The Social Photo
- Laura Marsh
- Jan 21, 2021
- 7 min read
Updated: Jan 23, 2021
Memories and Moments: Pre-module Task
The Social Photo by Nathan Jurgenson is a detailed and intriguing look at how social media and photography have developed into our daily lives and thereby our relationship with it and how we use it to document our activities, holidays, what we eat and drink and communicate with family, friends, and followers.
My own relationship with social media and the photo, is a mix one. Working within education I am fully aware of the benefits and dangers surrounding the use of social media, especially to children, teenagers, and young adults but also to those who may not fully understand it. My response to these platforms is to use them but share little about myself, including my own image. I have shied away from posting selfies on all platforms I use, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn, and only using my image for profile pictures. My reasoning is purely due to not wanting images of myself online, and possibly a lack of confidence, but it also has a lot to do with who I am, my personality. Instead, my social image of myself usually is in the form of a shot of my feet, instead of a selfie, which Jurgenson describes as “…that mirror-view, what we see when contemplating our self, considering what we are” (Jurgenson, 2019:55).
Reading The Social Photo inspired me to look back at my past posts on Instagram, which is now the site I use the most, both personally and for this course. One of my first posts was of my feet looking down, documenting a moment and activity of walking in the rain. In fact, every post I make with my feet is to document a feeling or an observation to share with people online. This reminded me of Barthes observation in Camera Lucida, “why choose (why photograph) this object, this moment, rather than some other?” (Barthes, 2000:6)
Below are some of these images from my Instagram, which I feel have become my social identity, from 2016 through until 2020.
Figures 1-4: Laura Marsh, 2016-2020, Instagram Posts
Why I chose to do this, it seems to be a reaction to a thought or action and I do not set out to look for the opportunities, is this my way of validating my presence? Of being somewhere? I feel for me this is one way I can communicate myself to others, in a medium that is comfortable to me. Cameras offer us a way to express ourselves and communicate with others, share personal experiences. Being introverted and uncomfortable in social situations, I find sharing a post on social media such as Facebook, Instagram or Twitter gives me a voice and the choice to post as much or as little as I choose, removing the social pressure of being face-to-face can make things uncomfortable.
Jurgenson speaks about whether we are recording a moment, referring to my comment regarding Barthes, and states “the effect of the social photo conditions how we experience the world, how we recognise instances within it as significant or meaningful or funny or important or worthy” (Jurgenson, 2019:28)
This reading has made me more aware of what others post online and spotting trends that seem to develop at certain times. At the time of reading it was Christmas 2020 and social media slowly became awash with photographs of Christmas trees, decorations and presents. Those identities and people choosing to share their experience with family and friends, at a time when we were unable to, but despite the current global situation regarding COVID-19, sharing the moments has become a normal everyday activity and I feel in some way an expectation, almost to prove that it happened.
Susan Sontag is referenced by Jurgenson from her book On Photography when talking about consuming experiences “needing to have reality confirmed and experience enhanced by photographs is an aesthetic consumerism to which everyone is now addicted” (Sontag, The Social Photo, 2019:38). Having the need to share these moments has become a way of life, instantly updating others as to what we are doing, I wonder however if there is a danger to us oversharing, has that need to document our lives become a way of validating our time, experiences and thoughts?
“Are those documenting the moment themselves in the moment?” (Jurgenson, 2019:78)
The camera provides us with an opportunity to capture a thought or moment, which can make things less boring to us and possibly to an audience, it gives something a purpose and reason. Jurgenson describes “This documentary consciousness gives one something to do, to turn every moment into one that is potentially productive, like a tourist of our own experience” (Jurgenson, 2019:37). David Bates discusses a similar point in his book Photography: The Key Concepts, “Taking a photograph of something in everyday life is not only simply to recognise it as something of interest but also to make it of interest” (Bates, 2019:48)
This leads me to how we view the social photo, this is likened to a “rapid succession of Imagery” (Jurgensen, 2019:32) and that to a landscape passing by from a train window, described by Jurgenson. Some posts you notice others you do not and as you scroll by certain images my standout to you more, such as those of greater interest or of those people closest to you. I have noticed this with my own social media, some posts are lost within the amount and speed of others being posted. The act of swiping the screen gives the viewer a “panoramic view” of social life, claims Jurgenson. The scenery passing by a train window, fleeting lost moments.
