Reading Response

    Before photography, people had no way of directly and quickly capturing a moment.  In order to have a record of history, people used artists such as painters.  Even then, only the rich could afford to commission one.  The invention of photography in the 19th century changed everything.  Things once that had to be painted could now be photographed.  Things once that could only be described in stories could now be photographed and shared with an infinite amount of people.  These examples and more add up to the change of space and time in the 19th century.  Time now could stand still.  A photograph captures one exact moment that would be impossible for a painter to re-create.  There is no recreating with photography, it is that exact moment in time.  In dealing with space, the world also became a smaller place.  People no longer had to wonder what certain things looked like, they could see it for themselves in a photograph.  Families too far apart to travel could see what each other look like.  Spacial distance was no longer an excuse for not knowing what was going on in other places.  All it took was a photograph and a mailbox and then that photograph could travel anywhere. 

    I think space and time are constantly changing today.  The world is becoming a smaller planet by the day.  Also, time is oddly enough becoming more available yet less available.  Today we have airplanes flying around the world at faster speeds than ever before.  People are able to fly to a location in one day that would 100 years ago either be impossible, or have taken weeks or even months to travel to.  The different continents are more accessible than ever before.  What use to be a giant planed of unexplored lands, is now a planet with maps that cover every inch of soil.  I think time is changing, but not always for the better.  People are always buying the newest cell phone to help them keep their life organized, and multi-task. However, being able to do more things in a shorter amount of time does make sense, but people are just using that extra time to fill it up with more stuff.  Our world is turning into a multi-media, fast moving, rushing to everything society.  Eventually we are going to need to take a break and slow back down.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/autodafe/1281111701/