Final Reading Response

1. Identify the article you have selected and why you chose it.

I picked the "Brainstorm: The Art of Instant Gratification" article by Stephen Joel Trachtenberg because the main pic, which is a pic of a digital camera with a variety different pictures flashing on the screen. This particular image caught my attention and made me to find out what the article is about. I love taking pictures and I figured that this reading was going to be about photography or something similar of that subject.



2. What are the main points of the essay?

A big portion of this article discusses photography and its past, and it's rapid growth and popularity since it was first featured. One of the paragraphs mentions the "almost biblical" feeling that the early photography process has with all of it's steps and procedures and how amazing the photograph would seem after being processed. It goes on talking about Kodak and their brownie camera and its contribution to the history of photography; and how technology and Kodak reduced the process of photography down to about 2 steps. Polaroid won over pop culture however with it's instant "picture taking" increasing the gratification by eliminating numerous, tedious steps that once stood between photographers and their photos. And it also talks about the digital camera and how it brings the people of the 21st century instant gratification with it's one,two,three, click process. The photographer's of today's world have a different perspective of memory because the album of this century is on the Internet in"cyber space" and can be digitally enhanced by various websites.


3. How are the ideas or arguments in this article relevant to your own practice as a media artist?

As a film major the history of photography is vital because it's like the mother of film; and as a media artist it important to know how this form of art started off in order to continue its process.I'm also very interested in photography so I really connected with this article on that note.