To continue and extend our conversation (and to make sure I get to hear from everyone in COM 300), this blog entry asks you to finish the sentence in the headline, with elaboration and explanation. I’ll go first, to get us thinking and to model the kinds of thoughts and posts I’m looking for.
As I mentioned in class, to me photography is like poetry. I love poetry; I love playing with words, and poetry is wordplay if it is nothing else. When writing students expressed to the Walt Whitman that they wanted to become poets because they “have so much to say,” Whitman wasn’t interested. When writing students said they wanted to become poets because they “love playing with language, with words,” Whitman suddenly became interested in teaching them.
Similarly, photography is imageplay. Both poetry and photography “intensively see,” as Susan Sontag put it in her seminal work, On Photography. Much of poetry is concerned with the visual, getting us to “see” a flower, a tree, pain, loss, love, the wrinkles in a woman’s face, and to see these otherwise ordinary artifacts as we have never seen them before. To truly see. Seeing is believing? No, believing is seeing.
- David’s photograph of a degraded, wrinkled, old pumpkin? A poem about aging and decomposition, and an eloquent poem at that.
- A water buffalo with a degenerate eye (vision, seeing, window to the soul)? Ah, a poem about the suffering and hopelessness in Zimbabwe, perhaps?
- A stuffed freezer with hyper-packaged, processed American foods a poem about the excesses of American culture, in contrast with need in most of the rest of the world?
Think about how photography turns living beings — like a water buffalo or a pumpkin — into a thing, a thing to look at. (Is the photo a record of that water buffalo or leaf, or a record of how the photographer saw that water buffalo or leaf?) And how photography turns things into living beings — again, David’s dying pumpkin-become-old woman, or the leaf with veins running through it. (Sontag talks about this photographic strategy on page 111, where she discusses photography’s ability to disclose “the thingness of human beings, the humanness of things.”)
Think of how many poems dignify the mundane — a flower, a tree, an acorn, a sunset, a pretty girl, a rainy day. By calling attention to it, and describing it in such detail, the poem dignifies that object and makes a virtue of it. The mundane becomes — if for only the contemplated moment — something beautiful. This is true also in photography.
Can you think a poem that is “ugly”? A bad poem, sure, just like bad photography, but a poem or photo of something universally ugly? Nope. Photography, like poetry, beautifies, dignifies, exalts, celebrates . . . even the ugly and the mundane.
The poem cannot explain that object, but it can acknowledge it. Photography does precisely the same thing. Chad’s photo of the WTC towers cannot explain the devastation of 9-1-1, but it can and does acknowledge it. Jennifer’s photo of the deck and dock behind her grandmother’s house cannot explain the meaning of that place, but it can acknowledge it (and all of its sun-splashed beauty). Again, as Sontag puts it, “photographed images do not seem to be statements about the world so much as pieces of it, miniatures of reality that anyone can make or acquire” (p. 4).
Ah, this is another possible answer: Photography is like beauty. Fleeting. Subjective. To quote Aquinas, beauty is “wholeness, harmony, radiance.” To quote James Joyce on Aquinas, “wholeness” is apprehending the object as separate from all else — as in apprehending a pair of shoes as separate from all else (editing, choosing, isolating). “Radiance” is the “whatness” of the object, the essence of that object that makes it distinctly what it is and nothing else — like the pumpkin-ness of the “ugly” pumpkins we viewed, or the “water buffalo-ness” of the water buffalo.
Oh, this is fun. And I could write like this all day long. But now it’s your turn. Photography is like . . . what?
November 7, 2008 at 10:49 pm |
As I began to articulate in class today, photography is like a time capsule. A photograph is a display of everything that happened or existed in a particular place at a certain moment in time.
Everything in the scope of a lens reveals something about the time period in which the photographer took the shot. The subject of a photo is evidence of a time period, but the surroundings of the subject reveal things about the time period as well. Hairstyles, cars, and décor, for example, may not be the intended focus of a photograph, but if any of these elements are in the image, they provide hints as to when the shot was taken.
Even photographs of nature serve as time capsules. Photographs of my backyard 10 years ago would look very different than my backyard looks now. Photographs of new developments or neighborhoods are time capsules also, because shots taken in the same place a few years prior would be simply shots of woods or land.
Photographs with people are time capsules also because the shots show the people exactly as they looked at that moment, displaying their physical appearance, facial expressions, relationships, and actions.
Any possible photo I can imagine reveals something about the time period in which it was taken, leading me to the conclusion that photography is like a time capsule.
November 8, 2008 at 4:58 pm |
Everything in the scope of a lens reveals something about the time period in which the photographer took the shot.
This leads me to a question I neglected to ask in our 121 discussion >> is a photograph a record of the object? Or a record of how the photographer saw the object? Of course both, but in stressing the latter, I think the photo reveals something about the observer, too.
