A constructed version of the self - I've been thinking about this in response to my post about photos creating authenticity.

Yes, photos do create a sense of authenticity, but what role does our ability to regulate the photos we're tagged in play.

As i mentioned in my last post, I went to a Hen's Party last weekend. The bride's mother had a camera and was 'recording' the event, she snapped photos of us at the sophisticated high tea in the afternoon, in front of the Stretch Hummer, having drinks on our way to the city inside the Hummer, while waiting outside the dance studio for our lesson, during the lesson, at the bar after the lesson etc. You get the idea, throughout the night, photos were taken. 

But fast-forward to Monday morning when i was on my way to uni and the notification came up "Kirsty Smith added 22 photos of you." Suddenly i was anxious. What were the photos of? Were they of me respectably sipping champagne at the high tea or slightly tipsy with a leg looped around a pole at the pole dancing class? I was on edge as my train entered a tunnel and i was unable to view the photographs now contributing to my online identity. I wasn't ashamed of my involvement in the pole dancing class, but i still didn't want all my Facebook friends thinking that was an accurate representation of me. 

My day progressed, back-to-back classes and meetings and before i knew it i was at home and had been unable to regulate my online profile. As i sat down on Facebook in the early hours of the morning to see which photos had been taken, a notification came up.

A church friend had seen the photos and commented. I immediately took down the photo which presented me playfully lifting the tip of my dress up. Then the same friend posted on my wall. 

I had regulated my photos, i had removed a tag from the photo to disallow my Facebook friends to see the photo. I had effectively, altered a version of my self. In reality i was enjoying myself, having a laugh with friends at a pole dancing studio, but online i had removed the record of that. 

My Facebook photos are a representation of who i am. I removed the tag of a photo that i thought lowered my sense of self. I was constructing my identity. 

I wonder how often people do this, i wonder how often i do this without realising. Removing photos of me looking awkward, removing photos of me in social situations that others could perceive me as something other than where i want to be seen. Where once we didn't remove a photo from the developers envelope and frame it, now we remove any record of it, or just any ability for people we care about seeing it. 

The humble photograph: Creating authenticitity.

The internet has created a new realm of identity, in the same way that one would limit how much they share in a social setting, an online presence now enables individuals to regulate how much they share or even what they share. In addition, social networking sites with the ability to create a profile page, select profile photos and share interests, mark their visits to physical locations, share their thoughts through 'status updates' etc. all contribute to this constructed version of self. But what role do those photos have? 

Anna, i love that quote: "We don't trust words because they're words, but we trust pictures because they're pictures. That's crazy," because it's totally true. I file through Twitter and Facebook reading status updates or even see the attendance marked on events, i don't trust it. The human word can be broken. Nothing says "Sally Mitchem is now in a relationship with David Carlton" more than a photo of them lip locked at a recent party. Similarly nothing says, "Jennifer Pennington is now engaged to Jeremy Ponsonby" more than a photo of Jen's engagement ring. We trust photos, it gives tangibility to a scene or a situation. 

For example, a quick scroll through my Facebook page can tell the audience a few things: 

•  I'm organising a Christian conference. 

• I love Instagram.

• I went to a Hen's Party last weekend. 

The reason why i think this is interesting is because a profile page creates an identity - it's a record of who i am, what i do and what i think. Without photos, is any of that legitimate?

I could post a status saying i'm at the front of a moshpit starring right into the eyes of my favourite artist OR i could post a photo taken on my phone showing that i'm actually right there. Which one would you trust more? Me? The photo, for sure. 

Photos have this sense of authenticitity to them. 

iPhoto-ing Part 1

iPhoto pretty much changed my life...as cheesy as that sounds when it graced my photos with its presence in 2010, as I purchased my first Macbook and crossed over into "Apple lover" territory.

iPhoto is a really simple but special application because it changes the memory of past events, you can make a scene or a moment in time have any mood you would like it to. 

iPhoto is therefore a way of moving past your every day life and context! 

You can transcend the limitations of today, to present a different time period or season. I will show you how through some examples in editing the following photo to create different moods, time periods, and seasons. 

This is the original copy of the photo that will compose the majority of this initial iPhoto journey, and was taken at the top of the Empire State Building in Manhattan, NY, in December 2011 on a freezing and misty winter's day.


And so the journey to re-writing history and memories begins, to make my travel experiences more glossy and exciting. 

The aim of my iPhoto journey is to help other young people understand that they can't always trust the photo they see on their respective social media website. 

Everyone is trying to deliberately tell a unique story through the photos they post. 

:) 

Paul

Instagramation Part 1

Well, I did it.

Yes, bloggers. As of 5:55PM on Monday 20 August 2012, the oh so graphically challenged, shakey-on-the-handy-cam Miss Nicola Zarimis has INSTAGRAM!!

And so my journey begins, to investigate the process by which photo becomes phact (see what I did there...?)-- the exploration of the self to "selfie" and perhaps even along the way, bring a life to my Instagram confidant, "Photonomous".

Stay tuned...! xx Nicola