reading #2 interpreting photographs

Images dominate today's world, each trying to influence the viewer in some way whether it's to buy a certain type of cereal, donate to an animal shelter or think critically about social inequalities. While making successful imagery has been a major focus at Tyler, there has been equal emphasis on learning how to discuss and interpret the images being made. As viewers, we have a responsibility to be active participants rather than just absorb what we see. 

In Terry Barrett’s book, Criticizing Photographs, he goes through the ways in which a photograph should be dissected. While I found most of his points obvious, I wonder if the average person would feel the same way. There’s such a stigma with art today that people not connected in the art world don’t “get” modern art. Barrett argues that there is nothing to “get”; there are no black and white interpretations for an image. Instead of a true/false scale, Barrett refers to interpretations being plausible vs. implausible. As viewers, we all bring our own baggage to the table in terms of beliefs, knowledge and experiences. Barrett explains there is no such thing as an “innocent eye” because all of these biases affect how we view an image. Every reading of an image has merit as long as there is evidence to back the viewer’s claims, no matter what biases we adhere to it.

This means of interpreting images places the burden on the viewer rather than the photographer. Although it’s certainly not true in every case, I find that in my own work a lot happens subconsciously. Minor White put it quite well when he said, “photographers frequently photograph better than they know.” There have been countless times in critiques where classmates or professors have caught something in an image that the photographer didn’t even realize they had done. One body of work that I’ve been making in the last year I was so drawn to creating but couldn’t understand what I was trying to say with my images. It wasn’t until critiquing my work up on the wall that I began to understand more about my own work and it has since helped me build on those images. Interpreting is a collective endeavor and not reliant on a single person whether it be photographer or viewer. Having a strong community of photographers to discuss photographs will be one of the things I will miss the most once I graduate.