I like the metaphor of time capsule, for several reasons. It is intentional — something is “captured” for containment, for perpetuity (or the life of the image and/or the memory of those remembering the image). It is small — a “capsule,” capable of containing something, but not a lot of things. And the obvious time element, a slice of time, a second, only that second.
November 8, 2008 at 4:59 pm |
Oh, a reminder to all who post now, after Leigh’s comment and my rejoinder >> react and respond FIRST and FOREMOST to the initial blog post, the point of this exercise.
Only after doing that should you comment on the other comments, though of course you’re free and even encouraged to do that, as well.
November 9, 2008 at 5:15 pm |
Photography to me is like the opening of a book and the reading of a person’s life story. Photography is also a style of expression. If you look at all the photos of one person I think that you could tell a lot about that person. Photography allows the viewer in a way know a lot about that person. Photography also allows a person to express his or her self through the photos that they take. People can express feelings when they are looking through a lens.
Like the pictures we looked at in the library; all of those were photos of places that people have been. It tells the story of their trip and it lets the viewer know what is important to that person. It also makes the viewer think about why the person took that photo. People take pictures of many different things so each photo can allow the reader to learn more and more about that person and what they are like.
Photography allows people to express what they are feeling, thinking, doing, and more when the photo is taken., Back to the photos of the trip; the expression is coming out of each photo no matter what is going on. It is a way for people to open up how they feel. Are they feeling happy, sad, ect… For the people who like nature they more then likely will express this feeling by taking photos of nature also allowing the viewer to see what is important to them.
I also agree with Leigh’s comment in that it is a time capule and I think that goes along with the expression. People will feel different day to day and therefore their expressions may change. All the photos of one person put together could in a way tell you about that person and also let you know what that person is like.
November 9, 2008 at 6:25 pm |
I think that photography is like a treasure chest. Each person puts in it (photographs) things that they consider valuable. Photography allows a person to capture moments of life and keep them forever and never forget them (good or bad, common or unique, happy or sad).
Each chest has different treasures and people (treasure hunters) value those treasures differently. That is the same with photography. People take pictures of different things they consider important or care about; at the same time, viewers give different meanings to those photographs. For a person a picture of a waterfall might mean something peaceful, but to someone else can mean power, anger, etc.
A photograph lets you share important memories of your life with others. For example, I wasn’t able to be at home for my aunt’s wedding, but they sent me photos to share that special moment of her live with me. Through those photos I was able to enjoy and share the emotion of that unique moment.
November 9, 2008 at 7:26 pm |
Like the pictures we looked at in the library; all of those were photos of places that people have been. It tells the story of their trip and it lets the viewer know what is important to that person. It also makes the viewer think about why the person took that photo.
I like this in Laura’s post, because it really makes the point that the photo, an image, is to some degree about the photographer, the producer of the image. It is not, therefore, exclusively about the subject, the content of the photo or the image. This truth undercuts the presumed objectivity of the camera or of its products, the photos and images.
November 9, 2008 at 7:29 pm |
Responding to Nayu and to Laura, I want to encourage us to think about photography at large, in general, not only personal photographs like those we examined on Friday. Think about the practice/hobby/profession/art/science of photography. Think about photos in general.
I want us to consider the question, or statement, “Photography is like . . .” in this larger context, not only or merely personal or keepsake photography.
November 9, 2008 at 10:11 pm |
photography is like the unknown.
now, with that being said, i think it’s important to point out that, yes, the ‘unknown’ is not a great definitive object. it’s not a book, a treasure chest, a time capsule, or a poem. while all of these things provide a much more concrete (and probably better) comparison between the two, i’ll try to justify exactly what i mean.
i think the concept of not knowing (the great unknown) is one of the most fascinating things we can ever experience in our lives. yes, the unknown is scary and, at times, detrimental — but the mere fact behind it (to me, at least) is exciting. i like not knowing what’s going to happen to me tomorrow, later this evening, or even the second that is to follow the end of this sentence. it challenges me to live right now, in THIS moment.
now, before it seems like i’m going too far into a religious rant, i’ll stop myself here and tie it back in with photography.
i’ve never been one to simply settle for one bit of information that someone has told me. i like to ask questions, to dig deeper, and to reach my own conclusions. sometimes (ok, oftentimes) they’re wrong — but that’s just me. i like it.
when looking at a picture, i don’t think we’re supposed to be able to figure everything out. i’m not much of a photographer myself, but it seems to me that the best photographers are those who can use the power of a lens to invoke questions in the mind of the viewer.
i am reminded of the picture of the young girl in afghanistan that we have talked about in class previously (you know, the one with the awkwardly large green eyes!). this, to me, is the concept of photography as the unknown in its finest form. in looking at that picture, a lot of questions are left unanswered.
is she safe? or is she in harm’s way?
is the look in her eyes one of helplessness and defeat? or is it on of courage and determination?
will she survive? or will she die?
these are just a few of the many questions raised in my mind when i look at that picture (which i know we have all done many times).
anyway, this is just a very brief and probably cliche example, but it helps to illustrate the point i am trying to make in saying that i believe photography is like the unknown.
it is mysterious yet beautiful, certain yet open to interpretation — and we are better in the long run because of it.
