Sometime ago, while searching for studies on just how much digital technology has affected the expansion of photography, I came upon some interesting data available on the Internet. In the U.S., it is estimated that 10 billion more pictures will be taken in 2010 than in 2009, bringing the total for this year to 57 billion photos! Pictures from mobile phones will account for 16 billion images. On photo-sharing sites, as of January this year, Flickr had 4 billion photos, while Facebook hosted 30 billion with 2.5 billion images uploaded each month. With all these pictures being taken, however, only 13% (2006 data) were being printed. Another trend that is a direct result of digital technology is “video becoming the new photo.” Users with mobile phones and digital cameras equipped with video-taking capabilities are producing more and more short clips for uploading and sharing. Even the new DSLRs now boast of HD video features. According to wiki.answers.com, YouTube has over 120 million videos with about 200 thousand uploaded daily, 80% of which come from amateurs, and 4% are uploaded from the Philippines! I wonder if anybody has ever come up with numbers on how many images are taken annually in the Philippines, how many of these are printed, how many images on the average do we store, etc. If any reader has these figures, you can share those through this column.
And now to our readers.
Erin Emocling writes that she started on photography in 2008 using a film camera. She shifted to digital in mid-2009 when she got hold of a DSLR, but went back to using film this year when she “sorely missed the anticipation” that comes when shooting with film. Erin, who dreams of becoming a photojournalist one day shares: “I never studied photography as a formal course or subject but it interests me in every aspect - the perspectives, the hues, the exposures, amongst many others. No one can deny that photography is such a trend nowadays and for me, that's no problem. I suppose it's still a matter of how you shoot your subjects and how you would tell a story about your pictures.” Readers are invited to view more of her work at flickr.com/photos/basterda and lomography.com/homes/basterda.
From San Pablo City, Cristeto I. Azucena, M.D. sent in images taken during the summer season. He writes: “Since it's already the start of the rainy season, I thought that a last look on Boracay's pristine beaches would bring about moments of sigh and wishful thinking. Boracay's magic transends seasons. Just the thought of it brings back the sun.”
We also have for today photographs from some of our previous contributors who could not be accommodated in past weeks due to the deluge of submissions from new readers.
The images are from: Sherwin dela Cruz, outsourcing company personnel; Cadd supervisor Eli Alfred Adrias; Dr. Giovanni “Vans” Navata M.D.; Wenie Jun Ganzon of Binalonan, Pangasinan; freelance graphics designer and multimedia artist Adam Bejar; animation assistant technical director Teddy Morta; preschool teacher Krystine Lozano; and Japan-based industrial designer Leo Vina.