“Sure the economy is in the outhouse, but I can’t help but fixate on the tremendous opporunity that awaits the saavy photographer or digital artist who is well-equipped to address the next digital photography era.”
So I have this thought above, and it’s pinging around my brain this morning over a split-shot Americano, when a friend flips me this great piece by a Forrester-Researcher-turned-social-technologist named Peter Kim called “Comments on The Next Digital Era”. Turns out Peter solicited comments from his blog readership about the next digital era that we’re entering. I couldn’t help but notice how relevant each comment was to us photographers and digital artists. Some bits from the article:
1. What’s next for the communications industry?
-A mobile, sematic web and the personalisation of data. (Ubergill)
-Social media fatigue, large-scale burnout as a result of always-on and partial attention deficit leading to relationship breakdowns across the board. (Annalie Killian)
-Organizations that do not adapt will be seen as disingenuous through no fault of their own. We’re really moving to a critical time where customers have outgrown those serving them. (Cory Hendrickson)
-I think the next big thing is the realization of the power that the little guys now have, that does not require waiting around for traditional media. (Angela Connor)
-The biggest (and most painful) next thing for the industry is a complete shift in the skill sets, experience and approach of successful communications practitioners. (Jay Gaines)
-The communications industry needs to ensure complete marketing integration with all aspects of media, including traditional and online venues. (Julie Arnold)2. What’s the biggest development in the social media space that affects all organizations?
-How much search matters, and the fact that everyone is now a publisher and has influence. MSM would never want to lead on that they’ve lost control…they have.(Adam Singer)
-With the rise of so many individual publishers, it is increasingly difficult for enterprises to “push” their brands onto a market. (James Cioban)
-In short, the explosion of self-publishing tools, services and technologies. (David Politis)3. What’s the most under-reported trend in the business world that you think deserves more attention?
-The older guard/senior management at large corporation (Fortune 500) are often technology-averse. Look at the picture of the Detroit leaders in the White House last week and tell me how many even can define social computing. (Steve Poppe)
-The death of conventional communications. The newsfeed will do to messaging what the video did to the radio star. (JoeC)
-As more companies start to “get” social media, they are insisting on building their own communities. I personally believe they should use what’s available, where people are already gathering, to hear what folks are saying and join the discussion. (Jeannie Walters)
Okay. If you’re still with me, how would you answer three similar questions?
1. What’s next for the photography industry?
2. What’s the biggest development in photo/video that affects us all?
3. What’s the most under-reported trend in photography that you think deserves more attention?
—
(Thanks Peter; via Alex. To get links to the smart people that Peter quoted, visit his blog.)
1. What’s next for the photography industry?
Editorial work will drop dramatically. More magazine will shut down. We will be left with Mens’ Health and Vanity Fair. Magazine will try to do a online version. Elaborate or Artistic shoots will no longer exist.
2. What’s the biggest development in photo/video that affects us all?
Less still shoots more video in a You Tube era.
3. What’s the most under-reported trend in photography that you think deserves more attention?
People shooting film
I'm diggin' the beautiful reality of Cory Hendrickson's comment: "We're really moving to a critical time where customers have outgrown those serving them."
It's exciting to see a video/still convergence but I'm also excited about the commercialization of space (i.e. Spaceship One, Richard Branson, Russian cosmonauts & the silly N'sync guy) and the high-tech benefits (even for photography) that will come from that exploration – Think of Hasselblad's claim to fame (and subsequent success) of being the first in space.
To answer your questions:
1. What's next for the photography industry?
The more gimmicky lensbabies/ringflash adapters/lifepixel infrared will "grow up" to become more affordable and superior quality products used by professionals and amateurs alike. Lensbabies has already matured greatly once, ringflash (adapters anyway) are still gimmicks but promoting affordable creative lighting, and lifepixel may inspire art photography in other areas of the electromagnetic spectrum (radio/UV/microwave/xray)
2. What's the biggest development in photo/video that affects us all?
Convergence, and less costly tools that make photography more universal.
3. What's the most under-reported trend in photography that you think deserves more attention?
Child prodigies that are growing up with complex technologies as if they were just playing with wooden blocks (as I did as a child). Perhaps the new digital artist will be so technologically efficient and empowered as to be able to conceptualize a short film in the morning and deliver by evening.
It starts to get a little Sci-Fi, but maybe the next step after the young prodigies is simple recording of what the eyes and imagination see, somewhat similar to what's done in the film "Final Cut" (Robin Williams) but less frightening and more creative.
🙂