Media

Culture

Society

What

does

the

photoblog

want

Kris

R.

Cohen

Media

Culture

Society

DOI

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Not

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use

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distribution

What

does

the

photoblog

want

Kris

R.

Cohen

INCITE

UNIVERSITY

OF

SURREY

UK

PHD

STUDENT

UNIVERSITY

OF

CHICAGO

USA

What

does

the

photoblog

want

This

is

a

provocation

and

a

puzzle

while

social

and

technical

possibilities

for

photography

multiply

wildly

there

has

been

a

seizure

in

the

critical

writing

which

addresses

photography

There

are

analogue

cameras

and

digital

cameras

phones

with

cameras

cult

cameras

-LRB-

Lomo

L'espion

-RRB-

there

are

websites

and

chat

groups

for

photography

there

is

software

for

the

manipulation

of

photography

printers

for

digital

cameras

services

that

will

print

uploaded

digital

photographs

on

photo-quality

paper

there

are

websites

to

which

you

can

send

your

digital

photos

directly

from

your

phone

and

this

is

only

a

small

list

a

sense

of

the

possibilities

In

the

writing

about

photography

however

what

you

often

get

are

versions

of

a

debate

which

never

fails

somehow

to

centre

on

the

status

of

the

Real

in

relation

to

photography

although

the

value-encoded

terms

used

to

articulate

this

debate

can

differ

reality

or

confection

evidence

or

artistry

document

or

statement

But

despite

these

consistencies

in

the

literature

a

photograph

's

uncertain

connection

to

the

real

life

in

which

it

is

made

renders

it

a

paradox

at

the

level

of

being

-LRB-

what

it

is

-RRB-

and

equivocal

at

the

level

of

its

expressive

content

-LRB-

what

it

means

or

knows

-RRB-

What

do

we

see

when

we

look

at

a

photograph

And

what

does

this

have

to

do

with

what

we

feel

about

them

These

questions

have

been

often

asked

While

there

is

no

apparent

agreement

about

the

extent

that

the

Real

inhabits

the

photograph

or

to

what

counteracting

degree

subjectivity

asserts

itself

there

does

seem

to

be

almost

unanimous

-LRB-

though

unacknowledged

-RRB-

agreement

subtending

these

debates

that

the

Real

is

the

real

issue

I

think

Sarah

Kember

-LRB-

-RRB-

is

Media

Culture

Society

SAGE

Publications

-LRB-

London

Thousand

Oaks

and

New

Delhi

-RRB-

Vol

-LRB-

-RRB-

-LSB-

ISSN

DOI

-RSB-

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reserved

Not

for

commercial

use

or

unauthorized

distribution

Media

Culture

Society

-LRB-

-RRB-

probably

right

to

locate

the

persistence

of

this

debate

in

desire

right

to

locate

the

apparent

lack

of

agreement

in

a

desire

not

to

agree

and

the

subterranean

agreement

in

a

desire

not

to

be

caught

agreeing

-LRB-

or

an

illicit

desire

to

be

in

agreement

-RRB-

Roland

Barthes

-LRB-

-RRB-

famously

writes

desire

into

the

theory

of

photography

and

into

his

attempts

to

reckon

with

some

of

photography

's

effects

He

calls

the

resultant

method

a

cynical

phenomenology

So

the

question

can

be

nicely

re-cast

not

What

do

photographs

represent

but

What

do

we

want

to

see

when

we

look

at

them

And

now

photography

is

digital

re-invented

as

one

of

the

new

media

and

we

wonder

what

this

means

The

question

has

sparked

discussion

but

there

is

something

oblique

in

the

conversations

about

digital

photography

It

is

possible

to

talk

about

why

this

might

be

the

case

If

it

is

not

clear

how

the

digital

intervenes

in

the

representational

space

of

photographs

and

it

is

not

then

it

can

not

be

clear

how

theory

should

address

the

digital

There

is

therefore

a

recidivism

in

the

literature

on

digital

photography

-LRB-

Kember

-RRB-

With

new

digital

processes

it

seems

we

return

to

old

theoretical

haunts

and

so

we

again

find

ourselves

asking

What

has

become

of

the

Real

Previously

theory

had

achieved

an

uneasy

d

tente

with

regard

to

the

-LRB-

territorial

-RRB-

status

of

the

Real

in

photography

not

e

a

resolution

of

the

debates

so

much

as

an

abatement

perhaps

a

stalemate

perhaps

an

indifference

Now

with

regard

to

Photoshop

and

its

influences

the

factual

content

of

photographs

is

again

taken

to

be

under

threat

-LRB-

always

this

siege

mentality

-RRB-

and

the

question

of

the

Real

has

been

passionately

revived

Thus

the

Real

persists

This

is

no

longer

a

surprise

Theories

of

photography

are

commonly

drawn

from

and

subsequently

re-cast

as

questions

of

representation

and

specifically

of

representation

's

reach

Questions

like

what

does

the

photographic

image

represent

And

specifically

how

deeply

-LRB-

back

-RRB-

into

Reality

do

these

representations

establish

roots

to

the

appearance

of

the

thing

to

our

mental

image

of

it

to

the

thing

itself

to

some

aspect

of

its

unique

being

As

a

result

of

this

tendency

to

tether

photography

to

questions

of

representation

the

trajectory

of

photographic

theory

always

arcs

and

arcs

quickly

as

if

eager

to

get

where

it

's

going

and

anxious

to

leave

where

it

's

been

from

the

act

of

taking

the

photograph

to

the

photograph

itself

straight

from

photography

to

photograph

The

habits

that

inform

the

questions

asked

of

photography

ensure

that

this

path

is

run

perpetually

that

whatever

the

subject

and

whatever

the

interests

being

served

the

analytics

deployed

to

address

photography

are

routed

in

the

familiar

way

Thus

photography

itself

as

the

artefact

of

its

various

analyses

-LRB-

which

is

not

the

only

thing

that

it

is

-RRB-

is

made

familiar

The

question

of

the

presence

and

role

of

the

Real

the

usual

question

of

representation

packs

an

interesting

assumption

that

reality

always

extends

itself

with

varying

degrees

of

fidelity

and

persistence

through

the

following

chain

of

photographic

events

in

this

order

-LRB-

-RRB-

the

choice

of

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Not

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use

or

unauthorized

distribution

Cohen

What

does

the

photoblog

want

subject

-LRB-

what

is

to

be

pictured

-RRB-

-LRB-

-RRB-

capturing

an

image

of

the

subject

-LRB-

the

authority

of

the

button

-RRB-

and

-LRB-

-RRB-

viewing

the

subject

as

an

image

-LRB-

the

presumed

effect

of

these

processes

-RRB-

One

effect

of

the

Real

then

whatever

one

's

stance

towards

it

is

to

drive

these

photographic

events

forward

towards

the

photograph

as

the

meaningful

object

and

endpoint

of

analysis

as

if

this

was

where

they

were

destined

all

along

The

question

of

the

Real

is

not

just

one

to

be

addressed

through

an

analytics

it

is

itself

an

analytic

perspective

one

that

sees

photography

-LRB-

the

act

-RRB-

as

having

a

causal

relationship

to

photographs

From

an

ethnographic

perspective

one

I

employ

in

the

following

in

which

meaningful

activity

clusters

around

all

points

in

a

constellation

of

photographic

practices

the

tendentiousness

of

this

link

from

photography

to

photograph

stands

out

as

odd

as

itself

analytical

and

moreover

as

one

analytical

choice

among

many

The

picture

of

photography

looks

perhaps

more

like

a

constellation

than

a

vector

and

the

Real

-LRB-

merely

-RRB-

travels

in

this

constellation

The

photographic

practices

of

a

particular

group

of

new

media

users

photobloggers

both

suggest

and

illustrate

the

point

Photobloggers

are

people

who

make

photographs

and

post

them

on

the

web

in

the

form

of

photoblogs

or

photographic

journals

They

are

at

the

centre

of

this

article

and

a

look

at

their

practices

will

exemplify

some

problems

that

exist

in

the

analysis

of

photographs

and

new

media

objects

generally

Photoblogging

There

are

now

well

over

a

million

documented

blogs

and

photoblogs

in

the

world

with

most

appearing

in

the

last

months

Their

newfound

popularity

has

provoked

a

gentle

storm

of

press

along

with

a

significant

number

of

utopic

scenarios

in

which

blogs

feature

as

the

next

emancipatory

mass

media

product

The

word

blog

is

a

contraction

of

web

and

log

Say

it

fast

elide

the

gap

between

the

b

and

the

l

web-log

Blog

Verb

to

blog

or

blogging

Noun

my

blog

Someone

who

blogs

is

a

blogger

Weblogs

first

emerged

on

the

Internet

in

any

number

in

Their

initial

use

as

a

page

from

which

to

list

and

update

favourite

website

addresses

encouraged

a

links-based

commentary

which

then

quickly

developed

into

a

form

of

online

journal

or

public

diary

-LRB-

posts

are

organised

chronologically

-RRB-

Worldwide

there

are

now

over

half

a

million

weblogs

-LSB-

at

the

time

of

writing

there

are

more

than

twice

this

amount

-RSB-

the

majority

of

them

written

by

individuals

in

the

United

States

Although

other

forms

of

weblogging

have

since

emerged

-LRB-

devoted

to

political

punditry

news

commentary

fan

culture

business

promotion

and

management

etc.

