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Public mirror: legitimizing 'social' photography as a contemporary discipline
With all the public information about any famous person, topic or event 'googleable’ on the Internet, there seems to be nothing new for 'digital natives’ to discover other than the elusive Self. The Self is the 'new frontier’ and the smartphone camera is at the forefront of this quest, unearthing an...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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Centre for Film and Media Studies
2019
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| _version_ | 1867613253269454848 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Gwaze, Alex |
| author_browse | Gwaze, Alex |
| author_facet | Gwaze, Alex |
| author_sort | Gwaze, Alex |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | With all the public information about any famous person, topic or event 'googleable’ on the Internet, there seems to be nothing new for 'digital natives’ to discover other than the elusive Self. The Self is the 'new frontier’ and the smartphone camera is at the forefront of this quest, unearthing and exhibiting different kinds of content everyday. With over 95 million photographs and videos shared on Instagram daily; Photography has merged with social networking sites and applications (SNS/A) to become a recognisable phenomenon called – 'Social’ Photography. Despite its rich association with legitimate visual art-forms and numerous scholarly articles examining it’s various forms – the term 'Social’ Photography is unfamiliar to most. This inquiry discusses 'Social’ Photography in relation to existing literature to argue for its establishment as a legitimate discipline within the Creative Arts. By acknowledging its subjectivity and utilization of digital technologies, this study employed an interpretive group of methods and identified six characteristics of 'Social’ Photography – namely, (i) Activity, (ii) Participation, (iii) Identity, (iv) Glamour, (v) Protest, and (vi) Spectacle – that exemplify its capacity to curate a meaningful democratic public image. These six aspects can be used to categorize and formalize individual behaviour that can be analysed and interpreted to foster a better understanding of 'Social’ Photography as a discipline. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/29561 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:33:12.104Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2019 |
| publishDateRange | 2019 |
| publishDateSort | 2019 |
| publisher | Centre for Film and Media Studies |
| publisherStr | Centre for Film and Media Studies |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/29561 Public mirror: legitimizing 'social' photography as a contemporary discipline Gwaze, Alex Documentary Arts With all the public information about any famous person, topic or event 'googleable’ on the Internet, there seems to be nothing new for 'digital natives’ to discover other than the elusive Self. The Self is the 'new frontier’ and the smartphone camera is at the forefront of this quest, unearthing and exhibiting different kinds of content everyday. With over 95 million photographs and videos shared on Instagram daily; Photography has merged with social networking sites and applications (SNS/A) to become a recognisable phenomenon called – 'Social’ Photography. Despite its rich association with legitimate visual art-forms and numerous scholarly articles examining it’s various forms – the term 'Social’ Photography is unfamiliar to most. This inquiry discusses 'Social’ Photography in relation to existing literature to argue for its establishment as a legitimate discipline within the Creative Arts. By acknowledging its subjectivity and utilization of digital technologies, this study employed an interpretive group of methods and identified six characteristics of 'Social’ Photography – namely, (i) Activity, (ii) Participation, (iii) Identity, (iv) Glamour, (v) Protest, and (vi) Spectacle – that exemplify its capacity to curate a meaningful democratic public image. These six aspects can be used to categorize and formalize individual behaviour that can be analysed and interpreted to foster a better understanding of 'Social’ Photography as a discipline. 2019-02-18T09:14:37Z 2019-02-18T09:14:37Z 2018 2019-02-18T09:01:43Z Master Thesis Masters MA http://hdl.handle.net/11427/29561 eng application/pdf Centre for Film and Media Studies Faculty of Humanities University of Cape Town |
| spellingShingle | Documentary Arts Gwaze, Alex Public mirror: legitimizing 'social' photography as a contemporary discipline |
| thesis_degree_str | Master's |
| title | Public mirror: legitimizing 'social' photography as a contemporary discipline |
| title_full | Public mirror: legitimizing 'social' photography as a contemporary discipline |
| title_fullStr | Public mirror: legitimizing 'social' photography as a contemporary discipline |
| title_full_unstemmed | Public mirror: legitimizing 'social' photography as a contemporary discipline |
| title_short | Public mirror: legitimizing 'social' photography as a contemporary discipline |
| title_sort | public mirror legitimizing social photography as a contemporary discipline |
| topic | Documentary Arts |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/29561 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT gwazealex publicmirrorlegitimizingsocialphotographyasacontemporarydiscipline |