November 9, 2008 at 10:15 pm |
Photography, simply put, is the best visual representation of a memory. This memory may be one shared by numerous people or by simply the photographer. This memory may be one of significance to the photographer or one that just helps the photographer remember the day or circumstance.
Through a small snapshot of an image one can remember the reason why the snapshot was created and what the significance was. How “outsiders” view the image is very different from the way the photographer views the image leaving the image open to criticism. One example of this dissonance in interpretation leans on the image itself. I know that we should focus on photography as a whole, but this example helps to explain my point well. Looking at Chad’s picture of the 9-11 site with the fence around a big whole differs highly to pictures taken on 9-11-2001 with the buildings ablaze. Even though the picture is of the same place, the context of the picture differs. What makes Chad want to take a picture of this site? His memory. As he takes this picture, he probably remembered watching the news and seeing the towers come down and the significance of this American tragedy. This memory creates significance and creates the desire to capture that memory the best way possible through photography. How he saw the photograph differs from maybe the way that I would take the picture or even the way that many others would take the picture.
For this reason, photography is like a memory where the photographer is trying to preserve that moment in time in the best way possible.
November 9, 2008 at 10:37 pm |
Photography is like editing. By taking a picture, you are singling out one thing above others.
I was very frustrated in Italy this summer because there was so much I wanted to take pictures of but the lens of my point-and-shoot camera was painfully inadequate. For example, instead of being able to take a picture of the whole Colosseum, I was forced to take pictures of tiny pieces of the Colosseum and even those pieces were disappointingly miniaturized.
In the Vatican, my pictures were carefully chosen—partly based on the limited space left on my memory card but also because my camera just didn’t have the zoom or wide angle that I wanted. I was very careful to prioritize exactly what I wanted in the frame.
To me, that makes photography frustrating. In some instances, it is perfectly fine to edit out parts of the world to focus on one part—like when my sister and I are taking pictures at the beach, there are just some people who wear things that we don’t want to document.
But in places like Rome, Sienna, Pompeii and Cinque Terre, I was pulling my hair out because I was forced to pick and choose what would be documented in my little “time capsule.”
At the same time, being forced to choose what to capture is what makes photography an art form. One photographer may see something they think is important but another photographer may not. The choosing what to include and exclude is the photographer’s conscious choice.
November 9, 2008 at 10:38 pm |
To me, photography is storytelling. The photographer communicates why the photograph is significant when he or she decides to capture that image. The photograph’s significance can communicate something important to the photographer, the viewer, the general public or no one depending on personal experiences. Recognizing that everyone, including the photographer, has different experiences, this determines how a photograph or “story” is interpreted. It’s like identifying with the characters of a story, with the photographer as the author and the photo as the characters.
Photographs document our personal experiences in life. For the photographer, a photograph shows where the person was, what he or she was thinking when the photo was taken. It serves as a path into the photographer’s inner eye to see exactly what they saw in that moment in time. In this sense, photography is storytelling because it illustrates an experience, an adventure that you re-experience visually as opposed to orally with words. The image captures the essence of the story so that no words are needed to convey its significance.
Photography as storytelling focuses on the vital aspect of a photograph outside the subject: the photographer. Without the specific and included elements of a photograph, we couldn’t see the story to communicate through the photographer’s eye. If we looked at the location without the photographic lens, the story wouldn’t be the same; it’s like trying write a story without a plot. The photo composition acts as the plot, giving us the meat of the message and its significance to the viewer.
November 9, 2008 at 10:44 pm |
Photography is like the essence of a moment. Actually, a picture IS the essence of a moment. It is the exact millisecond of a precise moment in time which the photographer saw through his/her lens. Professional photographers have an eye for caputring this moment. It is the plotline to the story a picture tells and the significance to moments captured in photgraphy time capsules. It doesn’t matter what happened right before the picture or right after, what matters is what was captured in the photograph. It’s the finished product; it’s what the audience actually see. One photograph can tell a whole story or recall memories because the essence of a moment was captured. It’s a powerful concept and seems obvious, but that’s exactly what photography is. It is the capturing of the essence of a specific moment in time.
November 9, 2008 at 11:10 pm |
Photography is like a diary.
A person writes in a diary to record their thoughts, their daily activities, their hopes, dreams, etc;
In this same way, a person takes pictures to show what they deem as important.