-RRB-

the

journal

blog

remains

by

far

the

dominant

form

-LRB-

Reed

n.p.

-RRB-

Journal

blogs

are

web

logs

in

which

the

author

chronicles

events

in

his

or

her

daily

life

Daily

updates

are

the

norm

some

people

post

to

their

blog

Downloaded

from

at

University

of

Waikato

Library

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May

SAGE

Publications

All

rights

reserved

Not

for

commercial

use

or

unauthorized

distribution

Media

Culture

Society

-LRB-

-RRB-

far

more

frequently

Variety

in

the

content

of

blogs

is

nearly

infinite

but

common

topics

are

problems

at

work

unusual

occurrences

parties

heartbreak

the

beginnings

and

ends

of

relationships

favourite

bands

trips

to

unfamiliar

places

etc.

The

things

that

turn

us

on

There

are

varying

degrees

of

intimacy

and

anonymity

in

blogs

While

most

bloggers

welcome

feedback

about

their

blog

-LRB-

and

their

life

-RRB-

some

are

more

cautious

about

the

personal

information

they

give

out

Most

bloggers

have

a

story

or

two

about

someone

reading

something

they

were

n't

supposed

to

read

These

are

the

dangers

of

keeping

a

journal

of

any

kind

but

especially

one

that

exists

online

But

most

bloggers

do

n't

consider

blogging

to

be

a

dangerous

risky

or

compromising

practice

There

are

blogs

and

now

photoblogs

which

are

related

in

many

ways

but

are

not

the

same

Roughly

analogized

text

is

to

blogging

as

photographs

are

to

photoblogging

It

is

also

true

that

many

blogs

contain

photographs

and

photoblogs

almost

always

contain

some

text

So

the

distinction

between

them

is

not

a

clear

one

A

theme

here

will

be

the

way

that

these

practices

blogging

photoblogging

outrun

most

attempts

to

fix

them

in

analysis

in

writing

But

in

a

simplified

account

blogs

use

short

bits

of

writing

to

chronicle

daily

events

while

photoblogs

tend

to

use

photographs

in

association

with

text

to

tell

their

tales

Photobloggers

themselves

are

never

sanctimonious

in

the

way

they

define

photoblogging

for

the

most

part

they

leave

the

definition

to

the

individual

blogger

One

website

defines

photoblogs

this

way

A

photoblog

is

a

type

of

blog

that

is

regularly

updated

with

photos

Some

photoblogs

focus

only

on

photography

while

others

have

photos

in

addition

to

other

content

All

photoblogs

however

consider

photos

to

be

an

important

part

of

their

chronological

blogging

structure

-LRB-

-RRB-

As

my

interests

are

in

the

uses

of

photography

as

new

media

I

will

be

almost

exclusively

concerned

with

photoblogs

although

there

will

be

places

where

it

will

be

obvious

that

blogs

and

photoblogs

need

to

be

almost

ca

n't

help

but

be

treated

together

I

will

therefore

sometimes

speak

of

them

interchangeably

This

is

n't

to

suggest

that

the

differences

between

them

are

not

significant

it

is

an

index

of

the

cultural

proximity

between

the

two

forms

the

fact

that

they

share

production

technologies

space

on

the

internet

some

genealogical

traces

media

attention

audiences

and

often

authors/bloggers

I

think

for

these

reasons

it

would

be

misleading

to

entirely

ignore

one

in

the

study

of

the

other

just

as

it

would

be

misleading

to

entirely

ignore

the

differences

between

them

In

my

research

I

have

spoken

to

people

who

put

their

own

photographs

online

in

the

form

of

a

journal

or

blog

Most

of

these

identify

as

photobloggers

-LRB-

by

that

name

-RRB-

but

all

of

them

behave

with

respect

to

the

websites

they

maintain

and

for

the

purposes

of

my

broad

definition

like

photobloggers

Before

each

conversation

I

spent

a

long

time

viewing

the

Downloaded

from

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University

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Library

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SAGE

Publications

All

rights

reserved

Not

for

commercial

use

or

unauthorized

distribution

Cohen

What

does

the

photoblog

want

photoblogs

These

conversations

covered

the

interviewees

interests

in

photography

generally

their

collections

of

photographs

and

what

they

do

with

them

why

and

how

they

first

started

photoblogging

the

technologies

they

use

to

take

pictures

and

create

their

blog

changes

that

have

occurred

in

their

photographic

or

photoblogging

practices

since

starting

the

blog

their

relationship

to

the

wider

world

of

photobloggers

the

kinds

of

photography

they

care

about

and

the

situations

in

which

they

tend

to

make

photos

Variables

in

the

photoblogging

form

include

presence

or

absence

of

captions

for

the

photos

presence

or

absence

of

categories

into

which

the

images

are

organized

relative

conventionality

of

photographic

categories

-LRB-

my

trip

to

Spain

versus

how

to

make

beans

on

toast

-RRB-

quantity

of

photographs

degree

of

integration

of

photographs

with

text

size

and/or

quality

of

images

-LRB-

related

to

a

site

's

load

time

but

also

to

the

quality

of

one

's

camera

-RRB-

and

degree

of

protection

the

photoblogger

tries

to

secure

for

her/his

images

-LRB-

use

anything

you

want

versus

please

ask

me

before

using

one

of

my

photographs

-RRB-

The

picture

of

photoblogging

gets

more

interesting

when

we

include

the

doing

of

photoblogging

and

not

just

doing

as

the

means

to

an

end

as

the

process

that

produces

the

photoblog

and

then

disappears

but

doing

as

a

product

and

site

of

meaningful

activity

in

its

own

right

Photoblogging

and

the

photoblog

both

incorporate

actions

they

also

both

incorporate

some

effects

of

those

actions

Each

acts

as

noun

and

verb

and

the

lines

that

connect

the

two

are

neither

straight

nor

unidirectional

In

talking

to

photobloggers

a

couple

of

common

and

important

ways

of

doing

the

photoblog

quickly

emerge

First

photobloggers

tend

to

take

a

lot

of

photographs

most

say

that

they

take

more

