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)

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“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)

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“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

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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

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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

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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).

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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).

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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.

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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.

 

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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.