Pocket & palm photography: New frames of social witnessing

Pocket & palm photography New frames of social witnessing

Sanjana Hattotuwa !TED Fellow Founding Editor, groundviews.org

“The best camera is the one that’s with you. Images aren’t about dynamic ranges and megapixels. They’re about stories and moments.” !

Chase Jarvis

7 billion people (2012) !

5.9 billion smartphones (2019)

what’s changed? the ubiquity of photography

Democratisation of production | From few to many

Geography of production | From geo-dispersion to geo-located photos

Time around production | From hours to develop to instant uploading

Audience around production | From personal by necessity to global by default

Cost of production | From expensive D-SLR (TCO) to totally free (via phone)

Age of producers | Getting younger (Chris, 41, Camille, 26 when killed)

Age of producers | (Ahmed Samir Assem, 26 when killed)

The marginal, those at risk, violently erased, stifled, illiterate, victims, children, women, minorities and rural can take photos to say “Here I am!”

impact the ubiquity of multiple perspectives

“The single story creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story.” !

Chimamanda Adichie

Mobile witnesses and mobiles that witness

@dronestagram on instagram

#NotABugSplat

First images of hellish conditions post-war, August 2009

@srilankabaton on instagram

@everydaysrilanka on instagram

instagram communities

instagram community via herefeed

instagram community via herefeed

thank you sanjanahattotuwa@ict4peace.org