Truth In Photography
What is truth in photography? Answer this question with reference to two photographers studied in this subject.
What is truth in photography? Common sense suggests to us that there is a found link between photographic images and truth, this topic has been constantly debated over the last several decades and whilst photography has the potential to tell the truth, photographs can also be seen as a distortion of what is real and logical; and with the advent of Photoshop as well as other digital manipulation software this distortion and the ‘untruths of photography’ have grown steadily more prominent. To research this topic more I have chosen to reference Shizuka Tokomizo’s ‘Strangers’ series as well as a range of David Burnett’s work both use …show more content…
the photographic image to somewhat explore the concept of truth throughout their work.
Our first reaction to when we view photographic images is that we often lean towards the belief that an image is telling the truth, historically the earliest photographic technology such as the daguerreotype was the first way of being able to create an accurate way of visually representing people, architecture and places; and it was only through the errors that appeared throughout the darkroom process that we first realised the chance of capturing certain types of manipulation or artistic renderings. From then Photography has been through an ongoing process of experimentation, which in turn altered our way of both taking pictures as well as the way we look at an image and through the use of these abilities photographers were now able to change what was considered to be ‘true’ within an image; and now decide how the final work was to be seen.
Photography was always initially considered as an objective way of representing reality, which would have been somewhat untouched by the photographers perspective.
For me when discussing the truths within photography I see them as being highly reliant on how and what the photographer wishes to present and what they consider to believe is true. Through the changes made within photography the use of digital manipulation now plays an important role in how a photographer wishes to use these various techniques to frame the truth to what he/she has witnessed, like a majority of other art forms the use of manipulation within reality is used in order to expose the truth that might not be particularly apparent to the audiences …show more content…
eye.
I think when it comes to the understanding of what is photographic truth like many other truths it greatly depends on what the audiences understanding is on culture, belief and history; and if this is the case that reality is historically and culturally based then their somewhat cannot be an “ultimate reality” and the concept of truth becomes a contextual way in which we are able to judge reality.
From this particular standpoint the idea of how we understand an image being “true” or “false” becomes dependant on the photographer or the audience’s perception.
Shizuka Yokomizo was born in Tokyo and now works; and lives in London, her ‘Strangers’ series is a portrait series in which Yokomizo has sent out an anonymous letter to random strangers which contained the possibility of an agreement which would in turn allow her to again return to their window to photograph the suspecting stranger. From the use of this communication Yokomizo is now able to capture their eye contact which has then helped in creating a stronger sense of their existence within the
photograph.
Bibliography:
Website - http://www.palisadespost.com/lifestyle/david-levinthal-sets-action-figures-in-real-world/ http://www.davidlevinthal.com/article_darkstirrings.html http://etd.fcla.edu/etd/uf/1998/amd0040/Leslie.pdf http://www.studymode.com/essays/Truth-In-Contemporary-Photography-985399.html http://historymatters.gmu.edu/mse/photos/photos.pdf https://files.nyu.edu/sw17/public/tip.pdf http://www.tronviggroup.com/the-value-of-truth-in-photography/ http://www.pbs.org/ktca/americanphotography/features/digital_essay.html
http://www.aphotoeditor.com/2013/01/28/getting-us-closer-to-the-truth-in-photography/
What is truth in photography? Common sense suggests to us that there is a found link between photographic images and truth, this topic has been constantly debated over the last several decades and whilst photography has the potential to tell the truth, photographs can also be seen as a distortion of what is real and logical; and with the advent of Photoshop as well as other digital manipulation software this distortion and the ‘untruths of photography’ have grown steadily more prominent. To research this topic more I have chosen to reference Shizuka Tokomizo’s ‘Strangers’ series as well as a range of David Burnett’s work both use …show more content…
the photographic image to somewhat explore the concept of truth throughout their work.
Our first reaction to when we view photographic images is that we often lean towards the belief that an image is telling the truth, historically the earliest photographic technology such as the daguerreotype was the first way of being able to create an accurate way of visually representing people, architecture and places; and it was only through the errors that appeared throughout the darkroom process that we first realised the chance of capturing certain types of manipulation or artistic renderings. From then Photography has been through an ongoing process of experimentation, which in turn altered our way of both taking pictures as well as the way we look at an image and through the use of these abilities photographers were now able to change what was considered to be ‘true’ within an image; and now decide how the final work was to be seen.
Photography was always initially considered as an objective way of representing reality, which would have been somewhat untouched by the photographers perspective.
For me when discussing the truths within photography I see them as being highly reliant on how and what the photographer wishes to present and what they consider to believe is true. Through the changes made within photography the use of digital manipulation now plays an important role in how a photographer wishes to use these various techniques to frame the truth to what he/she has witnessed, like a majority of other art forms the use of manipulation within reality is used in order to expose the truth that might not be particularly apparent to the audiences …show more content…
eye.
I think when it comes to the understanding of what is photographic truth like many other truths it greatly depends on what the audiences understanding is on culture, belief and history; and if this is the case that reality is historically and culturally based then their somewhat cannot be an “ultimate reality” and the concept of truth becomes a contextual way in which we are able to judge reality.
From this particular standpoint the idea of how we understand an image being “true” or “false” becomes dependant on the photographer or the audience’s perception.
Shizuka Yokomizo was born in Tokyo and now works; and lives in London, her ‘Strangers’ series is a portrait series in which Yokomizo has sent out an anonymous letter to random strangers which contained the possibility of an agreement which would in turn allow her to again return to their window to photograph the suspecting stranger. From the use of this communication Yokomizo is now able to capture their eye contact which has then helped in creating a stronger sense of their existence within the
photograph.
Bibliography:
Website - http://www.palisadespost.com/lifestyle/david-levinthal-sets-action-figures-in-real-world/ http://www.davidlevinthal.com/article_darkstirrings.html http://etd.fcla.edu/etd/uf/1998/amd0040/Leslie.pdf http://www.studymode.com/essays/Truth-In-Contemporary-Photography-985399.html http://historymatters.gmu.edu/mse/photos/photos.pdf https://files.nyu.edu/sw17/public/tip.pdf http://www.tronviggroup.com/the-value-of-truth-in-photography/ http://www.pbs.org/ktca/americanphotography/features/digital_essay.html
http://www.aphotoeditor.com/2013/01/28/getting-us-closer-to-the-truth-in-photography/