Holiday Photos
You see images of peoples holidays, moments they have captured days or weeks before, ready to share online, to document what they have done and seen. I wonder why we are now compelled to do so, is it to prove the experience, to inform? I post images of places I have been but in a way that represents my photography, as well as something that is relevant to something I am working on or to update family, friends, and colleagues of how I am doing. The camera becomes important “it’s not just the importance of the moment that drives us to the shutter button, the act of pulling out the camera itself imports significance on the moment” (Jurgenson, 2019:39).
Presently, this includes how I am coping working and studying online from home during this current UK lockdown, by images of my desk and books. I may use the Instagram story function instead of a feed post, documenting my progress and thoughts, there is also an element to take part in a social sharing of progress and feedback from peers this way.
Facebook Memories
Another element that stood out to me reading The Social Photo, was how much social media reminds us of past experiences, with tools such as memories and 'on this day' within Facebook and Instagram. This almost forbids us to forget until you log in and are reminded by a photo from a year or more in the past. This ability to capture days gone by within media gives images an eternal presence. This links to my own work currently where I have been inspired by Barthes and Sontag and their philosophy on the parallels between photographs and death. In regards to social media, this to me reflects on the act of people posting a photograph of a relative or friend who may have just died or sharing a memory on an anniversary. This has become a normal thing to do, especially on Facebook. It gives the views a reminder of our own mortality and a chance to remember loved ones at the same time. I experience this effect myself, when see images of those who have passed away appear on my screen, and suddenly you are reminded, not only of their life but the fact they are no longer here. This element Barthes describes as the Punctum. "which rises from the scene, shoots out of it like an arrow, and pierces me" (Barthes, 2000:26).
Jurgenson I feel describes this effect of photos on social media as well, "photo's, like all documents, are nostalgic in that they embalm their subjects - s stilling sadness that kills what it attempts to save out of fear of losing it, a fear of death" (Jurgenson, 2019:26). This need to treasure our memories and moments, social media in it's digital form allows us to re-use moments and images when we choose. Liz Wells, in her book Photography: A Critical introduction, describes this as images that may "disappear leaving it accessible to be 're-framed' within new context" (Wells, 2015:70).
The Social Photo has opened my eyes and forced me to view social media, my social media, in a critical way. I have found myself asking why am I sharing this particular image? What am I trying to say? and still revealing small parts of my personality, feelings and thoughts, slowly over time. Will I develop this and share more in time? Or will I share less from now on? I am unsure, but I have found myself contemplating how I use social media, and how my Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts are more about the Photographer Laura, rather than myself. Where will social media take us next is something I am curious about, will we only communicate via images, more like Instagram, summarising our days, feelings and observations in an image.
Instagram sites:
@laura_marsh_photos
@lauramarshphotography
Bibliography:
Barthes, Roland, et al. Camera Lucida : Reflections on Photography. London, Vintage Books, 2000.
Bate, David. PHOTOGRAPHY : The Key Concepts. S.L., Bloomsbury Visual Arts, 2019.
Jurgenson, Nathan. Social Photo : On Photography and Social Media. Verso Books, 2019.
Sontag, Susan, and Penguin. On Photography. London, Penguin Books, 2008.
Wells, Liz. Photography a Critical Introduction. London [U.A] Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2015.
Figures:
Figures 1-4: Laura Marsh, 2016-2020, Instagram Posts
Figure 5: Laura Marsh, 2019, Devon, Instagram Post
Figure 6: Laura Marsh, 2020, Instagram Post
Figure 7: Laura Marsh, 2021, Lockdown Cabin Fever, Instagram Post
Figure 8: Laura Marsh, 2021, Instagram Post, January 2021
Comments