Nowadays people take a great amount of pictures – this bachelor thesis with the title «The importance of photography in the 21st century - How smartphones and social media have changed photography» discusses which place photography takes in the change of time in the life of different actors. Therefore, the different possibilities for storage of photog- raphies since their upcoming were explored. It was questioned if the classical photo albums still exist or whether they have changed. While today there are more photos taken than ever before, very little of them are printed. At the same time social media takes a major role in society. Consequently, the question is asked which effect social media has on photography and its presentation. Photo albums can initiate a communication with family and friends. How has communication changed since the invention of smart- phones, through the usage of photography platforms like Instagram and messenger applications like WhatsApp? In the course of the practical part of this bachelor thesis a prototype named gamma was developed. The aim of this application is to encourage amateur photographers to val- ue their smartphone photos by printing and storing them in photo box or album instead of only saving them on their phones and rarely to never looking at them.