I don’t normally take the time to record things such as “I brushed my teeth” or “I took out the trash.” But as soon as I write this down, I’m making it important. It has become part of my day that I felt should be remembered.
By taking the time to focus, zoom, and click. a photographer is taking a moment in time and marking its importance. Whether it is taking pictures of a trip to Paris, prom, or an ugly pumpkin, we have given these things meaning.
If a person were to read my diary, they may be able to read my words but they cannot understand what I was thinking at the time they were written.
A photographer photo’s work exactly the same way.
An observer can only guess as the photographer’s intentions.
November 10, 2008 at 12:03 am |
Photography is like blogging. As we talked about in class, photography communicates something from the photographer’s point of view, but also allows for interpretation by the viewer. In the same way, blogging is a means of one person expressing their thoughts, feelings or opinions. They present to the online world a glimpse of their surroundings through a certain perspective. Readers of the blog then take in this presentation but filter it depending on their own experiences. Depending on what kind of background the reader is bringing to the plate, two readers could see it in very different ways. Photography is the same. Yes, a photographer captures a picture with a single snap, but many split-second decisions are made first (positioning, scope, perspective, focus…) and in this way the photograph becomes subjective. However, the viewer does not always pick up on what the photographer is communicating. Just like readers of blogs, viewers of photographs come with their own experiences and background, and make different interpretations depending.
November 10, 2008 at 12:06 am |
To me, photography is like a puzzle with square pieces. In order to understand what is on the image of a puzzle, all of the pieces need to be placed together. If someone only had one piece of the puzzle to look at, they wouldn’t be able to know exactly what was in the whole image. They could make an educated guess based on what was depicted on that one piece, but they can’t know for sure.
Similarly, a photograph is just a small piece of someone else’s reality. To fully know the initial purpose of the photo, the viewer would have to see the story behind the photo. They would have to find out why the artist took the picture. Only then could the original function of the picture be revealed. Each individual has different interpretations of photographs, but the meaning behind the picture began with the photographer. Once all the pieces of the puzzle are put together, the photograph’s potential can be revealed.
I describe the puzzle as having square pieces because people can rearrange the meaning of the photograph to relate to them. They still fit together, but don’t create the same picture.
November 10, 2008 at 12:21 am |
Photography is a way of interacting with others. A means of walking a mile in another’s shoes if you will. Be that other person (or thing) the photographer of the subject, it matters not. By looking at and studying a photograph, you can learn a lot about the image maker such as their world view, personality, priorities, likes, dislikes, and so on. Some photographs reveal a photographer who is detail-oriented and meticulous. Others, an artist who prefers to paint with a wide brush, or speak in metaphors. It shows cultural differences and interests. So much of the photographer ends up in the final photograph and can speak to a careful observer. looking at a photograph is like looking through the eyes of the photographer, seeing what they see, the way they intend for you to.
Photography can also reveal a lot about the subject in the same way that it speaks about the photographer. It can educate viewers about the trials of life in a far-off land or the problems in their own backyard. It can inspire and enchant. Photographs can inspire life-long passions or instill life-long prejudices. A photo about the war in Iraq depicting a barefooted and malnourished child in a bombed out village can bring out feelings of horror and hatred towards any side of the conflict depending on the alliances of the photographer and the viewer as well as the composition of the photograph. American society, especially, is becoming more and more visual, but this is true all across the globe. It is often the image accompanying a news story that first draws a consumer into the article, and that frames the way in whicht he words will be interpreted. Photography is a very powerful medium with important implications which can directly influence the beliefs of viewers.
November 10, 2008 at 1:11 am |
Photography is like storytelling.
This idea comes from a mom or grandmother taking a book and reading it to a child. The individual is telling the story written down on the pages of the book. The mom or grandmother must read the story to the child because the child is unable to read the story. A mediator (mom or grandmother) is needed in storytelling of this fashion.
However, photography is easier to comprehend because the variations of the story are unlimited. A viewer can see a photograph and determine the story without the mediator due to the fact that photography offers different stories for different people. The story is determinant of the particular views and values of the individual.
However, the viewer cannot determine the story contained within the photograph by casually looking at the image. A thorough analysis must be completed in order to understand the story contained within. The viewer looks at the image and decides what the story is for that individual photograph.
This story may be easy to understand. On the other hand, the story may be very complicated to the point that it takes the viewer some time to discover the story. The point is that every photograph has a story that needs to be told. The image may be mundane or ugly, but there is an underlying story present in each photograph. Consider my picture of the bowl with the foreign object. The story behind that image is that it was taken in the Pilgrim restroom and left there by an individual.
