The Importance of Photography
In the last century, photography has become one of the most important and ubiquitous inventions mankind has ever created. The invention of digital photography in the 1990s, along with its subsequent inclusion in the emerging arena of smartphones, served to bring photography to nearly everyone. Here are three reasons why photography has become so crucial.
Photography as Record
When someone takes a picture of something, they have no idea how long that thing will remain in existence. It could last seconds or centuries. In many historical cases, the picture taken has proved far more lasting, as in photos of the Titanic before it sank or famous buildings before they were bombed in WWII. People also take pictures of loved ones and important moments, and they become part of families’ histories for generations. In these cases, the use of photography provides an important record of the past that humanity might not otherwise possess.
Photography as Art
Artists with a keen eye first took up photography in the Victorian era, using it to produce a romantic aesthetic that suited their outlook on life. Since then, artists such as photographic artist Brooklyn NY have used photography as a means to express their own views and thoughts, and to capture stunning scenes and vistas of the natural world. Some famous photographers include Ansel Adams and Anne Geddes.
Photography as Science
The development of photosensitive film was a scientific process, and thus it’s not surprising that scientists were some of the first pioneers to use photography. The subsequent processes and refinements they’ve made have given humanity such tools as x-ray films, which revolutionized medicine, micrography, which has allowed us to capture images of microscopic subjects, and the Hubble telescope, which has taken thousands of photos of the sky and vastly deepened our understanding of the cosmos.
Photography has in many ways become integral to the journey of mankind and its record of the past and present. Hopefully, humans will invent new ways of utilizing this crucial tool to record the future as it happens as well.