Long Exposure Photos of Facebook Albums (16 total)

Inspired by a quote from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who famously said: “We’re going to change the world. I think we can make the world a more open place,” Phillip Maisel created a series which examines the fleeting nature of the massive amount of photos we electronically store.

To create "A More Open Place," Maisel took long-exposure photographs of a computer screen while flipping through photo albums on Facebook.

"The technology is such that it allows one to view photographs in albums in quick succession, infinitely looping," Maisel says. "Because of this, an entire collection of photographs can be experienced in a matter of seconds. Documents of entire vacations, of whole seasons can blur by in an instant. In this way, I see the document becoming as fleeting as the moment it initially tried to capture."

He continues, "I see the combination of technology and photography as playing an increasing role as a databank for our memories. At the same time, despite Facebook’s current popularity, its lasting prominence in our collective lives is uncertain. If Facebook dies, do our memories die with it?"