Unfortunately, the viewer does not know the reason for the bowl with the foreign object being left there, but one can hope there is a reason. The story is simple because the viewer cannot see much. The viewer is only given minimal insight. The foreign object illustrates the oddities of a typical, male residence hall. After further examination of this image, I speculate the foreign object is a banana peal. However, the viewer may never know what that foreign object is or was.
November 10, 2008 at 2:32 am |
Photography is like a music.
Music is universal. It doesn’t have any language barriers to overcome. That’s what makes it beautiful. I could play a piece of music in Germany and a player in Germany could still play that same piece exactly like me. Photography is the same way. Everyone that has been blessed with the gift of sight can look at a photograph and see the same colors, objects, and shapes.
Music takes it’s shape and form from the musician who is playing that piece of music. It is all about interpretation. One musician could play the same song completely differently then another person. This can be based off of emotion one is feeling at the time, different styles of the performer, background, setting, etc. Photography I feel is the same way. Like we said on Friday, photography is unlike any art in that it can capture a moment in time in an instant. The photographer may choose to take pictures based on the same way a musician interprets the music. And it can go vice-versa. Someone looking at another’s photography might intepret and conclude a different meaning then the orginal intended meaning.
I also think about a full orchestra consisting of strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion. Each instrument plays a different part, sometimes a completely different rhythm or melody. If you were just listening to one instrument the song might sound rather odd, but when the orchestra begins to play together at a concert all of these different melodies and rhythms come together to make a perfect harmony that is beautiful to the ear. Photography consists of many different technical elements. Although not everyone is educated on lighting and framing, anyone who takes pictures thinks about the image as a whole. The photographer sees in front of him all of these parts, whether beautiful, ugly or mundane, and envisions what the lens of his camera can capture as a whole.
Music also has so many different genres. Just like music, photography has an infinite number of ways that it can be displayed and used. For example a photo could be used in an advertisement, on a grandmother’s bedroom dresser, on a phone, etc. There are different ways photos can be taken too like with a digital camera, a film camera, or a polaroid camera.
November 10, 2008 at 9:54 am |
Photography is like a cropped piece of history. With in a boundry of the size of film a person can capture their thoughts and interest with a press of a button. A person may take several pictures of an interesting area and feel as thought he/she does not have enough pictures to remember this place or they can take one picture of something special and remember it forever. The point of the picture is to remember whatever was in the picture. No matter if it is ugly, pretty, nasty, or artistic. A picture is for remembering. Also all pictures have one thing in common. Every picture ever taken is a nano-second capturing of the past. A photography is history and photography is the best way to see history. The human brain can not recollect details like a picture can.
November 10, 2008 at 9:58 am |
Photography is in the eye of the beholder. Regardless of the contents, every picture can be beautiful or at least meaningful. It all depends on the context in which the picture was taken. What was the photographer trying to capture? A moment in time? A memory? Simply an object. Even then, the photographer may not be aware of the meanings others can take from their own picture. In regards to the picture of a over stuffed freezer, someone could see that freezer as unorganized or unhealthy, but someone who is not used to having a surplus of food would only see it for what it is- food, life.
I agree with Kate, that Photography is like music. It can be beautiful or heart wrenching, depending on the person who is listening to it. Often at weddings, the father-daughter dance song and the bride and groom’s first dance song is saved forever in one’s mind. There is a particular association that one makes with the song that can bring tears, joy and smiles. The same would be seen of a song played at a funeral, but with a different association. Photography is treated the exact same way. It saves a moment in time and is received different by every individual who views it.
November 10, 2008 at 10:15 am |
Photography is a slice of subjective reality.
I agree with what’s mentioned in a few posts, that each photo reflects back on the photographer. It illuminates some part of what they have seen and how they have seen it. By use of framing, you learn what the photographer finds important about an image. The photo also grounds the photographer in a specific place and time, no matter how universal the photo might be.
Three photographers taking a picture of the same general image can come up with three very different pictures. Each image reflects just a tiny piece of that photographer’s reality. How he/she viewed the image is revealed, and how he/she doesn’t view the image. This is the editing effect that Katie talks about.
Each photo lets the viewer take part in the life of the photographer, even if it is just a second of that life. A tiny slice of the photographer’s subjective reality.
November 10, 2008 at 10:50 am |
Sorry, I just got into town from a church retreat and did not have internet.
Photography is like a window. We see different things when we look through the same window. For example, if we look outside from the top of Herman, we see Ford, the gate house, etc., but each person will notice something different and have a different wmotion when seeing it.
However, if the window is in a different part of the world, we see something “new” from another’s perspective. An example of this would be the photos placed on the walls in the library. Each acted as a window showing us how life is in different parts of the world and from there, we created our own story for the work until reading the actuality of it.
To clarify, the window is the picture and illustrates what one person is seeing and allows for us to interpret what is being shown.
