framing the image
What do we know about this woman or
her life other than what we can see in
the photograph? Can we assume she
is lonely as nobody else appears within
the frame? Could the photographer have
excluded her partner purchasing coffee
to improve the composition or alter the
meaning? Because we are unable to
see the event or the surroundings that
the photograph originated from we are
seeing the subject out of context.ACTIVITY 1
Read the following passage taken from the book The Photographer’s Eye by John Szarkowski
and answer the question below.
‘To quote out of context is the essence of the photographer’s craft. His central problem is a simple
one: what shall he include, what shall he reject? The line of decision between in and out is the
picture’s edge. While the draughtsman starts with the middle of the sheet, the photographer
starts with the frame.
The photograph’s edge defi nes content. It isolates unexpected juxtapositions. By surrounding
two facts, it creates a relationship. The edge of the photograph dissects familiar forms, and
shows their unfamiliar fragment. It creates the shapes that surround objects.
The photographer edits the meanings and the patterns of the world through an imaginary frame.
This frame is the beginning of his picture’s geometry. It is to the photograph as the cushion is to
the billiard table.’
Discuss what John Szarkowski means when he says that photographers are quoting ‘out of context’
when they make photographic pictures. Find one image that illustrates your discussion.Communication and context
Photographs provide us with factual information. With this information we can make objective
statements concerning the image. Objective statements are indisputable facts. Photographic images
are an edited version of reality. With limited or confl icting information within the frame we are often
unsure of what the photograph is really about. In these cases we may make subjective decisions about
what the photograph is communicating to us personally. Subjective statements are what we think or
feel about the image. Subjective opinion varies between individuals and may be greatly infl uenced
by the caption that accompanies the image and/or our cultural or experiential background.