The Art of photography

Suchapproachesassumethat

thehypotheticalphotographer-observers

wouldrecognize

aneedtotakepicturesthatconveyedtheirown

attitudes

towardthe

game.Butmanyphotographersexpect

asubjecttodivulgea

meaningtothecameraasifbymagic,andthey

makelittleefforttoutilizetheir

ownattitudestowardwhattheyaredepicting.

Thustheyendupwithsnap-

shots

—

portraitswithno

discernibleviewpoint,landscapesthatincludedis-

tractingelements,

orpicturesofeventsthatseemrandomandinsignificant.

Suchlackofdirectionisoneofthemosteasilyremediedphotographic

prob-

lems.Thebeginningphotographermust

makeahabitofpayingattentiontohis

response,alwaysaskinghimselfwhat

hefeelsaboutasubjectandhowhecan

conveyhisassessmentinan

image.Withexperience,thisprocessmaybe-

come

unconscious

—

thatis,soefficientandautomaticthatitgoesunnoticed.

Whentheoriginaleditionofthisbookwaspublishedin 1971 thefollowing

pagescontainedaseriesoftestsperformedby 17 photographers

demonstrat-

ingtheroleplayedbyhumanresponseinthephotographic

process.

In

thefirst

test,agroupof

professionalphotographerswasaskedtotakepicturesofa

single

inanimateobject—awoodenmannequin(depictedinanintentionally

neutralmanneronpage77).Thisassignmentwasasortoflaboratoryexperi-

ment,fornoneofthephotographershadeverseenthemannequinbefore,and

theyweregivennosuggestionsaboutwhat

to

express.

In

a

second

test,otherphotographerswereaskedtocapturetheessenceof

"thecity."Herewasasubjectthatthemembersofthisgrouphadallseen

before;itis,infact,homeformostofthem,andtheywereexpectedtohavea

definiteat-homefeelinginrespondingtoit.Yetfewsubjectscouldbemore

challenginginthesheerrangeofvisualpossibilities.

In

thethirdtest,

still

otherphotographerswere askedtoexpress"love."

In-

steadofrespondingtoaconcreteobject,asinthefirsttwotests,thesepeople

weredealingwithanintangibleconcept.

Forthisrevisededition,someoftheresultsoftheoriginaltestshavebeen

retained,whileotherswerediscarded;intheirplaceninenewphotographs

appearhere

forthefirsttime,reflectingchangesinphotographicapproaches

orhumanattitudesthathaveoccurredsincethebookwas

firstpublished.Atti-

tudestowardthecity,forexample,havechangedsomuchthat

all

thephoto-

graphsinthatsection(pages92-101)werenewlyassigned.Toexpresslove

(pages102-112),

fournewassignmentsweremadeandtwowereretained

fromtheoriginal

edition.Forthemannequinsection(pages80-91)nonew

assignmentsweremade.

Inallthree

tests,

astheresultsshow,noneofthe

photographersfailedtohavearesponse.Still,every

singleinterpretationwas

unique.Theirpicturesshowhowtheyutilizedtheprinciplesofperception

and

ofdesign

thatwerespelledoutinChapters 1 and

2

—andalsoaffirmthat

response

isanessentialcomponentoftheartofphotography.