photographs

than

they

ever

have

and

that

the

photoblog

is

not

only

a

repository

for

these

images

but

a

tactic

for

achieving

just

this

proliferation

So

they

like

to

have

photographs

but

also

and

crucially

the

photographic

act

looking

for

photographs

composing

taking

reviewing

showing

becomes

newly

enjoyable

and

newly

heterogeneous

in

the

broad

context

of

doing

a

photoblog

Photobloggers

like

most

of

all

to

make

photographs

of

what

they

call

the

everyday

the

banal

or

the

mundane

These

descriptors

are

a

way

of

emphasizing

what

their

photographs

are

not

about

they

are

not

your

conventional

holiday

or

Big

Occasion

snaps

not

just

about

weddings

and

birthdays

They

're

not

that

kind

of

mundane

Instead

most

photobloggers

say

that

real

life

is

the

desired

content

of

their

photographs

They

want

pictures

of

life

as

it

happens

as

they

experience

it

Real

life

photobloggers

say

traditionally

happens

outside

of

photographs

and

this

is

precisely

what

they

want

in

their

photos

Real

life

as

it

is

used

here

reaches

out

for

at

least

one

more

concept

the

digital

It

is

digital

photography

that

facilitates

photobloggers

access

to

real

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distribution

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-LRB-

-RRB-

life

The

fact

that

digital

photographs

are

free

-LRB-

once

the

camera

and

accessories

have

been

purchased

-RRB-

allows

photobloggers

to

take

more

photos

to

experiment

and

play

in

a

way

they

rarely

did

when

paying

for

film

processing

What

they

tend

to

do

under

these

expanded

conditions

and

I

think

this

is

an

interesting

and

non-obvious

choice

is

take

more

photos

of

what

they

call

real

life

life

as

it

happens

the

small

stuff

an

intriguing

signpost

the

stages

of

construction

of

a

new

building

the

Thames

at

low

tide

a

strange

effect

of

lighting

This

behaviour

appears

to

invert

a

strong

claim

often

made

about

the

digital

and

its

supposed

virtuality

namely

the

claim

that

the

digital

introduces

a

disconcerting

fissure

of

virtuality

and

indeterminacy

into

the

Real

and

into

our

realities

If

a

photograph

is

digital

the

story

goes

how

can

we

tell

if

it

's

been

altered

if

irrealities

have

tainted

the

photograph

's

realities

With

photoblogging

practices

conversely

the

digital

prepares

the

field

for

the

introduction

of

the

Real

for

the

introduction

of

real

life

into

photography

There

are

related

aesthetic

considerations

by

and

large

photobloggers

do

n't

like

flash

photography

They

actively

eschew

it

in

fact

preferring

blurs

and

indecipherability

to

the

disfiguring

glare

of

a

flash

bulb

They

also

do

n't

like

posed

photographs

unless

the

pose

is

self-consciously

struck

and

thus

internally

critical

-LRB-

via

irony

caricature

or

mockery

-RRB-

of

posing

as

such

Because

they

do

n't

tend

to

like

poses

many

invent

shooting

tactics

which

disarm

people

's

hair-trigger

proclivity

to

compose

themselves

for

a

camera

they

shoot

from

the

hip

they

shoot

over

their

shoulder

they

shoot

when

friends

mouths

are

full

when

no

one

is

expecting

they

shoot

surreptitiously

on

the

train

or

anywhere

Photobloggers

explain

their

various

disinclinations

by

saying

they

'd

rather

have

pictures

of

people

as

they

really

are

People

do

n't

smile

abstractly

or

pose

artificially

or

glow

strobically

in

real

life

so

why

would

they

want

a

photograph

of

such

effects

Photobloggers

question

what

a

photograph

of

someone

self-composed

and

smiling

-LRB-

aware

of

themselves

as

a

photographic

image

-RRB-

is

actually

a

photograph

of

Specifically

the

complaint

here

is

lodged

in

the

small

space

between

the

means

of

representation

and

what

is

represented

In

their

discussions

of

pose

and

flash

in

photography

photobloggers

are

thinking

about

the

real-life

moment

when

the

photo

is

made

and

the

way

this

moment

inhabits

the

resulting

image

They

are

thinking

quite

specifically

about

the

mise-en-sc

ne

of

photography

and

how

this

gets

traced

within

a

e

photograph

Unexpectedly

much

of

the

photobloggers

work

pleasure

and

desire

is

here

not

solely

online

not

solely

in

the

photographs

themselves

but

in

the

activities

that

occur

at

the

moment

of

photography

in

the

way

the

doing

of

the

photoblog

conjures

these

activities

and

the

reciprocal

way

that

the

doing

of

photography

conjures

the

photoblog

As

we

'll

see

more

clearly

their

work

effects

a

drawing

together

of

the

desires

that

differently

motivate

using

a

camera

and

constructing

a

blog

and

of

the

technologies

involved

in

all

parts

of

the

process

In

order

to

see

this

it

is

important

that

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use

or

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distribution

Cohen

What

does

the

photoblog

want

photography

and

the

photoblog

the

making

of

photographs

and

the

photographs

themselves

the

camera

and

the

computer

not

be

connected

via

the

usual

mechanisms

causality

consecutive

temporality

or

straight

intention

although

the

tendency

will

be

to

do

exactly

that

Photobloggers

manage

their

blog

at

home

at

work

or

wherever

they

have

access

to

a

computer

and

the

fastest

internet

connection

For

most

photobloggers

this

happens

anywhere

from

a

few

hours

to

a

few

days

after

they

've

taken

the

photos

although

the

general

wish

is

for

this

time

to

shrink

-LRB-

to

be

more

organized

to

make

more

time

for

their

blog

to

spend

less

time

at

work

etc.

-RRB-

When

looking

back

at

their

photos

photobloggers

describe

two

different

kinds

of

experience

In

one

the

image

evokes

some

facet

of

the

picture-taking

moment

what

the

shot

looked

like

in

their

mind

's

eye

the

feeling

of

being

just

there

just

then

their

motivation

for

taking

the

photo

etc.

