Line-element that starts at a point and continues and doesn’t always end

Shape-defining outline of an object

Texture-visual or physical quality of a surface

 

Value- Shade within a range of shades

Color-pigment, the eye perceiving light

 

Plane-different places for things to exist in a given space

 

Volume-a quality that gives things dimension, length x width x height

 

Mass- the 3-dimensional space an object takes up

 

Space-a place where something can exist or not exist, can be positive or negative

 

Light- the opposite of black, enables us to see color, value, shade, and texture

Time-measurement of existence, continuation, and discontinuation

Motion-the way things move within time, release of potential energy

Balance- a medium or middle point

Emphasis- focus is placed on a subject

Rhythm- how things flow in time

Scale/Proportion-comparison of size between objects in an image

 

 

 

 

 

Chloe Curiel

August 26^th, 2015

Vitone

VISU 1311-02

“The Photograph”, an exploratory work by Vilem Flusser, is a piece of writing that deals directly with the origin of photographs and how they function in relation to the camera and the photographer. I was really enlightened by how the author focuses in on the contrast between black and white and color photographs. His explanation made it evident to me that the former is used to present a concept or ideal that doesn’t exist in our world in a black and white form, while the latter presented a more false representation of the subject of the photo and the image the eye was seeing was more untrue than the grey scale image. However, I was confused by the terminology in the section about grey being the color of theory when in fact all photos are theoretical images. I gathered that, while black and white images seem more hypothetical because they cause the eye to adjust to a hypothetical set of values, color photos are the most unrealistic because of their inconsistency.

 

This world Flusser describes of the “absence of color”, a theoretical world that has representational qualities, adds different depth and focus, and causes the viewer to decode the image on a different level, became more evident to me as the components of a photograph were described. Because color images are free from abstractions, from all representational qualities, the translation of the image is very different, and in a sense, more untrue. I associated this train of thought with the fact that the lens’ in every human’s eyes are different, they each decode reflection and color differently, making an absolute image impossible to create in a world of color.

 

Flusser’s description of the relationship between the program of the camera, the photographer, and the photos that are captured, is a perspective that I had not ever really considered. To me, the relationship between these aspects is a kind of fascinating battle between technology and real tangible life, between the program of the camera to automatically adjust to do what it assumes the photographer would do, and the actual intentions of the person behind the lens. I was perplexed and enlightened by the concept that the best photographers, as described by Flusser, are the ones that enforce their intentions on the camera and make the program a tool for their own artistic expression and intention. He also states that the best photographs are full of conflict and co-operation, and when they act on one another, they create an effective image. Reading this article really pushed me to think of photographs as more of a frozen hypothetical moment in time, but in a more technical way that reveals more of the purpose of photography as an art form, and its dependence on the dominance of the photographer over their equipment.