Ch. 3 Reading Response

A bulk of the chapter talked about the history of the transformation of the popularity of photography, especially through the pioneering of Kodak cameras and photography equipment. The chapter reads: "promotional pictures had to have a universal appeal, so that people would say 'I want to take a picture like that...'" -- this is actually exactly what inspired my photography interest/ hobby in the first place. To add to that, with online photo-sharing platforms, it is much easier to get access to different media and photography types. In this way, "commercial and popular photography have exerted their influence on personal photographic styles, promoting ideas and aspirations as well as lifestyle. " (p.147) Certainly, with apps like Facebook (creating a culture of lifestyle) and instagram(creating a style of photographs), it is easy to join the culture in creating personal photos for the public.

The chapter mentioned that in "home photography", most collections of pictures were of time spent away from home. I think this is definitely true nowadays. I know that even in my family, if we go on a trip somewhere, we would always bring a camera. Most of our pictures are not of being in the home. Maybe it's more of a thing in Asia, but since where I'm from (Hong Kong) is such a tourist destination, everwhere I go - especially during the summer or December - tourists would take pictures of themselves everywhere, even if it's just outside some shop window.

With the internet and online photo-sharing advancements, as well as the camera being more accessible to everyone, how do you see a change in the culture of photography? Do you think that makes photography more or less of a "professional" art?
I only ask this because nowadays, where people say "I'm a photographer" I think it's less impressive than when people say that 30 or 50 years ago. Because 'photography' is someone a lot of people can 'pick up'