Technology Change

Film to Digital
The change from film to digital photography in war is very significant as it so much more versatile and allows more options for the photographer. Issues such as storage have been dramatically improved as digital SD cards are smaller, lighter and have a far greater capacity than film reels. As technology continues to improve, digital cameras are getting faster and easier to use which can be useful for photographers in dangerous situations. Photographers can quickly make adjustments to camera settings to effectively capture the unpredictable nature of a war zone. Also, being in digital format, images are able to be sent instantly all around the world to portray to the general public a side of war they would never usually see shortly after it happens. As well as these advantages, photographers can indulge in such features as reviewing/deleting photos instantly which are some of the advantages that make digital popular for the general public also.

Spy camera use
There has been a large improvement in ‘spy’ photography for the purpose of discovering enemy hideouts, hidden weapons, enemy movement etc. Originally it would be extremely dangerous to receive enemy information as photographers would have to infiltrate enemy territory or fly close enough to obtain useful pictures. These kinds of methods were easily flawed due to the close proximity of the spy/plane. In recent times Issues such as reduced camera size have made it easy to take pictures discretely without being noticed. See photos below.


http://www.freshnessmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/354_0.jpg


http://www.electromannsa.co.za/shop/files/Chinavasion-CVSD-629-2-sss.jpg

Increased lense length and quality is also an advancement in technology useful for spying on enemy lines with decreased danger of being caught. Although these techniques may effective, the use of unmanned spy planes are the most advanced and safe form of undetected information collection. These planes are controlled from the ground as to not endanger lives in the event of detection. Attached to the bottom of the plane is a powerful zoom camera able of capturing and transmitting images instantly back to the controller. They are also infrared capable for further stealth in night conditions.


http://science.howstuffworks.com/question545.htm

'Masterpieces from Paris explores the dramatic changes in late 19th century European art through some of the best-known and much-reproduced paintings...
Post-Impressionism announces a break from Impressionism, the revolutionary movement which occurred in France in the second half of the 19th century. By the mid 1880s, artists were experimenting with even more radical ideas...
Masterpieces from Paris reveals cross-influences between artists, and shows the flowering of the modern movements throughout Europe. These fascinating paintings forecast the development of Fauvism, Cubism, Expressionism and led also to Abstraction in the 20th century...'

viewed 2/03/10 http://nga.gov.au/exhibition/masterpiecesfromparis/

The artwork that appealed to me most from this exhibition was one called "War". I cant remember the artists name nor can i find where i wrote it down but in my defence the day i visited the gallery was also the day of my 18th birthday therefore i had a few other things on my mind. Some of the finer details may be a little hazy but i remember this painting consisted of a woman on horseback sporting a sword and a dismembered head. She was jumping over a pile of violently bloodied wreckage of bodies. I believe in its time, this painting would have been seen as extremely confronting to audiences for obvious reasons such as the gore factor but also the dark and almost haunting aura it gives off. My perception of the work is that the painting is not meerly capturing a snapshot of a particular battle scene but rather the girl, in a victorious postion, is symbolic of the idea of war itself triumphing over all people. Hopefully i will soon find the name of the artist so i can read more into what he/she was really trying to achieve with this interesting piece.

One work i was excited to see was Van Gogh's Starry Night purely because it was on a poster that i looked at for six years in my high school art room. To see it was almost like seeing a celebriy in person! ...almost

http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/200912/r480020_2439121.jpg
^blogger doesn't want to let me upload the picture of it but theres the link