photography impact & change
TRANSCRIPT
Economical
Reality
Remediation
SocialPolitical
Perspective
Maker & Viewer
Making history
Contradictions
Reality
Throughout history, people have attempted to capture ‘reality’ in
different ways, but it wasn’t until the invention of photography
that it was felt reality could truly be captured and frozen. Though
reality can not be held, it can be carried in the form of a
photograph (Sontag, 1977). People can ‘experience’ the past and
in a way live different experiences in the present by interacting
with photographs. People experience reality after it has taken
place, but a ‘recycled reality’ (Sontag, 1977). However,
photography or rather the photographer sometimes alters reality,
for good (The Economist, 2010), or bad. In addition, photographs
only show part of reality, fragments of history and events,
reducing these to collected anecdotes. [Sontag, 1977)
HOME
“A photograph, while recording what is seen, always and by its nature refers to what is not seen. It isolates, preserves and presents a moment taken from a continuum.” (Berger, 1980: 293)
BACK
“Everything that is visible hides something that is invisible.” (René Magritte, cited in Photoquotes.com)
The invention of the camera and with it photography, changed
the way things were viewed; in other words perspective as it
was known (Berger, 1972a) . Painting would never be the same.
Unlike painting that was restricted to time, space and
composition, photography was not (Berger, 1980,2001). It
changed people’s “Ways of seeing” (Berger, 1972a/b).
Perspective
HOME
Early photographers saw the camera as a copying machine
and themselves as “non-interfering observers”. However,
people soon discovered this was not the case; no two people
ever take the same photograph (Sontag, 1977). A new way of
seeing came about: “photographic seeing” (Sontag, 1977);
practiced as much by the image - maker and the reader –
viewer (Berger, 1972b) . A photograph is an account of how the
image- maker views the world, and its meaning depends on
how the reader- viewer interprets it.
The notion that photographs provided an objective view was
abandoned. We see what the photographer wants us to see;
what is captured is done out of choice and with a purpose.
Maker/Viewer
HOME
Photography changed people’s perception of the world, human nature and
suffering, by exposing them to scenes never before captured, and by circulating
them around the world. A photograph brings to life things that those who are
“privileged” or feel “safe” would often rather ignore (Sontag, 2003). But what
happens when suffering is viewed third hand and so often, especially given the
over saturation of images, and the distance between object, subject, observer and
victim? Though there are some who chose to ignore these images, the majority are
seized by them and find them ‘arresting’; they provoke despair and indignation
(Berger, 2001). “Despair takes on some of the others’ suffering to no purpose.
Indignation demands action” (Berger, 2001). This is why some photographs have
not only made history they have changed it .What is more. sometimes, “
[P]hotographs do more than document history – they make it” (Ted.com, 2010).
Making history
HOME
HOME
Contradictions
“Photography is essentially an act of non-intervention…The
person who intervenes cannot record; the person who is
recording cannot intervene” (Sontag, 1977:36). Also, often the
very newspapers that publish these photographs, politically
support the policies responsible for the violence (Berger, 2001).
War photographs, for example, do not always awaken
concern because they reflect a discontinuous moment, whose
“moral and emotional weight depends on where it is inserted
(Sontag, 1977:201).
HOME
Remediation
Had Thamus been alive when the camera was invented, he probably would not
have approved. The use of the camera and photography certainly redefined what
was meant by memory. Before the invention of the camera the image of an event
was fixed in memory, unless one had the money and time to pay an artist to paint
it. Photographs became not so much instruments of memory, but replacements of it
(Proust, cited in Berger, 2001). That is why Postman (1992:18) believes that
technological change “is neither additive nor subtractive” but “ecological” and
“generates total change”.
“Remediation involves both homage and rivalry, for the new medium imitates
some features of the older medium, but also makes an implicit or explicit claim to
improve on the older one” (Bolter, 2001:23). Unlike paintings, photographs were
light, cheap and easy to collect. In addition, it could be argued that photography not
only remediated painting, but prose as well; ‘a picture tells a thousand words’.
Words describe events, while images present a ‘visual statement’ (Sontag, 1977). It
is not the same to ‘read’ a verbal text than to ‘read/view’ a self-contained image
(Bolter, 2001:63).
HOME
Economical
Remediation also takes place at an economic level, the new
medium, as well as what is being remediated, has to find its
economic place (Bolter & Grusin, 1996:24). With industrialization,
cameras became cheaper and photographs ubiquitous; this would
change how art was perceived, valued and even used (Berger,
1972a).
Photographs may not achieve the same market value as some
famous works of art, but they have become potent weapons in
advertising and today’s consumer society.
HOME
Social
New technologies alter “the nature of community”, and the “character of our symbols” (Potsman, 1992:20). For
example, prior to the invention of the camera and the existence of photographs, images formed a part of the building they
were designed for; this has changed (Berger, 1972a).
Industrializations also brought about change in family structure. “Photography becomes a rite in family life” and
a way to remember the extended family that was no more (Sontag, 1977: 17). Unlike public photographs, most private
photographs are not void of context; the image – maker and the viewer can usually remember the event surrounding the
moment captured. The camera captures the event and immortalizes it.
HOME
Political
Photography has also served as a surveillance tool for modern states: using photographs, for military purposes, identification and control of its population, not to mention political propaganda amongst other things.
The impact and change the camera has and continues to have, is immense. Its influence in social, political and economical change should not be underestimated. Nevertheless, great emphasis is placed on ‘verbal text’ reading literacies; however, visual literacy is rarely taught. This is definitely an area that merits our attention.
References Berger, J. (1972a). “Ways of seeing –episode 1”. BBC. Retrieved September 30th, 2012, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnfB-pUm3eI Berger, J. (1972b). “Ways of seeing”. England: BBC and Penguin Books. Berger, J. (1980). “Understanding a photograph” Classic Essays on Photography ed. by Alan Trachtenberg. New Haven: Leete’s Island Books (291-294). Retrieved September 25th, 2012, from http://www.lawforlife.org.uk/data/files/understanding-a-photograph-by-john-berger-383.pdf Berger, J. (2001). “Selected Essays” USA: Vintage Books, Random House [Kindle DX version]. Retrieved from Amazon.com. Bolter, J.D. & Grusin, R. (1996). “Remediation”. Configurations 4.3, 311-358. Retrieved October 18th, 2012 from http://lmc.gatech.edu/~objork3/1101/fall07/remediation.pdf Bolter, Jay David. (2001). Writing space: Computers, hypertext, and the remediation of print [2nd edition]. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Magritte, R. (nd). Photoquotes.com. Retrieved October 20th, 2012, from http://www.photoquotes.com No author (nd). Hitler with German Youth. Charles Overstreet Collection, Flora Public library. Retrieved October 5th, 2012, from http://www.flickr.com/photos/imlsdcc/4295579767/ No author (nd). Geronimo – detail showing photographer reflected in his eye. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division. Retrieved October 5th, 2012, from http://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/5890980020/ Reneé, V. (). My family. Retrieved October 5th, 2012, from, http://www.flickr.com/photos/valerierenee/125931897/ Postman, N. (1992). Technopoly: The surrender of culture to technology. New York: Vintage Books. Sontag, S. (1977). “On Photography”. USA: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. [Kindle DX version]. Retrieved from Amazon.com. Sontag, S. (2003). “Regarding the Pain of Others”. USA: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. The Economist Magazine(February 12, 2010). At War: photographer Don McCullin. Retrieved October 5th, 2012, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVZe4rQKcls.