In

the

other

the

image

provokes

a

new

kind

of

response

a

new

experience

-LRB-

distinct

from

anything

that

happened

when

the

image

was

taken

-RRB-

There

is

a

desired

surprise

that

many

photobloggers

talk

about

which

happens

when

they

look

at

their

photographs

after

having

made

them

and

which

they

therefore

associate

closely

with

the

making

of

the

blog

They

say

as

a

way

of

explaining

the

occurrence

and

appeal

of

this

desired

surprise

that

they

do

not

have

strict

intentions

for

their

photography

The

fact

that

digital

photographs

are

free

of

cost

allows

them

to

take

pictures

whenever

they

want

of

whatever

they

want

They

can

relax

their

standards

they

can

shoot

outside

traditional

photographic

categories

And

this

proliferation

of

photographs

and

the

situations

in

which

photographs

are

made

creates

the

conditions

under

which

surprise

is

possible

The

first

kind

of

experience

-LRB-

memory

-RRB-

is

motivated

by

photography

the

second

-LRB-

surprise

-RRB-

by

the

photograph

Although

interestingly

both

kinds

of

experience

stab

backwards

from

the

viewing

of

a

photograph

to

the

act

of

photography

collapsing

not

the

time

or

distance

that

separates

these

activities

but

the

activities

themselves

Photobloggers

often

write

captions

for

their

photographs

as

a

way

they

say

of

letting

their

audience

know

what

they

had

in

mind

when

they

took

the

photo

Captions

also

simply

describe

what

the

photograph

depicts

if

this

is

not

obvious

One

photoblogger

adds

that

she

likes

to

write

captions

because

you

've

got

a

person

's

comment

there

It

's

not

just

a

photo

that

exists

on

its

own

It

gives

it

some

context

some

human

context

Rather

than

just

being

on

its

own

This

has

been

selected

by

a

person

Most

photobloggers

say

something

curious

about

how

they

select

the

photos

that

will

appear

on

their

blog

-LRB-

because

no

one

I

talked

to

posts

all

of

their

photographs

there

is

always

a

process

of

selection

-RRB-

They

say

I

do

n't

know

if

a

photograph

will

be

good

until

I

've

taken

it

Their

reply

is

about

standards

of

evaluation

and

more

precisely

about

the

importance

of

spontaneity

in

the

process

of

selection

and

the

doing

of

a

photoblog

generally

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use

or

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distribution

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Culture

Society

-LRB-

-RRB-

Their

interest

in

picturing

the

mundane

the

simple

everyday

moments

of

their

lives

the

otherwise

unremarkable

events

has

led

every

photoblogger

I

know

to

carry

their

camera

with

them

at

all

times

or

to

aspire

to

this

One

photoblogger

always

carries

his

digital

camera

in

a

holster

on

his

belt

Others

carry

cameras

in

their

rucksacks

and

handbags

They

hate

to

forget

their

camera

and

despite

due

diligence

they

're

always

forgetting

their

cameras

And

of

course

something

is

bound

to

want

photographing

whenever

the

camera

is

n't

there

One

photoblogger

described

to

me

an

especially

pleasing

alignment

of

buildings

seen

at

a

very

early

hour

of

the

morning

but

which

he

had

missed

-LRB-

in

more

than

just

a

photographic

sense

I

think

-RRB-

because

he

had

forgotten

his

camera

He

would

be

obliged

someday

he

told

me

to

go

back

to

that

spot

and

stay

up

until

just

that

hour

possibly

imbibing

the

same

amount

of

alcohol

in

order

to

recreate

and

capture

that

image

he

first

saw

In

his

story

and

his

description

of

how

the

image

will

have

to

be

re-staged

we

begin

to

see

the

incorporative

tendencies

at

work

here

photoblog

photoblogger

photography

that

particular

hour

a

particular

state

of

mind

the

look

of

the

city

No

element

in

the

preceding

lists

leaves

off

neatly

before

another

They

shuffle

and

entwine

So

that

the

resulting

photograph

is

both

a

thing

and

an

experience

it

exists

alone

but

also

as

an

integrated

part

of

one

's

experiences

of

a

day

or

night

In

the

same

way

that

one

dreads

missing

a

good

experience

most

photobloggers

dread

leaving

their

camera

behind

In

talking

with

me

photobloggers

tend

to

return

the

discussion

of

photoblogs

to

everyday

experiences

as

if

in

some

sense

this

is

really

what

we

have

been

talking

about

and

not

photography

or

photoblogging

at

all

When

asked

too

many

questions

about

the

nature

of

their

photography

about

what

they

like

and

why

they

do

what

they

do

many

retreat

into

selfcritique

or

self-parody

My

photos

are

often

of

really

boring

stuff

just

what

I

see

These

responses

appear

to

be

entirely

ingenuous

-LRB-

not

falsely

self-deprecating

-RRB-

in

at

least

one

sense

they

are

an

honest

reaction

to

being

forced

by

the

interviewer

to

think

too

much

and

in

the

wrong

way

about

their

own

practices

This

kind

of

response

emphasizes

the

importance

to

photoblogging

of

not

thinking

too

much

of

the

role

that

instinct

plays

in

the

making

of

photographs

and

the

photoblog

In

interviews

with

photobloggers

I

often

found

myself

pressing

them

up

against

the

end

of

their

desire

or

ability

to

profitably

talk

about

what

they

do

This

presents

an

interesting

problem

for

my

research

and

an

interesting

opportunity

at

the

level

of

analysis

There

are

two

broad

themes

that

I

now

want

to

discuss

both

related

to

desire

the

first

a

desire

that

reaches

outward

in

order

to

draw

in

-LRB-

Collapse

-RRB-

the

second

a

desire

that

draws

inward

in

order

to

extend

out

-LRB-

Motivate

-RRB-

The

goal

that

each

section

shares

is

to

demonstrate

how

the

practice

of

photoblogging

-LRB-

for

instance

-RRB-

resists

what

has

been

our

common

tendency

to

separate

technology

-LRB-

e.g.

the

camera

-RRB-

and

its

apparent

products

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or

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distribution

Cohen

What

does

the

photoblog

want

-LRB-

e.g.

the

photograph

-RRB-

as

if

the

former

were

merely

a

tool

and

the

latter

were

the

real

thing

the

analytical

object

the

source

of

the

human

Collapse

This

excerpt

from

a

conversation

I

had

with

one

photoblogger

who

I

'll

call

Ed

raises

some

key

characteristics

of

photoblogs

the

act

of

photoblogging

and

the

theme

of

collapse

K

You

need

a

camera

implanted

in

your

eyes

E

That

's

what

I

want

camera

on

the

glasses

mobile

phone

around

ear

bluetooth

to

a

pack

down

here

and

computer

-LSB-

on

waist

-RSB-

and

heads-up

display

on

glasses

So

completely

wired

but

with

of

these

objects

-LSB-

gesturing

at

his

L'espion

digital

camera

mobile

phone

Handspring

PDA

plus

portable

keyboard

and

player

-RSB-

So

I

can

go

around

recording

taking

pictures

by

-LSB-

pause

-RSB-

blinking

I

do

n't

know

My

suggestion

that

Ed

implant

cameras

in

his

eyes

is

a

joke

that

worked

in

the

context

of

the

interview

that

is

in

the

interview

it

was

n't

quite

the

exaggeration

or

non

sequitur

that

it

seems

to

be

here

It

was

my

response

to

a

desire

I

heard

voiced

in

Ed

's

descriptions

of

his

own

photographic

practice

Ed

like

most

photobloggers

endeavours

to

always

take

more

photographs

-LRB-

than

he

did

before

than

he

does

now

-RRB-

and

many

of

his

purchases

of

new

technology

as

well

as

his

new

or

reconceived

uses

for

technology

are

strategies

for

achieving

this

goal

For

instance

he

says

he

bought

a

L'espion

camera

because

it

was

an

affordable

digital

camera

-LRB-

-RRB-

but

its

small

size

and

tiny

pleather

holster

allowed

Ed

to

always

carry

a

camera

with

him

He

experienced

these

affordances

of

the

camera

as

a

solution

specifically

to

the

problem

of

never

having

a

camera

when

he

needed

one

to

the

problem

of

not

taking

enough

photos

He

also

takes

walks

around

London

to

increase

his

chances

of

encountering

photographs

-LRB-

to

place

himself

in

the

way

of

potential

photographs

-RRB-

He

seemed

intensely

interested

not

just

in

the

photography

or

the

photographs

themselves

but

in

the

frequency

with

which

he

manages

to

take

photographs

as

if

the

proliferation

of

occasions

and

sites

for

photography

was

as

much

the

goal

as

photography

itself

So

in

the

interview

my

joke

about

Ed

needing

bionic

eyes

seemed

to

follow

appropriately

from

the

themes

of

the

conversation

But

Ed

further

normalized

my

comment

by

fully

unconditionally

unhesitatingly

accepting

it

not

only

as

a

sensible

suggestion

but

also

as

a

solution

that

he

had

already

devised

While

his

imagined

system

is

both

technologically

practicable

and

genuinely

something

that

he

'd

like

to

have

it

is

articulated

as

a

fantasy

and

therefore

can

be

read

as

a

description

of

an

obstacle

and

its

removal

So

I

can

go

around

recording

taking

pictures

by

-LSB-

pause

-RSB-

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use

or

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distribution

Media

Culture

Society

-LRB-

-RRB-

blinking

I

do

n't

know

Blinking

as

a

trigger

would

significantly

reduce

the

barriers

that

exist

between

seeing

the

image

and

fixing

it

photographically

barriers

which

with

a

digital

camera

include

retrieving

the

camera

turning

it

on

waiting

for

the

camera

to

ready

itself

lining

up

the

shot

pressing

the

button

and

then

waiting

for

the

camera

to

focus

process

and

record

Earlier

in

the

interview

Ed

described

walking

through

Westminster

and

seeing

a

bus

with

an

interesting

advertisement

on

its

side

one

that

he

wanted

to

photograph

The

event

was

remarkable

because

the

difficulty

of

removing

the

camera

from

his

bag

caused

Ed

to

miss

the

shot

Blinking

as

a

trigger

would

collapse

the

instant

of

first

sight

with

photography

itself

with

the

act

of

making

the

picture

If

in

our

reading

of

this

scene

and

the

movements

of

bodies

technologies

and

practices

therein

we

privilege

only

the

final

image

then

Ed

's

fantasy

seems

to

have

solved

the

problem

of

not

having

enough

or

the

right

kind

of

photographs

But

this

is

not

quite

his

problem

What

Ed

's

fantasized

blogging

machine

accomplishes

is

the

collapse

of

certain

barriers

that

separate

existence

the

living

of

life

from

the

making

of

photographs

Ed

wants

to

live

as

he

photographs

to

photograph

as

he

lives

Photography

would

become

less

independent

of

the

act

of

going

for

a

walk

the

walk

itself

less

resistant

to

the

making

of

photographs

If

we

arrest

the

expected

analytical

movement

from

photography

to

photograph

what

becomes

visible

is

the

new

categorical

richness

of

the

photographic

moment

which

in

Ed

's

fantasy

becomes

inextricable

from

the

richness

of

his

life

His

problem

is

the

barrier

that

exists

between

the

living

of

his

life

and

the

technologies

for

making

photographs

within

and

throughout

that

life

In

a

sense

he

sees

technology

as

his

problem

-LRB-

i.e.

