Scanner PhotographyIs It Really Photography?A scanner photography discussion in one of the photography forums stirred up quite an argument. The subject was Using the Scanner as a Camera. I was amazed at the intensity of opinions. "This is not photography!" ... "It can't be, there is no camera" ... "This is cheating" ... "The scanner isn't a camera." Technology builds upon itself. The original processes change and are often replaced with new technologies. Does it change the thing itself? For me there is no argument.
My very first camera was a Brownie. I've been through many different cameras since.
" . . . two ancient Greek words: photo, for "light," and graph, for "drawing." "Drawing with light" is a way of describing photography. When a photograph is made, light or some other form of radiant energy, such as X rays, is used to record a picture of an object or scene on a light-sensitive surface. " No mention of camera there.
"A photograph (often shortened to photo) is an image created by light falling on a light-sensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic imager such as a CCD or a CMOS chip. Most photographs are created using a camera . . ."
A Little HistoryHow Did Scanner Photography Start?My scanner photography research did not establish any one person as the 'first' to create scanner photography. In many of the bios I read, artists claim to have found it by accident. This seems quite believable.The process is very basic and even a non-techie (like me) could easily come across the possibilities. Perhaps someone just forgot to close the flatbed scanner lid, and had an interesting result.
About the Flatbed Scanner InventorWhen Ray Kurzweil was developing the flatbed scanner, I doubt designing a method to create a new art form was his goal. However, he very well may have predicted the very same! Kurzweil is recognized as one of the most exciting 'futurist' of our day."Ray Kurzweil has been described as “the restless genius” by the Wall Street Journal, and "the ultimate thinking machine” by Forbes. Inc. Forbes magazine ranked him #8 among entrepreneurs in the United States, calling him the “rightful heir to Thomas Edison,” and PBS included Ray as one of 16 “revolutionaries who made America,” along with other inventors of the past two centuries." - A quote from:
About Ray Kurzweil.
Top of Page
|
