographic products, while never truly understanding how to properly work them.  Non-photographers use their cameras to snap hundreds of pictures at a time without considering the artistic ability, technique and frustration behind the process.  Since the act of taking, saving, editing and sharing pictures has become so simple and meaningless to the people of our society, professional photographic artists have become unappreciated and forgotten.  Of course the artists of the world pay attention to other artists and their work, but most humans in our world are too self-absorbed to take the time to admire the creative works around them or the artists behind them.  This affects the future of photography because taking photos is no longer a privilege, but instead is a natural, everyday act just like breathing, walking or eating. 

The twenty-first century changed our artistic world. Technology, exclusively smartphones and laptops, has caused the historic process and development of taking pictures to dissipate almost completely.  These inventions have taken over our lives causing us to have trouble distinguishing reality from technology:  "Technology is now a powerful extension of the human mind. Technology captures life but simultaneously keeps us out of it. Technology keeps life safe, but in the process denies us to access it" (Huffington Post, Colier).  Digital cameras were extremely popular in the early 2000's, but once the cellphone came out we discovered that it was easier to carry one piece of technology that had a variety of functions, rather than one larger product that had one main function.  Cellphones allowed everyone who owned a phone or a computer to easily snap, send and share an image almost instantly.  "Photography changed our vision of the world by providing more access to more images drawn from more places and time in the world than ever before. Photography has enabled images to be copied and mass-distributed" (Huffington Post, Caponigro). Which leads to the idea that computers have also hurt the artistic side of photography, because "Throughout history, technology has provided artists with new tools for expression" (BBC News, Gever). With Adobe Photoshop and similar applications, editing photos and other artwork has changed the expectations of final projects. "It provided extraordinary detail rendered with exceptional precision; never before had images so life-like" (Huffington Post, Caponigro).  Many, especially advertisements, have begun to increase the colors of their photos, change body shapes and imperfections, increase the sharpness and more.  These editing techniques have created unrealistic expectations for not only artists, but also for viewers. Our generation has changed the way we view everything in our world. 

 It is 2016 and these products have vastly progressed throughout the past decade, causing "art" to have lost the meaning and admiration that it once had.  Art used to be the production of creativity and imagination by talented and caring people for beauty and expression, but is now overshadowed by the basic creations of almost anyone.  Many art forms, such as painting, singing, acting and more have been greatly affected by new technology, but photography has had the largest impact by far because everyone is now "living behind the lens." Even if you do not believe it, you, along with everyone else, are at fault.  Psychotherapist Nancy Colier has had a lot of experience with people not fully experiencing life due to smartphone technology: 

"The most frequent complaint that I hear these days is that people feel estranged from their own lives, unable to enter their experience  --  as if they are ghosts, floating outside the experience of life itself. Their life is happening and time is passing, but they are not exactly the ones living it, at least not directly. Our cultural disease is one of absence, as if our own presence has gone missing from life" (Huffington Post, Colier). 

Since smartphones became the most popular technological advancement, people are paying less attention to their surroundings because they are so focused on their cellphone screen.  Have you ever noticed that wherever you go you almost always see someone taking a picture? When humans travel, hang out with friends, go to concerts, etc. they no longer enjoy or pay attention to what is right in front of them because smartphones have taken over our brain capacity. No matter what you are taking a picture of these days, you are focusing on the screen in front of you, not the actual scene where you physically are.  I have discussed the negative aspects of technological inventions and advancements on the artistic world, but there are also many reasons why they are helping this idea of art.

Technology has also helped our world change for the better.  Artistically, these inventions have helped artists all over the world share their work with whomever they wish with a click of a button.  Digital cameras have made it easier for professional event or journalism photographers to take large varieties of colored photos quickly, without having to worry about how they turned out until a later time.  Editing tools also play a big role in fixing these images to get the perfect one without making it look unrealistic, but the tools also help artists move out of their comfort zones.  This allows them to be more creative or abstract, while also being able to experiment with new ideas without them being permanent.  Smartphones may not be good for our society socially because of lack of interaction and communication face-to-face, but they have given us the chance to always have a camera with us.  By always having a camera, you never need to be disappointed if you forgot to bring a real camera because they have the same outcome: a photograph.  Our world has been given many opportunities to excel more creatively and academically with amazing technological inventions, but we take advantage of that, making us lazier and less observant. 

These rapid advancements of digital technology have caused our art mediums, specifically photography, to be overshadowed and disrespected by our society. People have been spending less time creating artwork because they have been spending more time "messing around" on their smartphones and computers.  By using these technological inventions, many have turned off their brains in order to enjoy senseless entertainment, causing them to ignore everything that is physically right in front of them.  This decreases artistic creativity, academic ability and social interactions because everyone is so focused on living behind the lens, or screen, but we can try to fix this by simply putting down these devices in order to enjoy and take in our natural surroundings and beauty. 

