Influence of Photography on Reality

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Influence of Photography on Reality
A young man peers into a screen attached to a box that projects its image through a small lens. It is the 17th century and the artist Johannes Vermeer is preparing to paint another image based on a reflection of reality though a box. Today billions of people around the world peer into boxes with projected light and receive a different reality with images created through photography that has affected the world in many ways. Photography has become more and more accessible to the general population. For much of its technological existence, photographing was only a luxury for the wealthy. Eventually the common man could afford cameras and take pictures although these usually remained confined to a small family or friend group. It was not until the last decade or so that everyone could attain cameras, with most having them on their phones, and shared them among a vast social network creating a profile based on the everyday image. As photography has improved during the last two centuries, it has affected the way we perceive reality.
The first camera ever invented was the camera obscura, invented by Joseph Nicephore Niepce. Originally the camera obscura was a box with a hole in one side. Light would shine through that hole and project an image onto paper inside the box. Prior to Neipce artists used the camera obscura for viewing or drawing purposes. It was not possible to make permanent photographs from the device. Neipce placed a plate with bitumen on it in the camera obscura and the first photograph was created (Bellis). This first image took 8 hours to create and later faded. Eventually, a photograph called the daguerreotype was produced. This first image did not fade and only took up to 30 min...

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Mirkinson, Jack. "Photographer Who Took Obama Selfie Picture Says We're All Reading It Wrong." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 11 Dec. 2013. Web. 19 Dec. 2013.
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