This entry records my initial learning from my first pass through this book. This probably wont be the only time I write about my learnings from this book but I wanted to write about this specific learning now as it is useful in my thinking for Assignment 1.
Faced with the task of photographing “The Square Mile” I turned to this book to gain some insight into what makes a photograph art. To date, I think that I have only assessed a photograph by its aesthetic impact – basically its visual appeal, its technical quality eg focus, and by its broad category eg landscape, portrait, street etc.
What I have found very useful in reading this book is the introduction of the categories that Charlotte Cotton (Cotton, 2014) has used to separate the body of artistic photography.
These categories are outlined briefly below. It is my intent to study these styles more thoroughly over time. My objective right now is to record these categories so that I may think of them as I carry out Assignment 1:
- Tableau: pictures that are typically staged to tell a story or to remind us of a story that we might already know. The photographer will have set out to create a specific recollection in the viewer’s eye and a desired emotional response to that.
- Deadpan: using a neutral aesthetic, the objective of this style of photograph is to record something ‘as-is’ to leave it to the observer to decide what is intended by the image both in terms of meaning and emotion. I think I might have guessed at this style from the name used to describe it but would probably have restricted my thoughts to portraiture. I found it interesting to see this style applied to other shots such as a landscape or picture of a building.
- Objects: making use of objects shown in their normal guise, the photographer typically manipulates the positioning or context that they are shown in to capture our attention, in turn this causes the viewer to study the object more closely. The very nature of the style means that the scenes are either constructed for the photograph or if existing in life, are shot from unusual angles that would not normally be seen.
- Intimate Life: this style of photograph aims to capture, as the name implies, an intimate moment with a person or between people. It is a style that might be most closely associated with home photography and may even deliberately imitate it to trigger a perception that the picture is that, a home snap. It may or may not be posed for the photograph.
- Moments (in history): this style captures a specific moment in time, or represents an era in time eg a war. Distinct from a straight record of an event, these photographs aim to portray a context and a meaning behind the event. For example, in a war setting, rather than capture action in progress, the photographer might aim to capture what is left behind after the conflict with images such as broken homes or a child left alone on a street. The emphasis is on portraying the impact of an event rather than simply showing the event itself.
- Revival: classed as a form of post-modern style, I found this segment difficult to grasp. The objective of the style is not so much aimed at the viewer studying the photograph itself but is aimed at triggering a memory of a part event in the viewer’s mind, I suppose in way to trigger a nostalgic memory. This is a difficult concept to understand since one must study the image to see it and then have a memory triggered. Quite how this is different from intending the viewer to study the image itself is an area I will need to research further to fully grasp.
Cotton has a final section which discusses the idea that the physical media used within the process to capture and finally display an image can be used and manipulated to create different effects and emotions. This technique could be applied to any of the categories of photograph described above. My immediate thought is that is a concept that I learned in my learning here where I discovered the need for congruence in everything about presentation, right down to the album that a set of images is shown in.
These categories, even understood at the high level discussed here have already given me a new approach to consider when looking at images and when taking my own. I will need to research and explore further all of them before I fully understand them in depth or consider which area(s) I am most drawn to so that I can create my own personal style; I expect this to happen over the course of my degree.
Bibliography
Cotton, C. (2014) The photograph as contemporary art. 03rd edn. London, United Kingdom: Thames & Hudson.