Photography, walking and social networking: reflecting on critical photographic practice.

The so-called ‘digital revolution’ poses immense challenges as well as new opportunities for photographers. The plethora of developments affecting vernacular photography, as well as the digitally-driven resurgence of particular forms of the practice (street photography) are frequently referenced. Together they suggest a surfeit of new contexts for making and sharing photographic work, mapping across the new terrain of ‘photography 2.0’. The cultures of such photographic production and consumption are often characterized by instantaneousness, flexibility, mobility and rapid exchange: the photographic image, it seems, can be ubiquitously pliable. But what are the implications of this rapidly developing terrain for those ‘critically-engaged’ photography practices normally associated with fine art and documentary trends? By way of specific case studies, this paper will consider some emergent models of practice that seek to utilize photography 2.0 critically, so as to slow-down the rate of photographic production and open up new spaces for critical reflection and discussion. Specifically, walking (plain old pedestrianism) and talking (conversation) are explored as models for photographic interaction, which, it is suggested, might sit alongside and creatively enhance the virtual networking opportunities of photography 2.0