READING PHOTOGRAPHS
By Dawn Oosterhoff
Intro.
We spend a lot of time thinking about how to
make and take a photograph, but we may not be as thorough when thinking about
how to view a finished photograph. With the exception of studying photography
as fine art, we typically approach a photograph as a technically accurate
representation of what the photographer saw. A subject is a subject is a
subject, to paraphrase Gertrude Stein. And in all fairness, some
photographs—snapshots and pics, really—are not meant to be more than tangible
items that remind us of what we saw or experienced. Quick pics of a restaurant
meal, selfies, and snapshots taken at events often fall into this category.
However, most photographs offer another layer
of experience—a reading experience as rich as any written prose—if we take the
time to observe and process the photograph’s visual language. A photographer
intervened between the subject and viewer in these photographs, composing and
framing the elements in the photograph to express a narrative, nudge the
viewer’s focus, and evoke feelings. These photographs are about something. They
not only invite a viewer’s involvement; they demand that engagement. These
photographs provide insights and information, but only if we interpret the
visual rhetoric.
We also read photographs to avoid being
visually misinformed. More than any other art form, a photograph represents
something real. We don’t look at a photograph as much as we look through it,
using the photograph as a visual portal to a mental re-creation of what we
expect to see. But even the most representative photograph is a version of
reality interpreted by the photographer for an intended audience. By reading a
photograph, we decode the photograph, unpacking the photographer’s interpretation
rather than accepting the photograph as it appears on its face.
How to Read a
Photograph.
There’s nothing fixed about how to read
photographs. In fact, your approach to reading a photograph can change,
depending upon the purpose or your use of the photograph. For example, if
viewing a photograph for historical information, you’d spend time closely
examining the photographer’s cultural bias and the prevailing social attitudes
at the time the photograph was taken. In contrast, if you’re viewing a photograph
for social meaning, you might spend more time considering the techniques a
photographer used to identify the subject.
Viewers can disagree about the quality or
relevance of a photograph, and they can—and usually do—generate multiple
interpretations of the same image. It’s also common to read a photograph one
way and then some time later, when re-visiting the photograph, read the same
photograph a different way or arrive at a different interpretation. However,
there is a limit on the range of interpretations a photograph will allow. The
limit is not what the photographer meant the photograph to mean but what the
internal visual coherence of the photograph will sustain. An interpretation
that breaks a photograph down into unrelatable or conflicting parts is invalid.
So, how do we read photographs? While there
may not be hard and fast rules, there are some guidelines. The guidelines are
based on our understanding of how we see two-dimensional representations of
three-dimensional space, and how, as a culture, we interpret visual elements,
icons, and symbols. Terry Barrett, an American art critic who specializes in
reading photography, suggests we work our way through these guidelines in an
approach that I’m going to express as a formula:
Subject Matter + Form +
Medium + Context = Content
Subject Matter: What’s
in the Photograph?
Begin reading a photograph by looking at the
things in the photograph. What people, places, and things are included in the
photograph? (Be sure to look right to the edges of the photograph.) List the
items and group them (mentally or on paper) into logical categories.
Consider whether there are any activities
captured. If so, how do the people or activities use the objects in the
photograph? Is there a relationship between subjects in the photograph? Do they
touch or look at each other? Or is there an existing order in the subjects?
In the photograph below, there are a boy, a
ball, a half-open entrance, a camera, and several signs. There are also
windows, a canal, a railing, steps, lots of sun and some shade. There’s a
relationship of play between the boy and the ball. There’s also a relationship
between the signs (Carabinieri, or police), entrance, and security camera.
The canal, windows, steps, and street all
provide a setting. There is not yet a relationship between the boy and his ball
and the police, but the anticipation of a relationship is a palpable subject.
Dawn Oosterhoff
When looking at what’s in the photograph, be
sure to also consider what is not in the photograph. Can you assume that the
missing items exist but have been left out of the frame, either deliberately or
by necessity? That is, did the photographer frame the photograph to exclude the
item or is the item excluded because it would not be possible to include it in
the photograph? For example, in the above photograph, the shadow on the ground
suggests there’s a large tree behind, but it would be impossible to include
that tree in this photograph. Also missing is a playmate. Is the boy playing
with the ball by himself or did the photographer deliberately exclude a
playmate?
Form: How is the
Photograph Composed?
The nature of photography forces us to work
with a frame, making a decision about what to include and what to exclude.
Within the frame, we use various techniques to lead viewers around the objects
that were included and emphasize some objects over others. These compositional
techniques speak volumes about what is in the photograph and what the
photographer is trying to communicate.
