In the past year, the cell phone video, the iPhone photo, and a medley of other electronic images have saturated social media and taken over our little brains.
The political photograph is a display of humanity posing in ways that the objects think is flattering.
Usually, the pictures are taken in lush residential backyards.
Since the advent of the camera, the mug has been the coin of fame, or infamy. The photo has been used to catch cheating spouses, put criminals away, or provide instant recognition and notoriety. It’s an illusionist’s magic wand. Don’t believe your lying eyes when you look at a picture. I remember pictures of a couple depicting intoxicating mad love. The next day, they met their maker in a murder-suicide. But photos have also been on the side of angels. I have several of my maternal granddad Mbiti Wa Mbele, a lion of a man who lived to be over 100. However, the use of the political photograph in Kenya threatens to discredit the art of photography.
In the past year – which I shall call the Age of Corona – photographs and photographic images have become the news. The cell phone video, the iPhone photo, and a medley of other electronic images have saturated social media and taken over our little brains. I don’t know how many times in an hour you look at Twitter, FB, Instagram, Tik Tok and other godforsaken temptations of lust and garbage. Or the dark web where resides those among us who are pure evil. I know you can’t help yourself. You must look. Or Tweet. Take my good friend, the omnipresent Ahmednasir Abdullahi, Nairobi’s most visible lawyer. The man tweets every few minutes. He beguiles you with images edited to mislead.