November 10, 2008 at 2:11 pm |
Photography is like memories that you can capture, whether beautiful or sad ones, and you will have them for as long as you want them and can share with others too. Photography can tell a complete story or poem when you view the photo. Now, the photographer can have a totally different perspective on there photo, because they probably know more about that particular moment when they photographed that piece of what their eyes saw.
I like how photography is also like an art form because every person can capture their own special piece of, for example a building, which can show their personality and character through that photo. By cropping and editing a photo you can also positively or negatively tell the message that your trying to tell through your photo.Photography also lets you be creative as little or much as you want. You hold the canvas and the world around you has everything else you need, you just have to “shoot away” and see what it holds.
March 31, 2009 at 5:30 pm |
COM 300 – Spring Semester
Photography is like a picture frame. The essence of photography is the attempt to capture a “something” – a person, a setting, a color, etc. However, one can not fit an entire experience, the entire story of a place or thing, complete with all its details and wonder, in a single frame to fit on you desk. THIS is photography. Photography is the box in which we must fit these artifacts, trying to emphasize the purest allusion to its essence in order for viewers to understand its significance. It does not fit the entire animal in the cage, but rather shows the cheetah’s spots.
This brings forth the idea of the photographer’s duty. A true photographer can pack that wooden square with all the meaning and beauty necessary to tell its story. He/she must leave behind the smells, ability to explore and move within a setting and merely take back a scrap poignant enough to make others feel like they’re a part of the rounder experience. An entire place may not fit in a camera, or a frame, but the meaning can.
April 1, 2009 at 4:05 pm |
Photography is (like) isolating and freezing a moment, a perspective, a condition,or any subject. taking the “aliveness” out of time and compressing it onto a flat surface, like the taxidermy of living and flowing time. Trying to making moments a bit more immortal, photography grabs content and re-presents it usually smaller but still in a way that causes a viewer to consider the content. I do not think photography is like poetry in expression but is capable of making similar impression as it allows more than just the photographer to witness a particular perspective of a particular subject. Rather than the photographer acting as the author of the poem, the cause of the condition is the author and the photographer the chorus singing and retelling the poem. With this perspective, time itself becomes a constant generator of poetic content, intrinsically beautiful, and therefore, photography becomes the magnifying glass to pronounce the perpetual beauty of particular points in time.
April 1, 2009 at 4:22 pm |
Photography is like a piece of history. Every photography represents a different time frame, whether that be 40 years ago or just yesterday.
It doesn’t matter if the photographer intentionally took the picture to represent a certain time in history, or if they were taking a quick snapshot.You gave the example in class of taking pictures during a vacation. Each picture taken is in the hopes of remembering what a fun time the photographer had on the vacation. The pictures taken are obviously to represent a time in history that the photographer will one day reminisce. But a picture that I take of my roommate sitting casually in our room can serve as the same thing, a memory of time in history.
You can’t avoid it: photographs are little windows into the past. Every photograph taken serves as an archive for those looking at it.
April 2, 2009 at 5:38 pm |
Photography is like a treasure at a garage sale.
Photography has different meanings to different people. Someone may take a close up picture of a blade of grass with morning dew clinging to it and see it as representative of God’s provision for both the earth and our everyday lives. Another person may take the same picture purely for the simple beauty in the focused detail of the water droplets hanging on to the blade. Yet another person may take the photo and see just…grass…and well, like it for simply that.
Anyone of these people may cherish the photo for their own reasons. Also, either of these people in finding themselves at a garage sale may purchase this photo for their own individual reasons.
This “garage sale” is really the world we live in and everything in it. Not to say that it is all junk, but to say instead that there are hidden treasures on every table and what may be a treasure to one person may seem mundane or more like trash to another person.
April 2, 2009 at 9:03 pm |
Photography is like pausing life.
When a photo is taken, life is paused in that single frame at a certain moment and it cannot be returned. This frame represents the photographer view of life and what the photographer saw at the time. This single frame can be viewed differently than from how the photographer saw this frame. The question is what makes that frame significant at that time. Well, photographs can speak many words without the use of words. Those words can be interpreted in many ways. That is what makes each photograph unique. It is only through the photographer’s eye that the true interpretations of these photographs exist. It does not matter what the viewer thinks or how the view interprets the photograph, because simply, the photograph is just a paused moment in life. Some people could be motivated by the photograph, while others could just ignore the photograph.
April 2, 2009 at 9:41 pm |
Photography is like capturing the truths of a moment existing in three dimensions and translating it to a two dimensional representation.
Unlike a painting, a photograph can only show what happened in a certain moment (which is from the time the film is exposed to light until the time the shutter is closed, which theoretically could allow for a picture that shows the truths of a decade). A painter can interpret an image to show the truths of a situation over the course of history rather than in a single moment.
