Sony Cyber-shot W310/P 

Sony Corp., 2010

Polyamide, aluminum, metals, plastic

9.5 x 5.5 x 1.9 cm

Gifted and purchased at Sony in Barrie, ON

Personal collection

The Sony Cyber-shot W310/P Camera is a digital camera that was first introduced in January of 2010. This model is a 12.1-megapixel design with a 4x optical zoom lens, which in simplified terms, means possible high-definition technology for image-making. Its pocket-friendly size made for easy transportation and hand-held functionality. With its high-quality materials and simplistic look, this camera made a mark in the digital age of the 2010s.

The Sony Cyber-shot was chosen because of its modern-day style and technology. It boasts a complex and intricate software which creates fast acting mechanisms to take high-quality photos at the touch of a button. Digital cameras compared and contrasted against film cameras is an exploratory inside look into the tools needed to take a photograph over the years. In the last 15 or so years, image making has been executed without a thought, as taking photos with fast digital cameras and camera phones make this previously intricate process a click of a few buttons. It also speaks to photography as an artistic practice, as images fill our world, evident in the access we have to contemporary experiences around the world, which have become critical to understanding events taking place currently and developments with the pandemic globally..

Everyone has the ability to take photos and circulate them, making it difficult for photographic originality to exist. Sony’s Cyber-shot W310/P Camera’s hand-held body makes for a physical and metaphorical example of how easy it has been made to take photographs over the last 130 years.

Alexis Freitag