Author(s): İsmail Erim GÜLAÇTI
Photographs, intertwined with Modernism, rapidly turned into a groundbreaking phenomenon with multi-dimensional sociological and cultural repercussions shortly after it was invented in the 19th century, in which it was perceived as yet another scientific tool. The 19th century roles of photographs for documenting and keeping memories got transformed and the areas of use for photographs rapidly diversified as well as they become even more complex as a result of the dramatic changes that were brought about in the 20th century. Coupled with the digital infrastructure realized in the 20th century, photographs revolutionized the nature of communication, individuals’ perception of identity and the method of keeping and remembering memories. Molded into the widespread tool of communicating experiences, expressing oneself and creating a visual memory by this digital shift in the 20th century, photographs also became a popular means of forging a digital identity via the Internet and social media. Despite the match between this circumstance and the individuals’ desire for instant communication staying up-to-date, the ease of manipulation that the same digital shift resulted in also radically loosened individuals’ control over their digital photographs. Even though this situation seems to have eliminated the role of photographs as memory, it only transformed this role due to the manipulation and the potential to construct a digital identity offered by the Internet and social media. Consequently, individuals’ photographs of themselves or of the moments that they lived have started to turn up in unexpected circumstances at equally unexpected times. As such, it seems that the role of photography as memory has gone well beyond being individualistic and turned into a collective one thanks to the digital potential made possible by the Internet and social media. This study, which has a descriptive and exploratory qualitative method, investigates how a transformation of not only technological but also socio-cultural dimensions has come to reshape photography in general and digital photography in particular.
The Journal of International Social Research received 8982 citations as per Google Scholar report
