Notes on the Materiality of the Web Documentary - Text 2
Consider the case of Jonathan Harris’ The Whale Hunt (2007).[1] This is an interactive non-fiction project that documented, using still photography, a nine-day trip by Harris from Newark, New Jersey to Barrow, Alaska and his participation over several days in an annual whale hunt undertaken by the Inupiat. Harris relied on a chronometer so that a photograph was taken automatically every five minutes over the entire period. This provided a technical “base rate” that was complemented by more photographs being deliberately taken during activities and events of heightened affect, for instance the first whale hunt, where “a maximum rate of 37 pictures in five minutes” was achieved.[2] The resulting collection of 3214 photographs have been sorted by time and made available through an interface where every image is immediately visible and available. Three such interfaces are provided; a mosaic, timeline and pinwheel, all sorted by time. Upon choosing (by clicking with a mouse) an individual photograph in one of these interfaces I am provided with a high resolution version of the photograph that is annotated with descriptive metadata. This metadata includes “cadence,” “colour”, “context,” “concept” and “cast.” Image captions can be turned off and on. The photographs automatically flow from one to the next, this progress can be paused, and I can also scroll backwards and forwards through this timeline. I am able to change constraints, for example limiting the timeline to only photographs of the first whale capture, and only these photographs are then played for me.
