Monday, February 25, 2008
"Let Us Now Praise Famous Men" - Maya
When I first read “Let Us Now Praise Famous Men” I was very confused as to what the article had to do with photography. It seemed to me that someone was simply telling a very detailed story. In order to try to understand what the article was about, I read the preface, something I usually skip. Only then did that articles connection to photography click! According to the author, the text was “co-equal, mutually independent, and fully collaborative” with the photographs that were shown at the beginning of the article. Apparently, the author chose to use both mediums in order to present a more accurate and vivid description of the lives of the people he was observing. “Ultimately, it is intended that this record and analysis be exhaustive, with no detail, however trivial it may seem, left untouched, no relevancy avoided…” The goal of the author was to make sure every observable detail of these people’s lives could be conveyed to others. While a photograph can present some aspects very well, it fails at presenting others. These aspects, such as background stories, that can be merely speculated through a photograph, can only be truthfully conveyed if someone speaks of them, or if they are written down. This is why the two mediums work so well together to present an accurate depiction of the family. However, this article also revealed to me that I am a far more visual person than I am a literal one. It was fairly difficult for me to concentrate on reading the endless descriptions offered in the article, but I can look at the minute details of photographs for hours. It takes a very long time to read out a description that could simply be seen in seconds in a photograph. It was interesting to reflect on the different ways your imagination has to fill in the blanks while reading or looking at a picture. In reading, your mind creates its own visuals based on language, while when looking, your mind has to create explanations and emotions.
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"The immediate insturments are two: the motionless camera and the printed word." Reading this exerpt from the book was really interesting. I had never thought about the realtionship that a photo and a story put together could create. It is always said that a "picture is worth one thousand words" but then how can one story seem to make the photograph so much more alive? But then again, the author seems to describe only that which you can see when looking at the world being illuminated by the camera. The photograph seems to allow your eyes to see who the family is and what they look like; whereas the story seems to allow the heart and the mind to connect to the life and times of the subjects. By reading this I realized that i had mixed feelings about which would be stronger for an audience to see in order to better understand tenant families. I do agree that the photos and the stories put together make it complete but what is a photograph worth really? The photo allows the mind to capture the family and store it away, most are able to create their own story for the individuals (many almost accurate). But a story allows you to understand the individuals. The written word allows you to see the life of the people, to understand that they look the way they do because there is no money and it is all they can do to get by. Even after debating this with myself I wasn't able to come to a conclusion about it. I liked the way that the authors went about their job of unveiling the families but without the preface I would have had no idea what it had to do with photography. After reading, however, I understood. The photograph gives you an image, a snapshot of a moment in time. The written word gives you the background, the feeliing, the life of the subjects. Is one photograph really enough to produce one thousand written words?
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