Not a light hearted paper... but an interesting read none the less:
"YOU PRESS THE BUTTON and We Do the Rest"; George Eastman used this advertising slogan in the 1890s to promote a new invention, the Kodak camera. Entrepreneurs have emphasized the ease of making photographs since Eastman's time. Nikon's ad copy reads, "We take the world's greatest pictures." The Pentax Program Plus "has a mind of its own, so it all but takes the easy shots for you." Cokin Creative Filter System advertises, "With my filter system, creating beautiful, one-of-a-kind photos is child's play." The New York Institute of Photography asserts, "now it's easier-than-ever" for serious amateurs to become skilled pros. The invention of photography democratized picture making, and people without formal training or specific aesthetic concerns have been drawn to photography (with the help of aggressive marketing strategies), making photographs alongside their professional counterparts.
Whereas the photographic industry has worked diligently toward making the medium more and more accessible to a broad mass market (through successive simplifications of equipment and processes), fine art photographers have moved further and further from the conventions of amateur and commercial photography. Photographers concerned with establishing the medium's parity with other fine arts have sought to separate artists' photographic activity from all other uses of this popular medium, both commercial and amateur.....Full paper:
http://sjmc.cla.umn.edu/faculty/schw...era_clubs.html
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