In the section titled “What It Means to Photograph,” there were two stories that “changed my perspective” on photography. The first one that I found interesting was Alexander Rodchenko’s letter to Boris Kushner, which discusses the endless possibilities of perspective. In his letter, Rodchenko feels the need to address why he is being attacked for photographing from various viewpoints. According to him, “(Photography) should surely undertake to show the world from all vantage points, and to develop people’s capacity to see from all sides.” (Rodchenko 2) I think that it is important that Alexander discovered the need to photograph things from many angles. It goes to show that there are many ways to look at one particular situation, and often one perspective is not enough. He makes this very clear with his example of the Eiffel Tower. At the end of his story, Rodchenko makes a powerful statement to Kushner. He says, “We don’t see what we look at.” I found this remark to hold immense value. We do not actually see the deeper significance behind something, until we view it from a different perspective.
The second story I found intriguing was “Pictures From Home” by Larry Sultan. Sultan is trapped inside his home, but he also seems trapped within his mind. “What am I looking for,” he asks himself as he rummages through his house. (Sultan 48) He photographs his family, but only finds the true value in his pictures when he loses hope on taking pictures. His father is troubled by the way he and his wife are portrayed in his son’s pictures. He argues with his father that two people’s observations and interpretations of the same photograph can be completely different. This is where Sultan’s message comes into play. Each picture is open to various interpretations; that is the beauty of photography. According to Sultan, his goal in photography is “to stop time.” (Sultan 50) I agree that photography should aim to freeze time, which would allow each of us to interpret photographs differently.
Photography Terms:
- Exposure– the duration of time that light is permitted to act on a sensitive emulsion
- Aperture– a circular opening on a camera that controls the quantity of light entering or leaving it
- Contrast– the difference between the light and dark areas of a print, or a negative
- Front Lighting– the light shining on a photograph that comes from where the camera is located
- Panchromatic– photo that is sensitive to all colors by adding certain dyes