Look at what the photographer chose to
emphasize within the frame and with what technique. How does the photographer
lead you around and through the contents of the frame? Consider subject
placement within the frame and the use of leading lines, depth of field, and
focus. Did the photographer choose a focal length that emphasizes one object or
de-emphasizes another? What has become the focus of the photograph as a result
of these techniques? What does the photographer’s techniques for emphasis tell
us about the subject of the photograph?
Sometimes, a photographer is able to
deliberately organize items before framing and taking the photograph. This
would be the case with a still life, product shot, or portrait. Other times,
the photographer is faced with what the situation presents and must choose a
perspective that organizes the objects within the frame. To see how a
photograph has been structured and organized, try turning the photograph upside
down or imagining the photograph as a flat piece of plain paper with shapes and
objects rather than a representation of three-dimensional space. What shapes do
you see? Are there lines or repetitions in the photograph? What do these shapes
and their placement tell you about the photograph?
In the following photograph, the photographer
uses lines and shapes to lead the viewer past the person in
the foreground to the second person, who is the subject. The line of chairs in
the foreground, the edge of the light coming in from the distant windows, and
the planks in the floor all point to the grandmother, who is sitting in the
center right of the photograph—a compositionally strong point in the frame. The
photographer also uses the archway to create a frame around the grandmother
and, in the distance, the parents. If the viewer is drawn past the
grandmother to the parents and windows in the background, the line created by
the furniture along the right wall redirects the viewer's eye back to the
grandmother. The photographer's composition tells you the grandmother is the
matriarch, the strength in this photograph of a three-generational family.
Light and shadows are also objects within a
photograph, so be sure to consider them when reading a photograph. Notice where
the light and shadows are placed. What are their shapes? Where are the light
and shadows in relation to the frame of the photograph? What has been placed in
light and what has been placed in shadow. What does the photographer’s use of
light and shadow tell you about the photograph and its story? For example, in
the above photograph, light is streaming in from the windows in the background,
washing out the parents in highlights but perfectly lighting the grandmother.
The young boy, who occupies the largest physical space in the photograph, is in
shadow. There is light coming in from the window behind him, but it's a weak
light that doesn't illuminate the boy's face or the book he is reading. What
does the photographer's use of light and shadow tell you about the boy and his
place in the family?
Medium: What Materials
and Processes Were Used?
Medium is the materials and processes used to
make the art. For a photograph, this can include the equipment (camera and
lens), the recording medium (digital or film, and if film, the size and kind),
the developing process or adjustments, and the final presentation (printed or
web, and if printed, the size and type of the paper and framing).
Historic photos are going to be black and
white by necessity, but modern photographs could be colour or black and white.
Consider the photographer’s choice and what that means for the photograph’s
story. If a photograph is taken with film, even the choice of film stock can
make a significant difference in how a subject is portrayed. Is the film high
contrast and grainy, or is it a slow, smooth film with infinite tonality? If
the photograph is in colour, are the colours enhanced or altered, or if the
photograph is black and white, was the photograph toned? Was the photograph
taken with a smartphone or a large format camera? Does it matter? Did the photographer
use a specific lens—a fisheye, for example—to emphasize something in the frame?
When considering medium, also consider the
photographer’s choices within the context of the standards and practices of
photography at the time. A modern photograph presented in black and white would
tell us something about the photographer’s intent, but the same photograph
taken seventy or eighty years ago would necessarily be in black and white.
Similarly, a modern photographer using an historic photographic process—collodion
plates, for example—is adding layers of meaning to the photograph.
In the following photograph, you can’t tell
whether the photographer originally shot in colour or black and white, but you
can tell that the black and white photograph has been toned to create or
enhance a cold, moody look. The lack of compression indicates that the
photograph was taken with a wide-angle lens, and even with that, the
photographer has created an impressively-wide panoramic. How do those choices
add to the photograph? Do they influence your feelings about the view?
Dawn Oosterhoff
When considering medium, also consider where
and how the photograph is displayed. The same photograph could sustain
different interpretations depending upon whether it’s hung in a gallery,
printed in a magazine, or displayed on a personal website. How would you read
the above photograph if it was used as a banner image in a travel magazine or
in material advocating environmental awareness? Would your reading be different
if the photograph was printed 6-feet wide on canvas, framed, and hung in an art
gallery?
Context: What Were the
Circumstances in Which the Photograph Was Made?
Context involves a broad consideration of the
interrelated conditions in which the photograph was made and is being viewed.
