It used to be that average people were photographed for special occasions like weddings. Elaborate staging and costuming accompanied the event. This was related to the high relative cost of film and processing. We gathered the precious photos in scrapbooks which were kept in our libraries.
This all changed with the advent of digital photography. In the beginning it was not much different. The floppy disc storage media could only hold a dozen or so pictures. Not much different than a film camera expect that the result was fuzzy. However, Moore’s law marches on and we all have thousands of pictures stored in personal digital media. Most everyone has a smart phone that takes selfies.
1984 has arrived. Big Brother is watching. Smile.
Actually it did not turn out to be the government that was watching. Most of us want the security that come from monitoring. A friend of ours recovered her stolen purse using the security camera footage of the thief in the process of using her stolen credit card. This was within a hour of the theft. Most of us no longer notice the cameras.
I have also heard funny stories about attempts to hide activity by placing cups over the visible camera enclosures. Security camera technology has advanced rapidly. The large enclosures that you see are no longer needed. A plant that I know of was plagued by early shutdowns by a saboteur who liked to quit early on Fridays. Covering the big security cameras enclosures with coffee cups did not block the view of the actual cameras that were hidden up in the rafters. The dismissed temporary employee quit objecting when he was shown the pictures of him literally throwing a monkey wrench into the works.
It is easy to focus on the occasional negative example. On the positive front, a Go Pro video camera has evolved into a powerful training tool. In this era of rapid change we are constantly in a learning mode. Watching a Go Pro video made by the first person to become proficient at a task, speeds the transfer of the knowledge to the rest of the team. This is particularly effective because watching others perform a task is one of the most effective training methods. The ability to use the same video to establish industrial engineering standards without the invasive timing stopwatch is a secondary benefit.
Everyone is now able to be the photographer. The camera in our cell phone create better pictures than the Instamatic cameras of old. We are just beginning to create the apps that will unlock the usefulness of the camera in the smart phone.