1st article
E-journal of CCM
1st article
Clarke, G. 1997. “How Do We Read a Photograph?” The Photograph, (pp. 26-39). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Objective Summary
This article is about how photographs are much more than just pictures. They are texts, which have a series of meanings based on its surroundings, culture and social values.
Subjective Summary
This article has changed my perspective on photographs. I have always thought that photographs are just pictures which captures moments of everyday life. In fact, when a viewer interprets a photograph, it is not exactly what the viewer sees. The photograph is so much more, it tells a story. A story behind the photograph and the little subtle detail that one thinks is minute, is actually so important to telling the difference or a story. This article has made me more aware of the importance of photographs, as they can make a statement or as an important piece of evidence.
Five Quotes/Points and Their Subjective Analysis
1. “ The intelligibility of the photograph is no simple thing; photographs are texts inscribed in terms of what we may call ‘photographic discourse’, but this discourse, like any other, engages discourses beyond itself, the ‘photographic text’, like any other, is the site of a complex intertextuality, an overlapping series of previous texts ‘taken for granted’ at a particular cultural and historical conjuncture” (pg 27).
This quote claims that photographs are a means of communications. They have a motive to communicate cultural and historical meanings. For example, the identical twins picture taken from Diane Arbus, what seems to be two identical twins are actually two entirely different twins. The subtle little details, like their facial expressions, the way the folds of their dresses are different and the different stockings all indicate that these two supposedly identical twins are actually very different twins. Hence, this shows that there are many meanings, which are literally “taken for granted”. I never knew that there was so much more to reading a photograph than actually just looking at you and accepting it for what it looks like. This quote is an important one, as it gives a summary of what the article is about. It is one, which I appreciate greatly, because I now look at photographs with a different perspective.
2. “Every photograph is not only surrounded by a historical, aesthetic, and cultural frame of reference but also by an entire invisible set of relationships and meanings relating to the photographer and the point at which the image was made” (pg 30).
The point argues that each photograph is very different from one another, not in terms of what is photographed, but by the meanings and background from which the photograph was taken. I agree with the author because every photograph tells a different story and the context in which the photograph is taken is also different.
3. “Thus we can read a photograph within its own terms of reference, seeing it not so much as the reflection of a ‘real’ world as an interpretation of that world” (pg 33).
This point argues that the photograph is not what occurs in reality, but the photographer’s interpretation of what reality is. For example, a Benetton ad of a car set on fire does not mean that cars are set on fire in everyday life. It certainly does not mean that in reality, the world is filled with chaos and pandemonium. The photograph is taken because it shows the extent of how cruel and disturbing humanity can be. The photographer’s aim in taking this picture is to capture the public’s attention and emphasise the attitudes and concerns that Benetton has. Therefore, I agree with the point made in the article as it truly reflects on what different people interpret photographs to be.
4. “ Photography, as a medium, is deceptively invisible, leaving us with a seamless act of representation, an insistent thereness in which only the contents of the photograph, its message, are offered to the eye” (pg 34).
Clarke’s point shows how the photograph only offers us, the viewers, a certain point of view. I agree with the point made. The public does not think about other viewpoints relating to the picture. It only thinks about and accepts what is put in front of them. For example, war photography offers a record of what is happening in the war. However, some photographs are not actually what is happening in the war, but what the photographer thinks is happening in the war. The photograph can create the photo by directing what should be in the image and what should not. Hence, “the contents of the photograph”, and not the representation of the photograph, are “only offered to the eye”.
5. “ When Barthes declared that photography ‘evades us’ and is ‘unclassifiable’, he alerted us to the paradox of something seemingly so obvious and yet so problematic” (pg 39).
The point that Barthes makes is that photography is used in our daily lives, so much that is “evades us”’ and is problematic when reading, interpreting and analysing how the image has come about. When we look at a photograph, we just accept and admire it from what we can see about it. Yet, a photograph is a complex image in which photographic space (the boundaries that the photograph is taken) and the purpose of the photograph are all taken into consideration. This idea is perplexing and we cannot really understand it, until we are educated by the various concepts and ideas that we need to learn in order to read the intertextual meanings of a photograph.
Question
What is the purpose of knowing how to read a photograph in relation with our daily lives?
This question is important to me because it will show me the importance of reading a photograph, especially in our daily lives. Perhaps it will help me understand the reason as to why it is important to consider the background information of why the photograph was taken in the first place.
