Looking into the Future with Google Glasses

Two recent blog posts about advances in photo technology have caught my eye. This: https://plus.google.com/111626127367496192147/posts

and this: http://www.bagnewsnotes.com/2012/07/the-future-of-photojournalism-robots/, both claiming to be the future of photography. In both cases, the technical skill of the individual photographer seems to be superseded by technology. These new tools can't really replace the ability anticipate a significant event by simply being there ready at the right time. No matter what new tools we get, it seems that Weegee's Law," F/8 and be there" has yet to be disproved, although with the robot, "F/8 and been there" might be a useful amendment. Google Glasses represent for me the realization of a long held dream--to be able to capture whatever image is seen by my eye--without the obvious interference introduced by the recording apparatus. 

As much as I love the beautiful machinery of photography, the true purpose of the camera is to visually record the scene it's placed in front of. Many times, the presence of this machinery changes the thing that it's observing, therefore undermining its own purpose. These new devices, by being virtually invisible, or at least transparent to the subject, come much closer to realizing photography's original objectives. I can't help but conclude that Google Glasses (once perfected) and similar devices may at last solve Schrödinger's paradox, at least for photographers, finally allowing us to photograph the cat without killing it. This development may not change what makes a good photograph, but it will change the dynamic of what it takes to make a good photograph, forever. 

Of course the privacy implications of such technology, as well as their effect on the already beleaguered profession of photojournalism will certainly catalyze no end of comment. The privacy issues implied by Google Glasses may generate more generalized objection in society, but we've already become so accustomed to sharing once private aspects of our lives with the world, that I predict that the debut of GG's, giving everyone the ability to effortlessly record and broadcast personal experience to one and all will be absorbed and accepted into society more quickly than our ability to understand the implications of these changes. As with every technological revolution from the printing press to the mobile phone, we'll adopt the new tech wholesale and deal with the social consequences afterwards. Perhaps the further loss of what we've traditionally viewed as individual privacy will bring us closer to the original human social structure of everyone being interdependent and mutually accountable to everyone else that was lost by the advent of modernity's illusion of individualism, but this is a topic for another day. The implications of this change for photography will be no less revolutionary for our profession.

The reaction of professional photographers to Google glasses may be more vociferous and bitter than the inevitable objections of society in general. Think how many articles, conversations, seminar topics, etc. have centered on the ubiquity of cellphonography, and its supposedly deleterious effects on the field of photography. Google glasses, if and when they become widely available, have the potential to further revolutionize this democratization of imagemaking.  We don't have time to cry at our own funeral. Rather than waste energy mourning the further encroachment of technology into what has traditionally been a hard earned skill, we photographers would do well to reevaluate and develop the skills we posses that are not subject to technological obsolescence, embrace the new possibilities, and apply our creative energy to finding innovative ways to use all the tools available that will enable us to use our images in a way that is analogous to how writers use words: We can SHOW the world stories that inspire, engage, and inform our audiences.

One never hears writers complaining that technology of word processing software and computers made their craft too easy for the masses, therefore endangered their profession or art form. Writers earn that title by having something significant to say, the skill to do it beautifully and clearly, and the dedication and savvy to bring the work to the right audience. Writers have not, since the advent of the printing press and generalized literacy, been able to depend on the exclusivity of their creative product in order to define and justify the importance of their art and craft. Good writers know that their reputation depends on having the ability to tell stories that inspire, engage, and inform their audiences. If we photographers have anything significant to communicate with our images, the ubiquity of photographic technology that makes it easier to capture and disseminate them should be seen as a blessing that enables our objectives, not as a curse that opens some previously exclusive realm for anyone. The value of photography should not be measured by its exclusivity of access to those who can afford to invest in expensive equipment, but by the worth of what is communicated, both in form and content. 

It's undeniable that digital technology has proven enormously disruptive to the traditional business models of how we photographers have distributed and gotten paid for our work. The internet has obviously superseded many revenue streams that have supported professional photographers in the past, and undercut the rest. I'm not denying this reality, or downplaying its often negative impact on the profession. Like it or not, Google Glasses are only going accelerate this trend. Standing on the soapbox of outmoded copyright law and suing everyone who reposts our images online is the digital equivalent of closing the barn door after the horses have escaped. The train's already left the station, the milk is spilt and the water's way past the bridge. Those who are adaptable enough to use the new technology to provide quality visual stories that attract and engage an audience in whatever medium and venue becomes available will carry advanced photography into the future.