In 1998, 67bn images were made worldwide. We know that because 3bn rolls of film were sold. It is impossible to be accurate, but with a world population of digital cameras exceeding a third of a billion on top of millions of film-using cameras still in use, it is likely that more pictures are taken every year than in the previous 160 years of photography put together. In addition to the other pollutions we have unleashed on ourselves, we may well have to thank digital photography for giving us image pollution.
As a kid I could never use my Dad’s SLR because if I did shoot, that was minus one on my filmstrip. I really loved the idea of photography, but was trigger shy.
My family got it’s first digicam five years ago around christmas (I think), and I used it to take photos on our trip to Scandinavia my the summer before my freshman year of HS. Since then I’ve amassed thousands of jpegs in iPhoto (even having lost my library in a HD crash last june).
At dinner the other day, some older family members were balking at us kids and our thousands of photos. I want to empathize with them, but just can’t. Yeah right, image pollution. The digital tech that lets you shoot so much also gives you better ways of pulling the wheat from the chaff.
But those numbers are indeed impressive.
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