I noticed a couple things about photography from our study of the mundane, ugly and poignant photography. It is difficult to take an ugly picture, as the textures of the ugly are completely capable of telling a beautiful story. Conversely, it is difficult to do justice to a poignant scene, as bad visual poetry cannot convey the beautiful truths of nature. Even the most mundane of moments becomes intriguing when represented through photography. Freezing a moment of time allows a viewer more time to ponder on the truths of a situation.
April 2, 2009 at 9:58 pm |
Photography is like a moment in time the way we wanted it to be frozen forever.
When a photograph is taken we are able to freeze whatever we saw at that point in time. It’s also like what we talked about in class. A photograph is sort of a caged animal. When we stop and look at a picture we took, all we see is what we wanted to see. How we saw it may not be how it exactly is. If we took a picture of a building and then go back and look at it later, how do we know that’s what the building looks like? Someone who took a picture on the opposite side of the building at the same time would see something totally different. What if while focusing on the building we missed what was happening around it? Something important could have happened while we were taking the picture but we never saw it because we so focused on getting the picture we wanted. I guess what I am trying to say is that a picture distorts reality. Its not life, instead it is just an image of how we want life to be.
April 2, 2009 at 10:12 pm |
What is photography like?? well let me tell you. Photography is like a split second in life that is free than all of the sudden “WA BAM” it’s captured as thousands of little pixels on a person’s digital camera (or captured on a film) as discussed in class a photograph can only do so much. But what it can do is capture what was going on in that precise moment in time forever holding the feelings that are in that photography. I remember the day that I placed second in a rowing marathon very vividly and there is a picture of the four of us with medals hanging around our necks with our arms draped over each other and we are looking at the camera in a “we just did that” gaze. An honeslty that’s exactly how it was and how we felt. In other photographs you can see pain and you can see suffering and you can almost feel exactly what that person is feeling. An important piece of information is that it captures a quick glimpse at life at that precise moment. So in a photography where somebody is smiling one moment, the next moment a plane could be hitting a building right behind it. Photography can tell a story…but sometimes it’s story can be just what it is…a story.
April 2, 2009 at 10:28 pm |
Photography is like an expression. It is an expression of what the photographer feels. No photo is taken without a sense of purpose and as such they are used to express an idea. Photography allows the photographer to let their emotions jump out in each photo they take and allows them to convey the emotion behind their feelings. It is not only limited to the taker of the photo, the viewer can conclude their own expression from the photo. It is also an expression of that which they are capturing. Photography is an expression of the essence of something. It allows the audience to view the object being portrayed in the way which the photographer wishes to convey it.
April 2, 2009 at 10:40 pm |
Photography is an expression of perception. The photographer takes photos of the way he sees the world, events, people, etc. and envites others to view these things as he does. With photography comes the chance to imitate real life, but it seldom does. It captures one single, perfect (or imperfect) moment and keeps it forever. Because a photographer only has one very small part of an event or scene to keep at a time, it is important that they take the photo the way they want it to be in order to more effectively express what the image means to them. Therefore, photography is perception.
April 2, 2009 at 11:56 pm |
Photography is like music. Both have certain elements that need to be balanced. In photography the elements are things like light. In music there are elements like melody and rhythm and texture; everything has to be present in some way, and everything has to be balanced to create an aesthetic whole. Similarly, both of these forms of art are basically emotional. They can reflect the creator’s thoughts on a subject, but one does not go to either to learn facts, as we mentioned in class. They are emotional arts. Just as the photograph of the girl running from napalm does not teach us about the Vietnam war, the 1812 overture does not teach us about Napolean’s advance on Russia, though it is certainly a reaction to it. Photography and music both try to communicate an idea and evoke an emotional response. That photo of the Kent State massacre is a Beethoven symphony: very dramatic and emotional with lots of angst and turbulence. On the other hand, that photo of Albert Einstein sticking his tongue out could be a Frank Zappa song: a little strange maybe, no one quite knows why there’s a xylophone solo in there, but it’s still a testimony of something happening.
April 3, 2009 at 12:23 am |
Photography is like a journal on which the viewer reflects upon their emotions, beliefs and values.
As discussed in class, photography does not make something real or truthful. Instead, the viewer provides the truth through the experiences and beliefs they bring to the viewing of said photograph. Without the viewer a photograph is technology, chemicals and light, with the viewer a photograph becomes a truth relevant to an individual’s life.
April 3, 2009 at 12:28 am |
Photography is like a drama. This small drama is seen through the eyes of the photographer, but interpreted by the audience that is viewing it. One photo does not just tell one story. In each photo there can be multiple stars of the drama depending on who is viewing the image. The one viewing the image would then get to decide how to answer the questions who, what, when, where, why and how. Within a photo a plot is seen and anyone could tell a story about the image. There is a sense of drama in any photo simple, because only the photographer knows the whole story behind the image. It is the way the photographer sees that drama play out at that particular moment in time. Every photo keeps a story to itself.