1st article
Clarke, G. 1997. “How Do We Read a Photograph?” The Photograph, (pp. 26-39). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Objective Summary
This article is about how photographs are much more than just pictures. They are texts, which have a series of meanings based on its surroundings, culture and social values.
Subjective Summary
This article has changed my perspective on photographs. I have always thought that photographs are just pictures which captures moments of everyday life. In fact, when a viewer interprets a photograph, it is not exactly what the viewer sees. The photograph is so much more, it tells a story. A story behind the photograph and the little subtle detail that one thinks is minute, is actually so important to telling the difference or a story. This article has made me more aware of the importance of photographs, as they can make a statement or as an important piece of evidence.
Five Quotes/Points and Their Subjective Analysis
1. “ The intelligibility of the photograph is no simple thing; photographs are texts inscribed in terms of what we may call ‘photographic discourse’, but this discourse, like any other, engages discourses beyond itself, the ‘photographic text’, like any other, is the site of a complex intertextuality, an overlapping series of previous texts ‘taken for granted’ at a particular cultural and historical conjuncture” (pg 27).
This quote claims that photographs are a means of communications. They have a motive to communicate cultural and historical meanings. For example, the identical twins picture taken from Diane Arbus, what seems to be two identical twins are actually two entirely different twins. The subtle little details, like their facial expressions, the way the folds of their dresses are different and the different stockings all indicate that these two supposedly identical twins are actually very different twins. Hence, this shows that there are many meanings, which are literally “taken for granted”. I never knew that there was so much more to reading a photograph than actually just looking at you and accepting it for what it looks like. This quote is an important one, as it gives a summary of what the article is about. It is one, which I appreciate greatly, because I now look at photographs with a different perspective.
2. “Every photograph is not only surrounded by a historical, aesthetic, and cultural frame of reference but also by an entire invisible set of relationships and meanings relating to the photographer and the point at which the image was made” (pg 30).
The point argues that each photograph is very different from one another, not in terms of what is photographed, but by the meanings and background from which the photograph was taken. I agree with the author because every photograph tells a different story and the context in which the photograph is taken is also different.
3. “Thus we can read a photograph within its own terms of reference, seeing it not so much as the reflection of a ‘real’ world as an interpretation of that world” (pg 33).
This point argues that the photograph is not what occurs in reality, but the photographer’s interpretation of what reality is. For example, a Benetton ad of a car set on fire does not mean that cars are set on fire in everyday life. It certainly does not mean that in reality, the world is filled with chaos and pandemonium. The photograph is taken because it shows the extent of how cruel and disturbing humanity can be. The photographer’s aim in taking this picture is to capture the public’s attention and emphasise the attitudes and concerns that Benetton has. Therefore, I agree with the point made in the article as it truly reflects on what different people interpret photographs to be.
4. “ Photography, as a medium, is deceptively invisible, leaving us with a seamless act of representation, an insistent thereness in which only the contents of the photograph, its message, are offered to the eye” (pg 34).
Clarke’s point shows how the photograph only offers us, the viewers, a certain point of view. I agree with the point made. The public does not think about other viewpoints relating to the picture. It only thinks about and accepts what is put in front of them. For example, war photography offers a record of what is happening in the war. However, some photographs are not actually what is happening in the war, but what the photographer thinks is happening in the war. The photograph can create the photo by directing what should be in the image and what should not. Hence, “the contents of the photograph”, and not the representation of the photograph, are “only offered to the eye”.
5. “ When Barthes declared that photography ‘evades us’ and is ‘unclassifiable’, he alerted us to the paradox of something seemingly so obvious and yet so problematic” (pg 39).
The point that Barthes makes is that photography is used in our daily lives, so much that is “evades us”’ and is problematic when reading, interpreting and analysing how the image has come about. When we look at a photograph, we just accept and admire it from what we can see about it. Yet, a photograph is a complex image in which photographic space (the boundaries that the photograph is taken) and the purpose of the photograph are all taken into consideration. This idea is perplexing and we cannot really understand it, until we are educated by the various concepts and ideas that we need to learn in order to read the intertextual meanings of a photograph.
Question
What is the purpose of knowing how to read a photograph in relation with our daily lives?
This question is important to me because it will show me the importance of reading a photograph, especially in our daily lives. Perhaps it will help me understand the reason as to why it is important to consider the background information of why the photograph was taken in the first place.
posted by jolene at 12:23 am
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