The Art of photography

RespondingtotheSubject

ThePersonal

View

Inasense,photographyisbuiltuponafoundationofprejudice,because

vi-

sion—thebasisofpicturetakingandpictureviewing

—

alwaysinvolvesinter-

pretation.Seeing

withabsoluteobjectivityisimpossibleforthehumaneye:The

experiences,emotions

andattitudesofthevieweraffectwhathesees.

Wheneveracameraiscarriedtoacertainplace,

aimedin

a

certaindirection

andtriggeredatacertaininstant,thephotographerisbeing

guided

by

hisown

personalsenseofwhatfragmentoftheworlddeservesrecording.The

visual

componentsofthesubject

hechooses—andthewayhesynthesizesthem

—

willbedeterminedbywhathethinksandfeels.Whoeverviewsthe

photograph

will,ofcourse,addhisowninterpretation

—

andtheimpactofanypictureisan

unpredictableblendoftheresponsesofbothphotographerandviewer.

Thisfactorofpersonalresponseisoftenunappreciatedorunderestimated

byboththosewhotake

picturesandbythosewhoviewthem.Whenphotogra-

phywasinvented,earlyinthe

19th

Century,

themechanicalfeatofrecording

imageswithlightsoastonishedthepublicthatthehumanelementwas

under-

standablyoverlooked.Itwasthoughtthatacameraindependentlyturnedouta

goodpictureeverytimeanexposurewasmade,andonereporterevende-

scribedthenewtechnique
asa

"self-operatingprocessofFineArt."Mostpeo-

ple,however,gavethedaguerreotypistsagrudgingmeasure

ofcredit

by

call-

ingthem"conductors"or"operators,"asiftheytookapicturethewaya

factoryworkermight throwaswitch.Eventoday,manyamateursresorttomore

orlesspassivebutton-pushing—andwithoutaqualm,theywilllineuptotake

identical"best-view"shotsofYosemiteFallsortheGrandCanyon.

Thereis,ofcourse,nobestview,becauseanysubjectcanelicitcountless

responses,allequallyvalid.Forexample,acollegefootballgamemayseem

thrilling
toa

sportsbuff,

yetbe

boring

to

hiswife.Analumnus,watchingthe

game,may
seehisteamasheroicandtheotheras

villainous.Anex-football

playermayspotdetailsintheexecutionofplaysthataremissedbyeveryone

else.Apaintermightbeoblivioustotheflowofthegamebutacutelyawareof

theflowofcolors.Andeachobservercouldwellhaveotherresponses,de-

pendingontheweather,howwellhesleptthenightbefore,and
so

on.

Anyofthese

responsescouldbeconveyed

photographically.Ifthesports

buffhappenedtobeaphotographer,hemightsuggesttheexcitementofthe

gamebyshootingsomemomentofpeakactionwithatelephotolens,orcatch-

inganexpressionofstrainonaplayer'sface.Hiswife,ontheotherhand,

mightcommunicatehercouldn't-care-less
responsebya

pictureofaspecta-

torstaringvacantly
atagamethatismadetoseemveryfarawaybytheuseof

awide-anglelens.Thealumnusmightexpressallegiancetohisteambyin-

cludingthecollegeflagormascotinthebackgroundofhispicture.Theex-

footballplayercouldemphasizethepreciseexecutionofdownfieldblocking

bymakingatimeexposurethattracedthe routesfollowed

bythe

linemen.