The
homonym of “shooting”
It
all started
about 3 weeks ago; our project in the freshmen seminar course. My course topic
was about “Vision Machines”, where we look deep into the origins of inventions,
their implementations and their potentials. We were all engaged in critically
analyzing our topic; we looked at the inventions timeline, the true purposes of
inventions and their impacts on our lives. We applied that on our study of
different inventions, namely the incandescent light-bulb and the camera.
Accordingly, our midterm project was about one of the most important inventions
ever made: the camera. Applying the same principal of analysis, and with a more
engaging and hands-on experience, we started by understanding the camera
mechanism by making one of our own; we assembled the cameras from scratch in
groups, gathering materials and combining them into a single simple, yet
precise, construct. It was a tough objective, because we experienced a lot of
limitations from lack of materials to the great difficulty in light-proofing
the whole thing. However, after almost 3 long days of taking photographs and
completely failing in developing them, we finally succeeded in making our first
successful prints. However, not all photographs could be taken by the class
model. Actually, only a couple could.
In the process, we looked into
various readings, from popular and scholarly articles, and watched the movie Hugo
along with some other short videos, initiating discussions and analysis. We
found out that inventions hold more than what everyone would think they do. For
example, our main theme, the camera, may be looked at from many different
aspects. This is because photography is more than just taking photos; it may be
considered as a form of art, in how it captures the beauty of nature and frames
gorgeous scenes, or as a form of magic, in how it can produce stunning displays
and unbelievable moving pictures, and even as a form of power, in how it can be
held as evidence for certain causes and in how it makes the photographer in a
vantage point with respect to the one being viewed and so much more. And so we
divided these themes on pairs. Each pair was to research their theme thoroughly
and analytically to be able to bring up even more ideas and critical open-ended questions.
I partnered with Yousef Mohab in a relatively wide theme with many branches to
research in: The Power of The Image. Personally, I see that the camera
particularly resembles power the most in how it aids the government in control
and maintaining power over the public.
Through
ages, photography has contributed to the fulfilment of the authorities’ forever
lust in maintaining control. One of the very first examples of that was when
the Paris police “appropriated photography as an instrument of class war when
they documented the faces of the survivors of the commune of 1871” (Sekula
94-95). However, that was a very primitive example, being “the first instance
of the photo ID”, compared to the paramount power the image provides for
authorities nowadays. As claimed by Neil M. Richards in his article The
Dangers of Surveillance, the introduction of new technologies, “from
surveillance cameras and web bugs to thermal scanners and GPS transponders”, have
made our lives more accessible and trackable. (Richards 1936) In fact,
it
was recently revealed that the NSA was running a project called “OPTIC NERVE”
that collected photos and information from the Yahoo network users’ webcams.
Almost 1.8 million users were targeted by the UK agency in six-months only. (Ackerman
and Ball) With all of that at hand, the government could see everything that
you do anytime, and would almost certainly know if you do anything that may
shake their grip. This is very crucial for the authorities, because if they
can’t see what you are doing, they won’t be able to take steps towards
manipulating your ideas and insights about your rights and your country.
However, it doesn’t just stop at surveillance;
the governments are depriving the other side –general public- from exploiting
this power. In other words, they are using their power of control to choke the
expressive power of the image the public may have to reveal problems, create
propagandas or uprisings; they are trying to be the only heard voice. In North
Korea, their internet is limited to only 28 websites, most of which are
government-controlled websites that only focus on their leader, Kim Jong-un.
(Griffin) This way, governments could manipulate the public opinion, by
displaying only the facts that would keep the citizens sedated. In fact, any
attempt at breaking that, revealing a problem in the order of the country or
covering a movement against the government, is very discouraged, illegal in
some cases; The LSC photographer, Alshebl, was recently arrested while covering
an anti-government protest at Tripoli Martyrs' Square. (CPJ) The photo in
Figure 3 shows the complete rebellious feelings and the diversity of the
protestors, which is a great power these protestors possessed; a threat to the
government that had to be covered up. The photo did have power, like a weapon
armed against the government, and the government just fired back.
Speaking about weapons,
photography and surveillance were taken so far to be included even in wars and
political issues; Intelligence personnel from US JSOC’s Task Force 48-4 have
used surveillance technologies, with the aid of pictures and satellites, to
track and locate targets in Yemen for drone-strikes. (Currier) The picture in
Figure 4 shows proof of the sequence of operations of drone strikes on Yemen,
it demonstrates another form of power here: the power of proof. Now, this is
scary, but what’s even more frightening is the fact that researchers have now
invented a “Microcamera” –Figure 5- that is no larger than the size of
a grain of salt (Pachal), just imagine its applications in spying and
international wars. Imagine the potential power in the hands of those who can
see you, without you noticing them. In that sense, we can see that the camera
has developed from being just a point-and-shoot device to take photographs to
be a tool to point-and-shoot with fire and take lives…
The
myth of having security and privacy is now invalid, everything is accessible
and trackable by those in power. Photography indeed is a weapon, a strong form
of power, primarily one of the greatest inventions ever. However, just like
most inventions, we abused it- or the authorities abused it- for selfish greedy
benefits. Photography has shaped a lot of aspects in our lives, but we should
be aware and avoid it being a source of control on us. The government gained
their power from being able to control the media (Sekula 95), and with the
modern social media platforms and freedom of speech rights, we could be able to
control the media too. We would be able to regain that power.
Works
cited
Ackerman,
Spencer and James Ball. (2014, Feb 28). Optic Nerve: millions of Yahoo webcam
images intercepted by GCHQ. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/27/gchq-nsa-webcam-images-internet-yahoo
Anonymous.
(2016, Aug). Photographer arrested while covering a protest in Libya. Committee
to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Retrieved from https://cpj.org/2016/08/photographer-arrested-while-covering-a-protest-in-.php
Awaga, Yasmin.
“Ghost”. Core Project Album. Photo.
Cardy, Matt.
“Met Police Launch New Special Operations Room”. Getty Images News, editorial
no. 73934515. Photo.
Currier, Cora.
(2015, Oct 15). The Drone Papers: The Kill Chain. The Intercept.
Retrieved from https://theintercept.com/drone-papers/the-kill-chain/
Griffin, Andrew.
(2016, Sep 21). North Korea accidentally makes government websites available to
the world. The Independent UK. Retrieved from http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/north-korea-accidentally-makes-government-websites-available-to-the-world-a7320211.html.
Pachal, Peter.
(2011, Mar 10). Researchers Create World's Smallest Camera, No Bigger Than a
Grain of Salt. PCMag. Retrieved from http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2381752,00.asp.
Richards, Neil M. “The Dangers of Surveillance”. Harvard
Law Review, vol. 126, no. 8, 2013, pp. 1934-1965.
Sekula, Allan.
“On the Invention of Photographic Meaning”. Thinking Photography, edited
by Victor Burgin, Macmillan Education UK, 1982, pp. 84-109.
Zeitouni,
Ismail. “Protest in Tripoli Against French Military Intervention in Libya”. Reuters,
22 Jul 2016. Photo.
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