Photography in 2019

In the movie Bladerunner, Detective Rick Deckard uses a machine to analyze a photo at extreme depths, reviewing parts of the image not present to the eye. I’ve always wondered how this machine could know what was in the room beyond what the lens could see. Nothing has really reached that level of intelligence in photography until now. Earlier this year, Microsoft demoed their Photosynth software which allowed thousands of independent images taken of a subject (Obama’s Inauguration) to be stitched together to create a master image which is navigable in almost all three planes (up, down, forward & back). Two similar projects lead me to believe that I’ll be able to play drunk-robot-detective in no time flat. We’ll look back at hires images like they’re Polaroids, black & white TV or AM radio. Can’t wait!

Standford’s open-source camera

Sony’s crazy image embedding technology

You will dictate all your actions in the future.