“With Live Photos, your iPhone records what happens 1.5 seconds before and after you take a picture. Then you can pick a different key photo, add a fun effect, edit your Live Photo, and share with your family and friends”
How to use a technique to tell a story? I learned about various techniques in class, but they all seemed to demand a lot of specialized knowledge and practice. What could I do with my limited resources and abilities? I didn’t aspire to be a professional, but I wanted to be competent. Venturing into unfamiliar territory was daunting for me. After much deliberation, I settled on the technique of Live Photo. What is Live Photo? According to the official website, “With Live Photos, your iPhone records what happens 1.5 seconds before and after you take a picture. Then you can pick a different key photo, add a fun effect, edit your Live Photo, and share with your family and friends”. In essence, it’s a combination of photo and video. To me, this is the technique that preserves the moment with both sound and vision. When we look at our old photos, we recall the past. But do we hear the sounds? Or do we rely on lengthy videos to narrate our stories or just some highlights that summarize our memories? These questions motivated my research.
Ideas & Plans
Make a collage of the same moments but from different angles (in collaboration with others), or take it as a visual version of Bildungsroman.
How to take live photos?1
Apparatus: iPhone 6s or later, iPad (5th generation) or later, iPad Air (3rd generation) or later, iPad mini (5th generation) or later, or iPad Pro models from 2016 or later. (note: Android phones also work, using Google Photo)
Open the Camera app.
Make sure your camera is set to photo mode and that Live Photos is turned on. When it’s on, you see the Live Photos button at the top of your camera.
Hold your device still.
Tap the shutter button.
While Doing
Live Photos are a unique form of capturing moments that combine still images and short videos. They are meant to convey the dynamism and richness of life that static photos cannot. However, they also pose some difficulties for their preservation and sharing. I encountered these difficulties when I tried to use Live Photos for my project.
The transmission of the Live Photos
The first challenge was how to transmit Live Photos to others. The only way to do so was through AirDrop, which required physical proximity and compatible devices. Other social media platforms did not support Live Photos, so I had to convert them into video clips. This, however, compromised the original intention of using Live Photos, which was to capture the spontaneity and authenticity of the moments
The second challenge was how to edit and collage Live Photos. The video clips varied in length, from one to three seconds, which made it hard to align them in a coherent sequence. The quality of the videos also deteriorated after the conversion and transmission, which affected the aesthetic and emotional impact of the final product.other vertically
It can be clearly felt that the image quality is seriously damaged
One of these two videos is shot horizontally and the other vertically, the final collage is not ideal
From collective to individual
After facing these challenges, I reconsidered my project. If I could not create a collective work with Live Photos from different sources, could I focus on the individual instead? Could Live Photos help me explore and express my own memories and experiences? I looked at my photo album on my phone and discovered many Live Photos that I had forgotten or overlooked. They were fragments of my past that had been hidden in the digital archive, but now they emerged as potential narratives.
When I was making plans at the beginning of this year, concerns about aging suddenly stroke me. I heard that exercise is a good way to stay active, so I went to the gym. I was always a stay-at-home person before. Although I don't go to the gym very often now, I seem to have this habit and gradually discover the happiness brought by exercise.
This is the moment when the concert started, the lights in the venue were dimmed, and there were screams all around. Me and my friends were waiting for the stage
This is me basking in the sun on the bench! I didn't understand everyone's enthusiasm for the sun before, but now I also get involved. I feel that I am wasting sunshine if I don't enjoy it.
I experiment with this technique as a new way of storytelling. We have explored various perspectives on the concept of cultural techniques/ Kulturtechnik. Harun May defines them as recursive processes that generate and shape culture through their practices and procedures. They are recursive and influence our literary forms, reading modes, and political participation2. Bernhard Siegert, on the other hand, views them as practices that produce and process the distinctions that are fundamental for a given culture3. Despite their differences, both approaches highlight the intricate relationship between society, human beings, and technology. This leads me to reflect on myself and the Live Photos technique. How do I use this technique and how does it affect me? One aspect is memory. The Live Photos technique enables me to relive the moment in a more immersive way. I can see and hear the movements, and the atmosphere of the scenes. It also alters my perception of time. The moment is not a fixed second, but a fluid duration. Memory is not a snapshot, but a motion picture.
Literature Review
“Take and Edit Live Photos.” Apple Support, 19 Dec. 2022, support.apple.com/en-us/HT207310.
Maye, Harun. "Was ist eine Kulturtechnik?." Zeitschrift für Medien-und Kulturforschung 2010.1 (2010): 121-135.
Siegert, Bernhard. Cultural techniques: Grids, filters, doors, and other articulations of the real. Fordham Univ Press, 2015: 1-18.
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