There is an indirect relationship between digital photography and oil culture. This is because of two things. The first is the vast amount of light that energy from oil provides and the second is that much of that energy is used in digital communication, which is heavily image-based. Roy Scranton, in his book Learning to Die in the Anthropocene, says we use 10 percent of the world’s energy on digital communication. These days photography is inconceivable without oil, since it forms a substantial part of all that information-rich light.
Children’s winter shoes at a Stockholm pre-school
Between my own photography and oil culture there is another intersection. One of the comforts that energy from oil provides is the reliability of mass-production. For me this is the basis of an aesthetic of rhythmic form that I like to capture, and it is often something factory-made. I’ve long been drawn to images of rhythmic, iterative patterns. And I’m sure there is a connection between the comfort of mass-produced commodities and the appeal of rhythmic form.
