"The Ontology of the Photographic Image" - Sierra Flynn

I found Andre Bazin’s essay “The Ontology of the Photographic Image” to be quite interesting. His arguments for photography being “the most important event in the history of plastic arts” are actually quite compelling. The arguments touch on many factors that we have discussed in class and ultimately favor photography over painting. While reading, one specific paragraph, in which he was lauding another one of photography’s remarkable aspects, caught my attention. Bazin states, “No matter how skillful the painter, his work was always in fee to an inescapable subjectivity. The fact that a human hand intervened cast a shadow of doubt over the image” (240). I find the statement, “cast a shadow of doubt over the image” an interesting use of imagery, for when I first read it I actually visualized a painter’s hand casting a shadow over a canvas. I am not sure if this is what Bazin intended, but that shadow, for me, created a negative feeling towards the hand that I associated with a painter. This imagery reinforces his idea that the photographer is better than the painter and, in turn, photography is better than painting. Also, I found that I partially agreed with Bazin’s statement. I believe the “shadow of doubt” is found in paintings, but that it allows for the artist to insert his perspective into his work more easily. A painter can easily alter the appearance of the object being portrayed, but a photographer can only manipulate the scene that is being photographed to a certain extent. I think Bazin has an extreme affinity to photography that he tries to subtlety state throughout his essay. Overall, I enjoyed reading this piece and I hope that I interpreted it somewhat correctly.