The Art of photography

WhattheCameraSees

The

Elements

onDisplay:Shape

For thephotographer,seeingshape,

texture,formandcolorisonlythefirst

step.Hemustnowsuppress,empha-

sizeorotherwisemanipulate

all

these

elementsaccordingtohisownviewof

theobjectheislookingat.Nolawdic-

tatesthatalloftheseapproachesto

seeingmustbeacknowledgedinone

picture—anymorethanalltheinstru-

mentsinanorchestramustplayduring

every
momentofasymphony.Thepho-

tographerrefinesordinaryperception,

disregardingallsuperfluous
aspects

of

hissubjectmatter—muchlikeMichel-

angelo,who,itwasoncesaid,freedthe

form
thatlaywithinablockofmarble.

Thepipesinthephotographoppo-

siteoffered
awidechoiceoftempta-

tionstoSebastianMilito:theirshapes,

theirmachinedtexture,their
rounded

forms,theirblue-blackcolor.Hesettled

forshape,dispensing

witheverything

else."Isawthepipes,"Militosays,"as

gunbarrelsagainst

thesky."

Arendi-

tionofallfourvisualelementsmight

haveweakenedtheintendedanalogy

bytooexplicitlyidentifyingtheomi-

nousshapesandthusdistractingthe

viewer'sattentionfromthephotogra-

pher'spurpose.

The

photographsonthefollowing

pagesshowhowanyoneoftheseap-

proachestoseeingcanbetheprincipal

wayofinferringameaningfromanob-

jectorproducing

a

reaction

to

it.In

eachcase,thechoiceseemsalmost

obvious.Yetthisonlyindicateshow

hard

thephotographerworkedatsee-

inghissubject;trulycogentselection

ofonevisualmode

dependsuponcare-

fulconsiderationofthemall—ifonlyin

ordertorejectall

butone.