Cartography and Photography: Can I Take Your Picture and Tell You Where to Go?

 

Cartography and Photography: Can I Take Your Picture and

Tell You Where to Go?

By

Greg Tanner.

Photographs are descriptions too, just like maps, according to (Wood, Kaiser & Abramms, 2006. p3). Maps are descriptions of the way things are. They are a lot like the answers people give police at the scene of an accident. Well, a map might show where a accident happened , but what better way of actually showing what happened, than with a photograph. They say seeing is believing and a photo says a thousand words, so wouldn't a photo give a better description.

The social network I move in is Flickr and as stated in the first blog, it is a place where like minded people can showcase their photos and give helpful hints on different aspects of photography, to people not so skilled who are just starting out in the some times complicated art of taking a professional looking photograph. The people in my network are from a very wide demographic and ethnically diverse, global community, people like doctors, bank manages, airline pilots and even politicians.

In relation to space and place, (Cartography from Greek, “chartis, chart, map and graphein, write.”) maps are both mirrors and shapers of place and space,they reflect how we see the world or “our” world. They are powerful, especially because we believe them to be representations of reality and they inform and shape how we act in and conceptualise space and place. So, maps serve a purpose.

(Kuttainen, V., 2017. BA1002: Cartography).

Photography: The word "photography" is a combination of the Greek root words "photo-," meaning "light," and "-graphia," meaning "writing" or "drawing." Thus, "photography" literally means "writing or drawing with light." (Reference.com: “Photography”, 2017). Photos, like maps are both mirrors and shapers of space and place. They reflect how we see the world and just like maps they're powerful because we also think they're representations of reality (fig 1). 

                                   (fig1: Earth at Night from Space. SonnyRadio.com, 2008)

 

We all live on a demographically and ethnically diverse planet (Morin, R., 2013). Some countries are less culturally and ethnically diverse than others, but we all take photos and use maps. Everyone likes to take a photo and have someone say they like it or not and the best way to do that is to join a social network like Flickr. Maps will always be around, because without them, no-one would be able to find their way around and it would be difficult to navigate your way to another county, or, know where someone lived.

In conclusion , maps and photos are here to stay as they are both a great form of communication. We all can't do without maps or photos and with future technology it will be interesting to see what changes are made to both photos and maps. Whether they stay the same or scientist come up with something more exciting.

Kuttainen, V., (2017) BA1002: Cartography, week 4 notes [class handout]. College of Arts, Science and Education. James Cook University, Townsville, Australia.

Morin, R. (2013). The most (and least) culturally diverse countries in the world. Retrieved from http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/07/18/the-most-and-least-culturally-diverse-countries-in-the-world/

Where does the word "photography" come from? (2017). Retrieved from https://www.reference.com/hobbies-games/word-photography-come-9b1f7d790444ce8b#

Earth at Night from Space [Image] (2008). Retrieved from http://www.sonnyradio.com/earthatnight.htm

Wood, D., Kaiser, W.L., Abramms, B. (2006). Seeing through maps: many ways to see the world. Oxford, England: New Internationalist Publications Ltd.