This site is about exploring the interface between the camera and the photographer. I am interested in this topic because I love taking photos and I love cameras. I am also a researcher who is interested in human-machine interfaces, automation, and how tools alter the way we do our jobs.
I became interested in the interface between cameras and photographers when I read about an in-camera algorithm that helped photographers compose photos. To my mind, composing a photo is one of the fundamental artistic controls that a photographer has. Future cameras might automate composition, for instance by automatically cropping a photo you take with a high-resolution camera.
So in this site I want to investigate how the interface between cameras and photographers has changed during the history of cameras and photography, why it has changed the way it has, what each change has brought with it, and what each change has taken away. I have many questions. I want to combine my own experience of using cameras but I also wish to involve professional and amateur photographers in my research as I understand the territory better.
This site currently consists of mainly reports from my own experience of using cameras that have been typical for an era in the history of photography. I want to identify in-camera mechanisms –e.g. shutter, viewfinder, film advance, exposure –and study their evolution from a photographer’s point of view. I also want to see how the market has influenced the development of cameras, what amateur and professional photographers appreciate, and much more. Stay tuned!