How do we know who we are? I am not inclined to dispel the mysticism of that sentence, it’s a struggle we all come to grips with in our own way. People form expressions and form content, and often in our modern world, that content is derived through the lens of a camera. Cameras of all kinds, some big, others small, neither are more or less significant. What is becoming shockingly clear is that through the access to image making and seeing images, a new age of language is coming. It is a Brave New Camera age.
Kara Hayden and Avery McCarthy are two mindful filmmakers whose new documentary, Brave New Camera, discusses the changes occurring in technology and language and the relationship between them. Let’s be real frank, the camera was invented, arguably, in 1837. Here’s a tool, that for the first time, with pictorial excellence, was able to bring images of lands that viewers would never get to see, right to them. Fast-forward less than two hundred years; some people don’t even type words to each other anymore. Through the use of images and instantaneity people are pushing the original meaning of what a camera is, and what it’s purpose is. The camera is no longer a thing as much as it is an evolving list; communication, conversion, curiosity, rewarding, revealing, validity.
The most fascinating thing is the camera’s function varies dependently on the person who presses the shutter. It has become an extension of our humanity. Brave New Camera is an insightful collection of professionals, thinkers, theorist, photographers, and everyday people’s reflections on the future of this new necessity. How do we change and how does the camera change?
This affects us all. It is new and powerful and this story needs to be told and shared. In place of more paragraphs, please take this time to visit the links below. As clumsy and cliché as it may sound, we are all a part of this. The importance now is to educate ourselves. That is the mission of Brave New Camera. For now I will leave with a few words Avery McCarthy shared with me about how he sees his film: “Making something about not understanding is great, because in the end I still don’t have to understand.” Taking the time to inform is what Brave New Camera wants most.
