A Few Thoughts About Photography.........
Thoughts About Photography & Truth
04/11/2018
There was an interesting scene in a recent TV drama that got me thinking. In the scene, the main character, a young muslim male, was being interviewed as a potential new tenant in a flat share. He takes an interest in a number of photographs hung on the walls and is amazed to discover that he is actually in one of the photographs. He then notices the title of the photograph, “Young Radicals” and his attitudes changes as he challenges the photographer on her choice of title. He asks what is radical about a homeless muslim man, the main character in the image, and himself, a young muslim simply having a cigarette? The photographer, who describes her work as street photography that “highlights shifting urban environments” defends her choice of title by pointing to an older musilm gentleman in the image, dressed in traditional Kurta pyjamas, handing out “flyers” which are in fact menus for a local restaurant. Obviously, the photographer saw something in the scene, which in reality did not exist but which she created through her choice of title and also through composition and choice of subject.
As well as provoking thoughts about how naming images can have a significant effect on how the viewer perceives the image, the scene also provoked wider thoughts about the “moral ethics” covering photography and how these might be changing.
For many, street photography, as with all forms of documentary photography, should be a true and honest representation of the scene as presented to the photographer. Move away from this, introduce some element of interpretation of any form, then it becomes more art than true documentary. Many generations of photographers learnt this simple truth through formal training and years of experience which often included an “apprentice” period during which they learnt the moral ethics of their work.
Mass commercial marketing and overzealous advertising coupled with increased wealth and leisure time have greatly changed photography in many respects. Now it all to easy to buy an expensive camera and get out there without any proper formal training and call yourself a “real” photographer. Unfortunately, formal training does not just include learning the technical aspects of photography but also covers a whole gamut of issues about the ethics and role of photography in society. Without this formal training, the traditional values and ethics that have kept photography honest over the years may now be being lost. Can we really continue to trust the images we see in newspapers and on-line when an ever-increasing number are taken by “photographers” with little or no formal training and are taken in a world where truth and honesty are increasingly giving way to commercial considerations and narcissistic vanity?
As well as provoking thoughts about how naming images can have a significant effect on how the viewer perceives the image, the scene also provoked wider thoughts about the “moral ethics” covering photography and how these might be changing.
For many, street photography, as with all forms of documentary photography, should be a true and honest representation of the scene as presented to the photographer. Move away from this, introduce some element of interpretation of any form, then it becomes more art than true documentary. Many generations of photographers learnt this simple truth through formal training and years of experience which often included an “apprentice” period during which they learnt the moral ethics of their work.
Mass commercial marketing and overzealous advertising coupled with increased wealth and leisure time have greatly changed photography in many respects. Now it all to easy to buy an expensive camera and get out there without any proper formal training and call yourself a “real” photographer. Unfortunately, formal training does not just include learning the technical aspects of photography but also covers a whole gamut of issues about the ethics and role of photography in society. Without this formal training, the traditional values and ethics that have kept photography honest over the years may now be being lost. Can we really continue to trust the images we see in newspapers and on-line when an ever-increasing number are taken by “photographers” with little or no formal training and are taken in a world where truth and honesty are increasingly giving way to commercial considerations and narcissistic vanity?