its

discreteness

from

life

from

his

body

and

from

the

biological

ways

his

sight

functions

-RRB-

Interestingly

his

solution

is

a

technological

one

augment

his

body

with

the

means

to

generate

photographs

as

he

lives

remove

duration

from

the

process

of

taking

a

photograph

remove

the

need

to

reach

out

and

grasp

a

separate

physical

device

in

order

to

fix

the

image

Notice

not

just

how

Ed

's

desires

begin

to

articulate

an

interestingly

reconfigured

photography

but

how

his

technological

fantasy

is

also

a

fantasy

about

his

life

He

wants

to

proliferate

photography

so

that

it

becomes

less

distinct

from

his

life

in

general

An

infinite

expansion

of

photography

in

this

way

would

effect

an

infinite

regression

as

well

being

everywhere

photography

would

also

be

nowhere

But

the

collapse

Ed

effects

in

his

technological

fantasy

is

more

farreaching

still

What

his

blogging

machine

draws

into

the

photographic

moment

is

not

just

the

final

image

but

a

unique

medium

for

the

publication

and

display

of

the

image

the

photoblog

Ed

needs

Bluetooth

a

mobile

phone

and

a

computer

pack

because

what

he

also

wants

to

do

is

instantly

blog

the

photos

he

captures

that

is

instantly

send

them

to

the

web

and

his

own

website

his

blog

Downloaded

from

at

University

of

Waikato

Library

on

May

SAGE

Publications

All

rights

reserved

Not

for

commercial

use

or

unauthorized

distribution

Cohen

What

does

the

photoblog

want

I

've

spent

so

much

time

on

this

single

fantasy

because

it

is

one

that

I

think

other

photobloggers

would

understand

and

one

that

tips

us

off

to

a

significant

theme

in

photoblogging

What

Ed

and

other

photobloggers

have

discovered

is

that

the

photoblog

motivates

the

taking

of

more

photos

The

photoblog

gives

photos

something

to

do

Ed

says

it

this

way

So

the

site

gives

me

a

reason

to

do

things

that

I

enjoy

doing

a

reason

to

record

things

a

reason

to

take

photos

because

I

will

publish

them

-LSB-

on

the

blog

-RSB-

I

find

this

pile

-LSB-

of

paper

photographs

-RSB-

annoying

I

get

it

back

and

look

at

it

and

Wow

that

's

a

cool

photo

-LSB-

but

his

shrug

implies

what

's

the

point

what

can

I

do

with

it

-RSB-

The

photoblog

as

a

technology

paired

with

that

of

the

digital

camera

draws

photographic

acts

photographic

images

and

the

display

of

those

images

into

closer

conjunction

Ed

's

fantasy

tells

us

how

they

relate

the

photoblog

a

technology

that

displays

images

and

gives

them

purpose

is

drawn

into

the

act

of

taking

photographs

and

photography

through

a

related

ligature

is

conjoined

with

walking

movement

through

the

city

Ed

's

life

itself

The

photoblog

the

camera

and

the

life

of

the

photoblogger

become

in

a

sense

a

single

technology

or

a

single

human

And

the

emphasis

here

the

action

seems

not

to

reside

in

the

cultural

movement

towards

inert

discrete

images

-LRB-

in

albums

on

the

web

in

annoying

stacks

or

wherever

-RRB-

but

in

the

reverse

flow

the

reflux

of

images

technologies

representations

representational

strategies

the

various

pleasures

we

derive

from

photographs

into

the

complex

space

of

the

simple

human

act

Ed

simply

goes

for

a

walk

Motivate

But

of

course

photobloggers

think

concretely

about

photographs

as

well

I

asked

another

London

photoblogger

to

shuffle

through

a

stack

of

paper

photographs

and

tell

me

which

he

would

choose

to

put

on

his

blog

and

which

he

would

discard

As

he

did

this

his

choices

seemed

not

to

be

guided

by

a

preconceived

systematic

set

of

standards

but

rather

by

a

kind

of

practised

automatism

He

only

paused

once

and

briefly

to

consider

an

image

that

he

found

interesting

then

quickly

decided

yes

and

immediately

carried

on

as

if

the

fact

of

the

pause

itself

was

ample

justification

for

including

the

photo

in

the

blog

This

theme

of

instinct

of

acting

against

conscious

intention

is

persistent

in

conversations

with

photobloggers

They

apply

it

to

the

act

of

making

a

photograph

and

to

the

selection

of

photographs

for

their

blog

It

's

part

of

the

reason

why

photoblogging

is

so

hard

to

talk

about

in

the

language

that

theories

of

photography

have

set

out

for

it

Photobloggers

resistance

to

intention

seems

meant

to

frustrate

these

very

categories

the

ones

that

the

Downloaded

from

at

University

of

Waikato

Library

on

May

SAGE

Publications

All

rights

reserved

Not

for

commercial

use

or

unauthorized

distribution

Media

Culture

Society

-LRB-

-RRB-

history

of

photography

has

given

for

them

to

use

in

language

and

in

practice

It

's

also

why

Latour

's

-LRB-

-RRB-

work

is

both

relevant

and

not

enough

His

notion

of

the

detour

names

the

way

that

our

use

of

technology

always

frustrates

the

relationship

of

means

to

ends

despite

our

refusal

to

think

of

technology

in

anything

other

than

instrumental

terms

His

notion

resists

the

idea

that

technologies

are

ever

mere

tools

he

designates

them

as

actors

in

their

own

right

While

it

would

be

a

good

start

it

's

not

enough

to

say

that

photobloggers

intentions

are

deflected

by

the

technologies

they

use

or

to

say

that

photographic

means

never

quite

hook

up

cleanly

to

the

photoblog

's

ends

Photobloggers

actively

confound

the

kinds

of

intentionality

that

are

historically

bound

up

with

the

practice

of

photography

This

I

think

is

why

photobloggers

often

had

thin

patience

for

my

questions

about

intention

In

part

photobloggers

practice

of

what

we

might

call

a

minor

intentionality

explains

something

that

many

repeated

they

do

n't

know

whether

X

will

make

an

interesting

photograph

until

they

see

the

photograph

itself

This

practice

and

I

think

it

is

a

practice

as

much

as

it

is

say

a

standard

of

evaluation

leaves

space

for

the

Doing

to

be

independent

of

that

which

is

Done

the

act

to

be

separate

from

the

object

photography

to

exist

distinct

from

the

photograph

Latour

suggests

that

our

attempts

to

make

technology

into

a

mere

tool

a

means

to

an

end

is

evidence

that

we

deny

at

least

discursively

the

ways

that

our

use

of

technology

is

generative

-LRB-

promiscuous

-RRB-

more

than

it

is

instrumental

-LRB-

monogamous

-RRB-

But

photobloggers

seem

to

want

to

be

deterred

from

their

ostensible

goals

seem

to

want

suspense

to

want

an

obstruction

of

the

clear

path

the

paths

along

which

well-meaning

interviewers

might

be

keen

to

herd

them

Photobloggers

appear

to

be

not

victims

of

the

detour

but

wielders

of

it

There

is

a

very

basic

and

explicitly

stated

desire

at

work

here

Photobloggers

almost

all

state

that

they

want

or

have

wanted

to

take

more

photographs

that

they

like

having

photographs

as

depictions

of

their

experiences

but

that

in

the

past

this

desire

has

often

failed

to

produce

the

necessary

action

of

making

a

lot

of

photographs

When

we

want

something

but

fail

to

do

it

this

seems

to

be

evidence

that

we

do

n't

so

much

want

the

thing

as

want

to

want

it

In

any

case

there

is

some

obstacle

Photoblogs

are

one

answer

to

this

paradox

of

motivation

One

function

of

the

photoblog

its

practitioners

say

is

to

provide

motivation

for

taking

photos

The

photoblog

provides

structure

for

photographs

gives

them

something

to

do

compels

their

production

via

the

motivating

external

abstractions

of

a

project

This

makes

the

photoblogger

answerable

not

to

her

own

-LRB-

sometimes

unreliable

-RRB-

self

but

to

her

blog

and

its

audiences

however

hypothetical

these

are

however

unknown

She

acquires

a

responsibility

But

while

imposing

a

structure

in

the

form

of

say

external

deadlines

or

an

expectant

audience

often

helps

motivate

work

it

may

excise

pleasure

from

the

doing

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from

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University

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Waikato

Library

on

May

SAGE

Publications

All

rights

reserved

Not

for

commercial

use

or

unauthorized

distribution

Cohen

What

does

the

photoblog

want

if

this

is

done

under

the

duress

of

something

else

's

agency

How

then

to

maintain

the

pleasure

of

doing

and

ensure

that

the

doing

will

get

done

One

might

and

this

would

be

a

strange

suggestion

if

it

were

n't

in

fact

what

photobloggers

do

create

a

structure

for

the

activity

which

divides

the

work

into

two

temporalities

In

one

of

which

the

activity

is

simply

done

and

experienced

in

the

present

tense

