Is the Narrative Clip art?

How to use the Narrative Clip and App from Narrative on Vimeo.

It's time to geek out on photography, again.

When Mr. Mitchell brought up the Narrative Clip in class the other day I was intrigued by the idea of carrying around a camera that constantly shot photos. I was also a little bit creeped out by it. I somehow thought that once you wore it that it became a permanent fixture and you never ever took it off (Turns out, if you put it in your pocket it shuts off.).  After doing a bit more research, the Narrative Clip sounds like a fun idea--though it isn't without it's downfalls. 

The actual specs of the camera say it's only 5mp quality. Current iPhone camera quality is 8mp, so this narrative clip takes pictures about the same as older and more annoying android phones. Most of your indoor photos will end up looking grainy because of the low light, and in general the lower quality makes for worse editing and cropping. The clip takes a square photo, much like taking a shot for Instagram. But, apparently there are some lenses you can buy to help with the square picture issue. [Examples of photos taken with narrative clip: A, B, C]

One of the major downsides to technology like this is that it makes everyone too self aware that they're taking photos. This then makes every living moment of their lives a potential "Facebook moment," as I'll call it, a moment when you think to yourself "Oh, this would make a good [insert social media tool name here] post! This would get tons of likes from my friends!" Thus usually motivating you to take out your phone and get the perfect shot, and then upload it with a witty caption. You're no longer living your life for you, but instead you're living life for the 560 friends you have on Facebook, the 60 followers you have on your blog, and the 120 people who subscribe to your YouTube account. Smartphones already do this to some extent today. Humans long to mean something, and social networking gives us a chance to be whatever hero we want to be--we can sculpt our own image. Social media is a wonderful invention, but it can be overused to the point where you base your life's worth off of what your internet persona is and not the life it's reflecting.

On the other hand, the Narrative Clip can be an amazing way to document important moments in our lives. It would be so cool to have a few people wearing this at a wedding, a birthday party, or a family reunion to collect more personal pictures of the events. You could wear the narrative clip on traveling trips too. For someone who is horrible at journaling during trips (There's always something more interesting to be doing!), this tool would be invaluable for capturing all the small moments and details of being in a new country. The GPS would also come in handy with a map of your travels.

The Narrative Clip is a fun idea, but I would argue that the photos it produces aren't necessarily works of art.  The only way for the Narrative Clip to be art is if the user has a specific artistic purpose for the photos captured. You lose the art of photography when it becomes this automatic and monotonous snap of a photo. There is no artist behind it--it's just an empty box taking a photo every thirty seconds. Yes, some photos will turn out cool looking, but they aren't art. It's like when people see weird post-modern art and go "I could do that in kindergarten! That's just a blank canvas and a string attached to it!" The answer is, no, you couldn't. 

Art has thought and meaning behind it. It isn't the robotic reflex that the Narrative Clip turns it into. The art of photography is setting just the right manual settings on the camera, positioning it to get the right shot and frame the object in the photo, and hitting the shutter at just the right moment. The artist looks through the viewfinder and sees something beautiful or fascinating that they can give meaning to. Others look and see only a "Facebook moment" and the 20 notifications waiting for them after they upload their shot.