April 3, 2009 at 12:47 am |
Photography is like a form of art but a also powerful medium that has the ability to capture moments of time and turn them into history. Not everyone can take pictures that explain a lot or are just beautiful to look at. I also consider photography to be a form of art because photography involves improvisation and or imagination/fantasy. So because photography requires some of the abilities that painters have I consider it an art. Regular pictures of the family or historical pictures of war create something that allows people to see how other people were and lived in the past.
So because photography has been such a powerful medium in the history of people and in capturing moments in time I consider it an art.
April 3, 2009 at 1:08 am |
Photography is a way to spur one’s memory and emotion – purely representative of a moment in history or in one’s imagination.
It was pointed out in class the fact that a photograph is (generally) a miniaturized portrayal of whatever the subject matter. Yet, even though it is merely 4×6 inches or whatnot, looking at a photo triggers a sort of movie in the mind. The viewer’s surroundings are for a time replaced by the memory or fantasy of the photo at hand, and a sort of virtual reality is created. The borders disappear, and time is suspended. So, in that sense, perhaps photography is more than just a memory trigger. Perhaps it’s a time machine
April 3, 2009 at 1:19 am |
Photography is like wine. A picture gets better as time passes. While you are in the process of taking the picture, the photo does not seem to do the event or object you are photographing justice. The event you just experienced firsthand is fresh in your mind and your recollection of the event is more valuable than what the photograph is giving you. It is after you lose the thought of your experience that the picture becomes valuable because it can bring that feeling/experience back to you. For example a picture of a vacation right after it has been taken has little value. It is after you return home when the picture has meaning. A childhood picture means nothing while you are still that age; however, a picture of one’s childhood once he becomes an adult has a lot more meaning and impact. So like wine with time photography becomes better/impactful.
April 3, 2009 at 1:34 am |
Photography is like half of memory.
When you are sitting around with family around the dinner table, and someone goes “Remember that time when so-and-so fell off of that branch? Wait…why did that even happen?” And then everyone else quickly rushes to tell the rest of the tale and what they remember from that day. A photograph is similar to that first question, it tells the action…the sudden movement or moment or look of something. But it can never tell the whole story. Something always gets cut out of a photo; perhaps it was a man on the corner beside some famous monument you are cheesily smiling at, who seconds after the picture was taken would tell you about the best restaurant right next door that you would stop by every day for lunch for the duration of your vacation. The man might not have made the photograph, but he made that trip memorable for sure. That picture can’t tell you about this, but that does not make it any more real. Like Dean said, photography is very similar to a ‘memory trigger’, it can tell a bit of the story—and can often lead to many thoughts and perceptions by various onlookers depending on their history, but it never can tell all of the reality of a moment, all of the movement…simply because of its defining nature: being still.
April 3, 2009 at 3:26 am |
Photography is like a time capsule. Events happen and you remember them, but photography brings you back to that moment because a photo is right there in front of you…a tangible piece of your memory. It is a way of taking your past and giving others a visual look into it. For some people who are not good with words, pictures speak for them. Also, it is more interesting when photos do not come with captions, so that you can interpret that moment/image in your own way. When the real story behind a photo turns out to be completely different from what you thought-that is what makes photography fun.
April 3, 2009 at 4:38 am |
Photography is more than just capturing a moment.
Because it adds the meaning and perspective on reality. The snap shot whoever took means nothing to rest of the “other” people. It only has a meaning within the people who took it or someone in the picture or anyone related to the picture. Looking through our old pictures, and photo albums, we soon realize that all the photographs are of happy memories, allowing us to reminisce and cherish the happy olden times. However, what the photos fail to do is connecting the dots.
Not all our memories are of happy thoughts; yet most photography hold what remains in our hearts as, precious, and memorable, not what remains as the absolute truth. Just because photography captures the exact moments in our life, it doesn’t constitute “the truth,” nor is it unbiased. Photography like any other art forms is biased. People ask, “why is it biased when it captures the moment without any alteration?” It is because the photographs portray what seems fit for an individual. Meaning, one only takes photographs when it appears appropriate to take a picture. Only way to rid the bias is to be taking photographs at all times which is rather difficult, capturing even the most disgusting, and wretched
April 5, 2009 at 5:07 pm |
Photography is like a self-reflection. It’s something therapeutic that allows up to analyze our strengths and weaknesses. It’s empowering. It also attempts at empathy.
In a world where we are continually separating ourselves from each other behind computers and walls, I believe photography has become so popular because it serves as a medium for people to connect with each other in a new way. From the most artistic of fine art photography to the simple self-absorbed ‘myspace’ photos taken about the head, all photos mean to communicate something from sender to receiver.