This includes the culture in which the photograph was made; for example, the
time, social beliefs, and cultural practices that would have given rise to the
image and influenced the photographer. A still life of a rich display of
seafood, tropical fruit, and crystal could be an appreciation of texture,
light, and tones, but, if the photograph was taken in the late 1800s when
seafood, tropical fruit, and crystal were extraordinarily expensive and
difficult to obtain, the photograph would also be an expression of wealth. What
if that same photograph had been taken during a food crisis: how would that change
your interpretation?
The following photograph could be read
differently, depending upon where the photograph was taken. The photograph
would tell one story if it was taken in a hospital waiting room and yet another
if the photograph was taken at a transit stop. What if the photograph was taken
in a park or on a busy train? How does the story change if the person in the
flowered outfit is a relative, friend, or stranger?
Dawn
Oosterhoff
Considerations of context are deep and
convoluted when it comes to reading photographs of conflict. Photographs taken
by a journalist embedded with a conflict group will have a different
perspective than photographs taken by an outside observer or local journalist.
Similarly, photographs taken surreptitiously are likely to tell a different
story than those taken by a press corp. Other considerations include who is
publishing which photographs and who is photographing whom. Photographs
published of the uprisings during the Arab Spring were taken by both foreign
and local photographers. How would the photographer’s own culture influence
your reading of the photographs?
Tim Hetherington, a British combat photojournalist, is known
for his attempts to express how the context of conflict shapes combat
photography, and how combat photography shapes conflict. Hetherington called it
“the feedback loop”: news, movies, and photographs of war influence young
people, who then re-enact that imagery when they find themselves in conflict.
Photographs of that conflict then shape the news, movies, and photographs of war.
And so on.
Context also includes a photographer’s intent
when taking the photograph. Intent is not a definitive indication of meaning,
but it certainly contributes to what is read in a photograph. A photographer’s
work can also be shaped by influences beyond a photographer’s intent and
conscious attention. Richard Avedon intended to offer a fresh view of the
American west when he took the photographs for his collection “In the American West.” However, Avedon’s photographs of hardship
and suffering among the working class in the West have been criticized as
exploitative because, it is argued, Avedon’s perspective was unconsciously
skewed by his success as a commercial photographer from the East. Does the
criticism change how you read his collection? Avedon had suffered a critical
illness before launching on his American West project. Does that change your
reading of his photographs? What if, as was alleged, Avedon had dressed some
people up to be photographed as someone they were not?
Photographers frequently
photograph better than they know. —Minor White
A photograph’s story is also shaped by the
person viewing the photograph. We read images from the perspective of our own
worldviews and values. I am fascinated by visual storytelling, so will engage
documentary photographs with more gusto than I might those that are abstract.
Similarly, I would likely read photographs of
conflict in Ukraine differently than would a Ukrainian. That’s not to suggest
that certain perspectives are more valid than others or even that the
photographer’s perspective is the only correct view. Edward Weston railed
against those who tried to layer sexual meaning onto his photographs of green peppers. Weston maintained that an object is
photographed for its own sake. The fact that many still saw sexual intent in
Weston’s peppers says as much about the viewer as it does about the photograph
itself. But, if Weston did not intend sexual imagery with his peppers, does
that mean that those viewers who saw it there were wrong? The test would be
whether the internal consistency of the photograph could sustain the viewer’s
sexual interpretation.
[I]t is disgust and
weariness over having my work labeled and pigeonholed by those who bring to it
their own obviously abnormal, frustrated condition: the sexually unemployed
belching gaseous irrelevancies from an undigested Freudian ferment. —Edward
Weston
Content: What Story is
the Photograph Telling?
By considering together the subject, form,
medium, and context of a photograph, we can form some conclusions about the
content of a photograph. By examining photographs, we can express in words the
visual representation contained within the frame. We can often intuit meaning
in a photograph, but taking the time to read a photograph will often provide us
with more insight into the photograph itself and what the photograph or
photographer is expressing. Finally, learning to read photographs helps us
write photographs. Understanding visual literacy is as relevant to making a
photograph as it is to reading a finished photograph.
Not every photograph will contain complex
content and not every reading will reveal all nuances in an image. Edward
Weston maintained that an object is photographed for its own sake. Minor White
argued that you can photograph an object for its own sake, but you could also
photograph it, or a viewer could interpret it, for what else the object might
be. And Alfred Stieglitz believed that you photograph an object with the
intention of also provoking an emotional reaction. Regardless of the level of
analysis the photographer intends or the viewer undertakes, what is certain is
that developing skills in visual literacy will reward you with a richer
experience both in making and viewing photographs.
Rosemary Gilliat (1954). Library and Archives Canada,
e011161195.