without

thought

of

the

future

or

of

what

is

getting

accomplished

through

those

actions

or

of

what

has

been

accomplished

cumulatively

in

the

longer

view

So

for

example

Geraldine

takes

a

photograph

everyday

in

the

present

without

much

thought

about

what

is

getting

built

by

this

activity

without

much

conscious

intention

Simple

She

does

it

because

she

likes

making

photos

Or

Frank

Because

at

the

top

level

for

me

it

was

like

Oh

I

know

what

I

'll

do

I

'll

take

a

picture

everyday

and

stick

it

on

my

website

and

that

was

kind

of

it

In

the

other

temporality

the

complement

of

the

first

one

has

yet

to

do

X

completely

but

creates

a

framework

for

action

in

which

one

experiences

X

-LRB-

in

the

present

-RRB-

as

though

it

had

already

been

done

For

example

Jenni

creates

a

photoblog

which

both

exists

and

is

yet

to

exist

in

the

moment

of

taking

the

photo

that

is

the

photo

that

she

is

making

now

is

n't

yet

on

the

blog

but

it

is

experienced

as

though

it

were

already

there

This

is

one

of

the

important

ways

that

the

blog

works

Photo-making

is

done

with

the

blog

partially

in

mind

Most

bloggers

have

a

sense

of

how

they

will

post

a

photo

as

or

before

they

make

it

But

the

blog

is

not

thought

to

be

the

singular

outcome

of

the

photo-making

which

would

become

thereby

merely

a

means

merely

an

instrumentality

Rather

the

blog

comes

to

exist

within

and

enrich

the

moment

of

photography

It

makes

the

picturemaking

more

enjoyable

Almost

all

photobloggers

describe

this

effect

the

presence

and

role

of

the

blog

in

their

photo-making

the

way

it

infects

their

actions

without

subsuming

them

The

blog

exists

in

the

moment

of

photography

but

it

is

not

why

they

take

the

photo

My

own

desire

here

is

to

account

for

the

unique

way

that

a

photoblog

inhabits

the

act

of

making

photographs

without

flattening

the

singularity

of

either

photoblogging

or

photography

and

without

normalizing

or

straightening

the

relationship

between

them

This

is

how

I

want

to

describe

it

the

photoblog

collapses

the

activity

of

photoblogging

with

the

activity

of

photography

without

collapsing

-LRB-

-RRB-

the

space

that

separates

the

making

of

photos

and

the

blogging

of

them

or

-LRB-

-RRB-

the

time

that

separates

these

activities

-LRB-

from

a

few

hours

to

a

few

days

depending

on

one

's

backlog

of

photos

-RRB-

or

-LRB-

-RRB-

the

desires

and

pleasures

that

energize

both

activities

Photography

and

blogging

become

interarticulated

They

become

mutually

motivating

Motivation

derives

from

the

way

the

photoblog

bifurcates

one

's

sense

of

time

Among

the

productive

faculties

of

the

photoblog

there

is

the

capacity

to

place

alongside

the

present

tense

this

special

state

of

having

-LRB-

already

-RRB-

done

something

having

created

a

large

collection

of

photographs

from

everyday

life

having

assembled

a

collection

a

visual

memory

of

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from

at

University

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Waikato

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on

May

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Publications

All

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reserved

Not

for

commercial

use

or

unauthorized

distribution

Media

Culture

Society

-LRB-

-RRB-

one

's

life

and

activities

The

peculiarity

of

this

past

tense

form

having

done

is

the

key

to

apprehending

the

relationship

between

photoblogging

photography

and

photographs

To

do

its

work

this

strange

tense

requires

a

separation

of

the

pleasures

of

photo-making

and

the

pleasures

of

blogging

and

a

resistance

to

intentionality

and

meticulous

planning

Or

rather

these

practices

produce

the

tense

of

having

done

Photobloggers

resist

asking

too

many

questions

about

their

practice

in

order

to

preserve

the

sanctity

of

this

especially

productive

tense

Forethought

intention

planning

these

bring

other

tenses

into

the

blind

present

for

example

How

much

have

I

done

how

much

might

I

do

Ed

says

So

the

site

-LSB-

his

photoblog

-RSB-

gives

me

a

reason

to

do

things

that

I

enjoy

doing

a

reason

to

record

things

a

reason

to

take

photos

because

I

will

publish

them

But

he

also

says

that

he

enjoys

in

an

unmediated

sense

the

act

of

taking

photographs

and

the

kind

of

vision

this

engenders

in

him

so

he

hardly

seems

to

need

an

external

motivator

Why

does

one

need

a

reason

to

do

things

that

one

enjoys

doing

Because

while

pleasure

in

the

present

tense

ensures

that

one

enjoys

the

activity

while

one

does

it

pleasure

in

the

past

perfect

of

doing

-LRB-

having

had

done

-RRB-

ensures

that

the

pleasure

of

a

task

already

done

supplements

one

's

motivation

for

doing

in

the

present

And

over

time

consistent

doing

in

the

present

produces

the

desired

future

activities

done

day-to-day

experienced

moment-to-moment

eventually

accumulate

in

the

form

of

a

collection

a

record

a

photoblog

In

this

way

the

photoblog

is

a

thing

that

always

will

have

been

made

It

exists

in

the

present

but

does

not

determine

the

actions

taken

in

the

present

Photoblogs

in

this

sense

are

self-productive

they

effect

the

impossible

task

of

pulling

oneself

up

by

one

's

own

bootstraps

This

is

how

they

can

be

independent

of

the

actions

that

generate

them

and

at

the

same

time

intricately

related

to

them

Conclusion

Throughout

this

research

I

've

tried

to

position

photographs

photography

and

photoblogs

in

a

complex

relationship

with

one

another

an

attempt

which

shares

certain

patterns

of

analytical

movement

with

theorists

of

photography

who

have

tried

to

position

photography

in

relation

to

the

Real

In

this

effort

the

confusions

have

mounted

in

the

form

of

-LRB-

what

are

ostensibly

-RRB-

paradoxes

tautologies

counter-intuitive

flows

and

roundabout

causalities

Photography

produces

photographs

as

effects

but

is

n't

superseded

by

them

and

does

n't

even

seem

to

be

the

necessary

cause

of

them

The

photoblog

motivates

photography

but

does

n't

seem

to

be

the

reason

people

take

photographs

Gill

likes

taking

photographs

of

things

because

she

likes

taking

photographs

of

things

She

has

an

intention

to

be

Downloaded

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Not

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use

or

unauthorized

distribution

Cohen

What

does

the

photoblog

want

unintentional

Seen

from

one

angle

photography

appears

to

be

the

means

and

the

photoblog

the

ends

From

another

angle

the

photoblog

seems

to

be

the

means

and

photography

the

end

Latour

identifies

technology

as

the

instigator

of

these

tidal

movements

Photobloggers

would

n't

necessarily

agree

Implicit

in

their

responses

to

some

of

my

questions

was

a

gentle

admonishment

that

I

was

looking

for

intentions

where

there

might

be

asking

questions

where

could

be

asked

I

take

therefore

photobloggers

response

to

Latour

-LRB-

-RRB-

to

be

this

just

as

technologies

betray

our

most

imperious

desires

-LSB-

e.g.

for

our

use

of

technology

to

produce

clean

predictable

results

-RSB-

so

desires

betray

our

most

imperious

technologies

What

Latour

means

is

that

we

underestimate

the

complexity

and

nature

of

technology

if

we

assume

it

to

be

a

simple

instrument

of

our

will

a

slave

to

our

desires

What

photobloggers

seem

to

mean

is

that

we

underestimate

desire

if

we

assume

it

to

be

a

simple

instrument

of

our

technologies

Just

because

we

own

a

camera

does

not

mean

we

take

or

even

like

taking

photographs

But

most

photobloggers

want

to

take

more

photographs

The

trick

of

technology

is

to

make

us

think

that

we

desire

what

it

offers

to

produce

but

also

that

it

will

produce

what

we

desire

that

we

need

simply

purchase

it

But

photobloggers

have

noticed

that

technology

needs

something

else

a

supplement

to

work

to

motivate

us

It

needs

desire

And

desire

is

at

least

as

tricky

as

un-straight

as

unpredictable

and

imperious

as

technology

In

their

work

Deleuze

and

Guattari

try

to

recoup

desire

from

our

various

attempts

to

manage

it

They

try

to

reclaim

it

as

profligate

and

transgressive

They

want

to

flaunt

its

uncanny

productivity

Photoblogs

productivity

-LRB-

from

an

analytical

perspective

-RRB-

is

in

their

capacity

to

join

up

disparate

elements

elements

which

in

the

study

of

new

media

are

routinely

separated

as

evidenced

by

their

presumed

need

for

connection

via

causality

intention

etc.

