by Pedro Meyer
Español
It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried.
Winston Churchill.
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I have heard over and over, in many parts of the world. How new digital technologies have an unfair distribution as they follow a pattern of distribution according to wealth. Well, how could we disagree with such a fundamental reality as it applies, in our case, to photography and new technologies? We can’t, can we?
Let us look at this with a bit more skepticism and insight as this can actually lead us on to something beyond simple truisms.
I would like to say that this lack of equality is not only true with regard to photography and new technologies, but also with regard to access to water, to health care, to education, and so on.
So how on earth would someone come up with a statement singling out photography and new technologies from matters that are so much more pressing for the survival of a human being.
As you might agree, it does not make a lot of sense to make such an issue about this inequality of distribution about photography and new technologies, when in fact more important factors have not been even remotely resolved for a democratic access to the well being of all mankind.
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With this in mind, I think we can move beyond such rhetoric, as I am sure that in this symposium we shall probably not be able to resolve outright any of these basic inequalities, however we can contribute indirectly in many new ways to make such a destiny less inevitable.
Just this morning the major of Mexico City announced
that within three years all parks and schools in the city
Will be wired with wi-fi connections that are going to be
free for everyone to access. Just a few years ago, the
most impoverished areas of Mexico City, all would steal
their electricity as you can see in the image. So here in
this new digital era, we are going to be wired in very
different ways.
©Pedro Meyer
Talking about bench marks… look at this: I found this bench made out of stone back in 1974 when
I made the image. And during a recent visit, to that
same area I discovered to my big surprise that I had
found that same bench only 34 years later, but before
we move to the next image, let me point out some things
within this image. Observe please, the roof is made from
compressed cardboard. Keep in mind the distance from
the front wall to the bench.
Now you look at that same bench, only the front wall of
the house had moved up to where the bench was. The
roof was now made out of concrete and they were in the
process of adding a second floor. There was indeed
progress.
One of the neighbors had added color to his front wall.
And indeed some of the neighbors had done very well
for themselves. They remained living in the same
neighborhood that they grew up in. Indeed some people
left the area, but then others remained and improved it,
Just remember how the area looked, not too long ago.
©Pedro Meyer
Well, I am here to report to you some news that give us
reasons to believe that there is room for some optimism.
We have Coca-Cola all over the planet. This of course
is an item to consider for those who are after the fact
that every one should have equal access across the
globe.
I am sure you get the point, that the notion that suggests
that for everyone to have access to something cannot be
construed as Democracy of any sort. Having as
ubiquitous a product as a Coca-Cola does not
necessarily equal Democracy, does it?
Of course I shall remain constrained in my observations
to the realm with which I am familiar with, and that is
photography in it’s various iterations.
So let us start with something as basic and that has to
do with the cost of film. I believe it is a pretty
democratic price, when the cost of film has come down
to zero. That sort of makes it quiet accessible if that
would be the only ingredient to consider. But you and I
know that cameras do cost something while the rest of
the equipment in the form of a required infrastructure,
also needs to be accounted for.
However, the continuous fall in prices for all the gear
needed to make pictures gives us a lot of hope to add to
the zero price for film.
The ongoing erosion in prices was last reported to be a
fall of 30% year to year, over the last few years, this
being true for cameras and ancillary digital tools. If the
decline in prices could be referenced, let us say, to the
price of a Rolls Royce automobile, such a car could
today be sold for the equivalent of a pack of cigarettes.
Such has been the scale of reduction, in the relationship
of prices to what you can get for your money.
I still recall purchasing one of the first hard drives, a
ten megabyte Jasmine hard drive in the mid eighties. I
thought that drive would last until my great grand
children would want to play with such stuff. It cost me $
2000 US dls. at the time. That would be $ 200 a
megabyte.