On Photography: Which Thousand Words?

If a picture says a thousand words, which thousand words does it say to whom? If we all wrote down what we hear, no two accounts would be the same. A picture of an antelope can tickle a palate, provoke wonder in the Lord’s creation, convey a medical factoid, illustrate the photographer’s technique, bore a teenager, etc. A picture of a destitute woman with child may provoke sympathy, wonder, or contempt (if she is seen as lazy, irresponsible with pregnancy, parasitic on society, etc.). The more "abstract" a photo, the wider its range of interpretations. So the question is: can a photographer convey a controlled moral message at all?

 

On the art of photography, we'll do well to recall Wittgenstein: "What can be shown, cannot be said." What a picture conveys, he suggests, cannot be fixed by words. Words are a subjective proxy for a picture, a separate creation with a life of its own.

 

In matters of appreciation, photography may well be closer to music. As forms of art, both are more abstract than, say, novels and films, which at least have words and ideas to latch on to. But novels and films are already notoriously subjective. The best writers know how hard it is to control interpretation. "The stories we write," says JM Coetzee, "sometimes begin to write themselves, after which their truth or falsehood is out of our hands and declarations of authorial intent carry no weight. Furthermore, once a book is launched into the world it becomes the property of its readers, who, given half a chance, will twist its meaning in accord with their own preconceptions and desires."*

 

So what hope is there for photography? One answer is that its subjectivity is no worse than other art forms. As a mirror to our protean soul, all art is radically subjective, making it impossible to convey a controlled moral message. But radical subjectivity doesn't mean that a practical convergence in appreciation is impossible. We still produce art, judge it, discuss and debate it, buy and sell it, all while relying on a shared cultural sensibility to give it meaning (i.e., a language game). Pictures, like music, can also establish broad appeal by tapping into many universal human archetypes such as joy and sorrow, wonder and delight, fear and revulsion, etc.

 

(Read Part 2 for a follow-on to this post.)

Comments

[morreen]

To: askweres03@yahoo.com
I'm Morreen, 20 years of age, I was a student of milonatan girls secondary school in the home town Mogadishu, but due to the rebel fight that has taken some time most of our family members passed away on this (died) some of our family members scattered and followed different routs our father was killed one night when we was attacked and he said some words to defend us I and my mum from being raped but all still went the same he was killed and were raped that very night but on that I will not write much about that but to any mass full person who will respond I will say more and all the problem we are undergoing some of this when I say I cry. I, mum and bonny ran up to the border of Kenya and Somalia where we got some old lady (widow) who has really helped us since July 2nd / 2007 and giving us accommodation and food, which she also says is ending to keep us on by November, to me as a girl child am much worried from of where we will go that for the next month due this lady has shortage of food but she could still keep us. From all the three of us mum, Bonny 13 yrs, it's me who at lest know English they all speak Swahili. We need help and living advice from different people I have now for two days got a chance for going internet and what am doing is combining words that can make up an emailing address. From the 6 emails I have made I think and at lest one goes through. But we pray that at lest on email or two goes to some one who can help us. And we say to the God to whom we serve that enters person who receives this massage not share with others and even if any church is near takes this to church and where threes crowed so that some mass full person have the spirit and respond to our cry. Whoever receives this let the holly spirit enter your heart torches you and respond to us God my bless you.

Yours the needy three

Morreen Delana