Photoblogs

incorporate

and

are

in

turn

incorporated

by

at

least

four

significant

entities

-LRB-

-RRB-

the

self

of

the

photoblogger

-LRB-

-RRB-

a

potential

audience

for

the

self

's

activities

-LRB-

-RRB-

those

activities

themselves

-LRB-

taking

photos

-RRB-

and

-LRB-

-RRB-

the

technologies

that

operate

in

and

around

these

entities

Neither

technology

nor

new

media

as

categories

can

account

for

a

photoblog

's

strange

affinities

In

light

of

the

photoblog

's

surprising

promiscuity

what

if

we

understand

it

to

be

both

a

technology

and

a

desire

device

and

some

invested

part

of

its

human

user

What

I

mean

is

the

photoblog

is

both

what

photobloggers

want

-LRB-

a

record

of

their

everyday

lives

and

idiosyncratic

vision

-RRB-

and

the

means

for

achieving

it

-LRB-

that

is

the

desire

to

achieve

it

-RRB-

Though

grammatically

awkward

this

does

strike

me

as

a

fair

way

to

account

for

the

strange

a-causal

functionality

of

the

photoblog

In

this

guise

the

photoblog

inserts

itself

non-temporally

between

photography

and

the

photograph

so

that

while

the

photoblog

succeeds

the

making

of

the

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Publications

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rights

reserved

Not

for

commercial

use

or

unauthorized

distribution

Media

Culture

Society

-LRB-

-RRB-

photograph

in

time

it

seems

to

precede

the

making

of

the

photograph

motivationally

The

photoblog

then

is

what

divides

photography

and

the

photograph

into

two

separate

spheres

of

activity

-LRB-

temporalities

-RRB-

and

pleasurable

engagement

-LRB-

desire

-RRB-

In

this

position

unexpectedly

the

photoblog

comes

to

rest

in

the

place

that

has

been

traditionally

-LRB-

theoretically

-RRB-

allotted

to

the

Real

The

Real

stood

and

often

still

stands

as

the

connection

between

the

world

to

be

pictured

and

some

photographic

tracing

of

the

world

we

could

say

that

the

Real

has

been

thought

to

ontologically

motivate

the

photograph

But

for

photobloggers

it

is

not

the

Real

but

the

photoblog

itself

that

motivates

photography

on

one

side

-LRB-

its

doing

-RRB-

and

the

photograph

on

the

other

-LRB-

its

purpose

-RRB-

In

union

with

photography

the

photoblog

functions

as

a

verb

motivating

justifying

In

union

with

photographs

the

photoblog

functions

as

a

noun

collection

site

The

most

common

answer

to

my

question

about

motivation

and

the

question

interestingly

that

everyone

seems

to

most

want

answered

of

photoblogging

namely

Why

do

you

do

this

was

something

like

I

'm

not

exactly

sure

The

popularity

of

this

answer

is

evidence

not

of

a

lack

of

productive

self-reflexivity

in

the

photoblogger

nor

really

of

a

shortage

of

good

answers

but

of

something

objectionable

in

the

question

That

objectionable

something

seems

to

be

this

the

question

why

do

you

blog

assumes

that

the

desire

to

do

so

is

an

exterior

condition

that

desire

either

precedes

and

produces

the

blog

or

that

the

blog

simply

effects

a

desired

outcome

It

assumes

that

the

photoblog

is

a

means

to

an

end

or

the

end

of

some

means

But

the

photoblog

hardly

needs

to

be

explained

-LRB-

away

-RRB-

by

something

else

Explanation

is

not

its

mode

of

external

relation

not

the

way

it

links

itself

to

other

entities

other

temporalities

other

technologies

other

forms

of

pleasure

and

motivation

So

what

are

the

photoblog

's

limits

and

desires

its

possibilities

in

the

realm

of

theory

and

research

The

question

has

insinuated

itself

time

and

again

Are

these

strange

capacities

of

the

photoblog

its

admixtures

of

time

its

propagation

of

desire

its

tidal

movements

unique

to

itself

or

does

the

photoblog

also

serve

as

an

aid

to

vision

-LRB-

like

an

X-ray

-RRB-

illustrating

the

fact

that

other

new

media

objects

also

function

this

way

Notes

I

am

grateful

to

Sapient

and

to

the

University

of

Surrey

most

especially

to

Dr.

Nina

Wakeford

for

their

generous

support

of

the

research

that

led

to

this

article

Specifically

our

desire

for

certain

effects

of

representation

how

we

want

pictures

to

affect

us

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Publications

All

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reserved

Not

for

commercial

use

or

unauthorized

distribution

Cohen

What

does

the

photoblog

want

A

sampling

of

recent

literature

on

digital

photography

includes

Burgin

-LRB-

-RRB-

Kember

-LRB-

-RRB-

Manovich

-LRB-

-RRB-

Mitchell

-LRB-

-RRB-

Ritchin

-LRB-

-RRB-

Rosler

-LRB-

-RRB-

Slater

-LRB-

-RRB-

For

example

planning

to

take

photographs

conceiving

a

photograph

or

noticing

an

opportunity

capturing

the

shot

examining

the

results

saving

filing

posting

to

the

web

etc.

