VISU1311: Creativity Blog #1

In this essay, “The Photograph”, the main points are the concepts of black and white, color, and the relationship between the photographer and the camera in encoding an image to share with their audience. The points made in this essay I can easily agree with and I find little to no fault in them just considering my experience with observing photography and being an artist.

As is stated in the essay, black and white are just concepts that do not exist in the concrete world around us as they do in black and white photographs, I find this true. When I look at a black and white photo and then reference the image the photo is of, I can clearly see that the black and white in the photo is not present in the original image. This is because we see color and the concepts of true black and white are only available to us through photos. It is impossible for us to truly experience black and white out in the real world because there is the inescapable mixture of the two colors resulting in grey. This ‘grey’, as the passage states, was and is still cut out of society’s social and political rules in order for there to be a ‘perfect’ totally black or totally white approach to what is right and what is wrong. I believe this to be very true. Our forefathers and even those leaders of the day seem to ignore the grey and not consider that the world can never be truly black and white. There is always a middle between right and wrong where the two mix to create the ‘grey’ in the photographs. Black and white photographs, for the reason of the inclusion of grey, can be considered a truer depiction of the world around us because regardless of the subject or image the photo will show the grey in-between.

Color photos on the other hand is said to be more abstract and less true than black and white photography as stated in the essay. The essay goes on to say that when a critic is trying to decode the message behind a color photograph, because color is so abstract, the critic can easily become bored or give-up. I like this notion and I find it very relatable. When I examine a color photograph it is kind of difficult to see the underlying message because of all the color in my face whereas when I look at a black and white photograph it feels calmer and the message is clearer to see and to internalize. This makes it a more powerful picture in terms of message for me. I normally prefer black and white photographs because they feel more tangible and more concrete as the passage says. In my opinion, color can distract the audience from the core of the message and the purpose of the photo.

The relationship between the photographer and the camera was interesting and something I had never really thought of before reading this essay. I normally thought that in order to take a good photo you must be a good photographer, but in actuality it takes both the photographer and the camera to agree and disagree on the image in order to make a truly good photo. As an artist, I identified with the goals of a photographer that were listed. It seems that every artist wants to achieve that ultimate goal of immortality through their work even if they are not a photographer. As an artist myself I must go through the same process as the photographer in my drawing. I have to encode my message to my audience in what I draw and then present it to my audience so that I can get critiques back which I can then apply to myself in order to achieve a greater level of artistry. The relationship between the photographer and camera is very similar to my relationship with the media I am using, in that sometimes my media and I agree or disagree with each other. I have never produced the picture in my head exactly as it looked onto paper. There are variations in the picture on paper because of the media I use and how well I can control it. Some days I can be in total control, but on others the media is the one in control. This kind of struggle was presented in the essay when pertaining to photographers, but in reality it can pertain to any type of artist from writer to painter.

This essay had a lot of points that I absolutely agree with and other points that I see in my own life and in my own experience. Photographs are an absolutely unique thing, in that they have so many layers and depict the world in a totally different way.