Photography: Technology, Art And Culture

Walter Benjamin was one of the few who first noticed the social values of photography among the Western intellectuals in the 20th century. "A Short History of Photography," is the classical literature about the photographic theory and the theory of modern art and culture, it is pioneering, original and groundbreaking. However, theorists have not pay sufficient attention to this literature as yet and the research about the literature was very little. Therefore it is very necessary to excavate its connotation and value.In this article, I found the location of"A Short History of Photography"in Benjamin's ideology in the foundation of his life, writings and ideas. And by means of studying the text and comparing with the latter theories and ideas, I started to describe from photography, modern art and modern culture. In "A Short History of Photography", Benjamin went about the historical account and theoretical explanation about photography, described the development of early photography and the change of the nature and characteristics of photography in different stages; Benjamin studied of photography in the network that consists of the interrelationship of technology and art, aura and shock, worship and show. And he thought that the development of photography led to changes of the nature and characteristics of photography, thus causing the nature, features and function of the whole modern art to change;At the same time, Benjamin predicted a new modern culture, that is, the coming of the age in which the dominant type will be visual images.