On

January

reported

to

have

over

million

registered

users

Blogger

is

the

most

popular

DIY

blog

publishing

site

but

it

is

not

the

only

way

to

create

a

blog

More

coding-competent

bloggers

or

bloggers

who

desire

a

more

tailored

site

often

use

or

http

In

total

the

number

of

bloggers

worldwide

including

bloggers

and

photobloggers

is

well

over

million

For

example

Reed

provides

a

far

more

detailed

historical

and

evolutionary

account

of

blogs

their

emergence

and

their

formal

varieties

As

my

article

largely

ignores

blogs

per

se

Reed

's

article

is

an

important

complement

to

mine

For

a

measure

of

the

increasing

popularity

of

photoblogging

and

a

more

firsthand

sense

of

how

they

work

see

which

is

a

kind

of

metablog

a

blog

that

references

and

organizes

other

photoblogs

All

of

the

interviewees

live

in

the

UK

most

live

in

London

They

range

in

age

from

early

twenties

to

late

forties

but

most

are

in

their

late

twenties

They

tend

if

they

tend

to

be

anything

to

be

relatively

tech-savvy

and

often

in

fact

work

in

the

technology

industry

Many

spend

a

lot

of

their

time

in

front

of

a

computer

anyway

which

facilitates

frequent

blogging

The

method

of

sampling

was

in

a

certain

sense

blind

in

that

all

participants

were

found

on

the

internet

through

their

blogs

which

are

rarely

specific

about

demographics

-LRB-

or

at

least

not

reliably

so

-RRB-

In

the

beginning

of

the

study

gender

distribution

was

heavily

weighted

towards

men

a

systematic

effort

to

talk

to

more

women

then

equalled

their

numbers

Race

and

ethnicity

as

factors

were

not

explicitly

considered

not

surprisingly

the

participants

tended

to

be

white

and

British

There

is

at

least

one

important

distinction

in

the

blogging

world

-LRB-

or

the

blogosphere

as

bloggers

sometimes

cringingly

refer

to

it

-RRB-

that

I

will

be

ignoring

in

this

paper

is

one

host

for

blogs

is

another

and

while

both

in

the

most

general

sense

host

blogs

there

are

significant

differences

between

people

who

gravitate

towards

one

or

the

other

The

most

often

cited

difference

has

to

do

with

audience

livejournal

users

who

tend

to

call

what

they

do

a

journal

rather

than

a

blog

think

of

livejournal.com

as

a

bounded

community

of

users

And

livejournal.com

has

design

features

which

explicitly

support

this

conception

Blogger.com

users

tend

to

imagine

that

they

are

publishing

to

the

everyone

and

no

one

of

the

wider

internet

or

they

create

their

own

small

audiences

with

little

support

from

blogger.com

Livejournal.com

is

set

up

to

be

a

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Publications

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use

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unauthorized

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Media

Culture

Society

-LRB-

-RRB-

community

and

appears

in

significant

ways

to

function

as

such

for

its

users

Blogger.com

by

and

large

is

not

While

these

differences

are

fascinating

they

are

the

work

of

another

study

There

are

echoes

of

the

psychoanalytic

Real

in

this

discussion

According

to

psychoanalytic

thought

we

fictionalize

certain

troubling

facets

of

real

life

in

order

z

to

accept

them

these

fictions

mediate

our

experience

of

real

life

Slavoj

Zi

ek

describes

this

return

of

the

Real

Usually

we

say

that

we

should

not

mistake

fiction

for

reality

remember

the

postmodern

doxa

according

to

which

reality

is

a

discursive

product

a

symbolic

fiction

The

lesson

of

psychoanalysis

here

is

the

opposite

one

we

should

not

mistake

reality

for

fiction

we

should

be

able

to

discern

in

what

we

experience

as

fiction

the

hard

kernel

of

the

Real

which

we

are

able

to

sustain

only

if

we

fictionalize

it

-LRB-

-RRB-

In

this

goal

and

the

embedded

conceptualization

of

desire

I

owe

a

clear

debt

to

the

work

of

Bruno

Latour

-LRB-

-RRB-

and

Deleuze

and

Guattari

-LRB-

-RRB-

Deleuze

and

Guattari

's

concept

of

the

desiring

machine

redeems

the

productive

capacity

of

desire

recognizes

the

potency

of

the

mechanisms

within

us

that

produce

desire

and

tries

to

rescue

desire

from

the

forces

that

would

sequester

it

-LRB-

as

for

example

the

concept

of

sublimation

does

in

psychoanalytic

thought

-RRB-

Likewise

we

can

grasp

Latour

's

quasi-object

in

contrast

to

the

conventional

objects

of

study

the

quasi-object

does

not

retreat

behind

the

unimpeachable

scientism

of

the

natural

or

the

impossible

constructivism

of

the

social

Both

concepts

recoup

their

objects

and

place

them

at

our

disposal

They

resist

the

pervasive

tendency

to

think

in

straight

lines

that

recede

the

tendency

for

example

of

visual

theorists

to

discuss

photography

as

if

it

were

only

approachable

via

the

photographs

it

produces

the

tendency

of

internet

researchers

to

assume

that

online

is

online

that

websites

do

n't

spill

over

into

and

draw

actively

on

and

become

inextricable

from

offline

activities

The

blog

sitting

within

the

heterogeneity

of

its

elements

the

blog

itself

photobloggers

cameras

computers

the

city

street

that

situates

the

banal

events

that

want

picturing

and

then

blogging

shares

an

important

goal

with

these

concepts

to

retrieve

the

object

-LRB-

of

study

of

action

of

self-documentation

-RRB-

to

make

it

available

again

for

use

for

agile

deployment

We

can

understand

the

photoblog

as

the

new

media

object

that

will

not

be

relegated

we

can

understand

the

work

of

the

photoblogger

in

taking

her

photos

making

her

blog

as

an

effort

to

forge

a

practice

that

resists

forces

that

want

to

recoup

their

work

for

the

Real

for

direct

causality

for

anything

so

straight

-LRB-

forces

that

include

as

we

'll

see

me

and

my

questions

-RRB-

It

is

a

fight

that

all

new

media

objects

face

The

following

sections

describe

some

of

the

on-the-ground

work

of

this

struggle

as

it

impacts

photoblogs

and

photobloggers

The

question

of

audience

is

an

interesting

one

and

one

that

I

never

quite

adequately

address

Most

bloggers

assume

or

know

that

their

blog

has

some

kind

of

audience

This

is

both

the

myth

and

reality

of

the

internet

that

someone

is

or

always

might

be

watching

If

they

install

the

right

software

they

can

know

how

many

people

are

watching

but

unless

people

leave

comments

-LRB-

and

most

blogs

have

some

form

of

comment

box

-RRB-

they

can

not

know

who

is

watching

It

is

also

fair

to

say

that

most

bloggers

hope

that

someone

is

watching

and

are

delighted

to

receive

comments

on

their

blog

as

evidence

that

this

is

in

fact

the

case

Commenting

on

other

people

's

blogs

is

a

common

way

to

make

both

friends

and

enemies

As

psychoanalytic

subjects

are

separated

from

their

desires

by

sublimation

repression

etc.

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Publications

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Not

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use

or

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distribution

Cohen

What

does

the

photoblog

want

References

Barthes

R.

-LRB-

-RRB-

Camera

Lucida

Reflections

on

Photography

London

Flamingo

Burgin

V.

-LRB-

-RRB-

The

Image

in

Pieces

Digital

Photograph

and

the

Location

of

Cultural

Experience

in

H.

von

Amelunxen

S.

Iglhaut

and

S.

R

tzer

-LRB-

eds

-RRB-

o

Photography

after

Photography

Memory

and

Representation

in

the

Digital

Age

Munich

G&B

Arts

Deleuze

G.

and

F.

Guattari

-LRB-

-RRB-

Anti-Oedipus

Capitalism

and

Schizophrenia

Minneapolis

MN

University

of

Minnesota

Press

Kember

S.

-LRB-

-RRB-

Surveillance

Technology

and

Crime

The

James

Bulger

Case

in

M.

Lister

-LRB-

ed

-RRB-

The

Photographic

Image

in

Digital

Culture

London

Routledge

Kember

S.

-LRB-

-RRB-

Virtual

Anxiety

Photography

New

Technologies

and

Subjectivity

Manchester

Manchester

University

Press

Kember

S.

-LRB-

-RRB-

The

Shadow

of

the

Object

Photography

and

Realism

pp.

in

L.

Wells

-LRB-

ed

-RRB-

The

Photography

Reader

London

Routledge

Latour

B.

-LRB-

-RRB-

We

Have

Never

Been

Modern

Harlow

Pearson

Education

Ltd.

Latour

B.

-LRB-

-RRB-

Morality

and

Technology

The

End

of

the

Means

Theory

Culture

Society

-LRB-

-RRB-

Manovich

L.

-LRB-

-RRB-

The

Paradoxes

of

Digital

Photography

pp.

in

L.

Wells

-LRB-

ed

-RRB-

The

Photography

Reader

London

Routledge

Mitchell

W.J.

-LRB-

-RRB-

The

Reconfigured

Eye

Visual

Truth

in

the

Post-Photographic

Era

Cambridge

MA

MIT

Press

Reed

A.

-LRB-

-RRB-

My

Blog

is

Me

in

the

session

on

Practicing

Anthropology

Ethnography

Inside

and

Outside

the

Discipline

the

American

Anthropological

Association

Conference

New

Orleans

November

Ritchin

F.

-LRB-

-RRB-

In

Our

Own

Image

The

Coming

Revolution

in

Photography

New

York

Aperture

Ritchin

F.

-LRB-

-RRB-

Photojournalism

in

the

Age

of

Computers

in

C.

Squires

-LRB-

ed

-RRB-

The

Critical

Image

Seattle

Bay

Press

Ritchin

F.

-LRB-

-RRB-

The

End

of

Photography

as

We

Know

It

in

P.

Wombell

-LRB-

ed

-RRB-

PhotoVideo

Photography

in

the

Age

of

the

Computer

New

York

Paul

and

Co.

Rosler

M.

-LRB-

-RRB-

Image

Simulations

Computer

Manipulations

Some

Considerations

Ten

Digital

Dialogues

Photography

in

the

Age

of

Cyberspace

-LRB-

-RRB-

Slater

D.

-LRB-

-RRB-

Consuming

Kodak

in

J.

Spence

and

P.

Holland

-LRB-

eds

-RRB-

Family

Snaps

The

Meaning

of

Domestic

Photography

London

Virago

Press

z

Zi

ek

S.

-LRB-

-RRB-

Welcome

to

the

Desert

of

the

Real

Five

Essays

on

September

and

Related

Dates

London

Verso

Kris

R.

Cohen

is

a

researcher

in

the

INCITE

group

at

the

University

of

Surrey

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Department

of

Sociology

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and

a

PhD

student

in

the

Art

History

department

at

the

University

of

Chicago

He

has

just

completed

a

one-year

ESRC

study

of

photography

and

the

internet

He

has

a

Master

's

Degree

in

Art

History

from

the

University

of

Chicago

Address

West

Walton

St.

Unit

Chicago

IL

USA

-LSB-

email

kris@toma.to

-RSB-

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