Theory Of Photography Essay

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An investigation into the theory that photography is an entity constructed by three fundamental processes; a concept, an image and a viewer and how they if at all contribute to the communication of a photograph.

This report investigates the theory that photography is constructed with three main components.
1) The concept – The foundation of a photograph. The concept gives the image meaning and the photographer a reason to photograph.
2) The Image- The outcome of the concept. The main body of the structure. Would this image have changed if it did not have a concept? Would the image have even been created without the concept?
3) The Viewer- How is the viewer going to respond to the image? Does the viewer effect the interpretation of the image in any way? Without the viewer the image need not exist and without the image the concept need not exist.
This triangle of components creates many interpretations that question the fundamentals of photography. Can one component work without the other? Do these components affect one another? Lastly will the understanding of the image change if one of these three components is absent?

(DIAGRAM IN HERE) Figure 1

By conducting critical and thorough research collected from a wide variety of sources, I will establish a considered and theoretical structure for my practice, in order to appropriately explore the contexts and meanings of my final outcomes. This exploratory style of qualitative research will involve a certain degree of deductive reasoning of the contextual aspects in order for there to be complete understanding of the subject matter and its effect on the photographic content. This will not be based on a pre-determined hypothesis but a clearly identifiable problem or...

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...e war through their images. This freedom allowed photographers such as Don McCullin and Larry Burrows to push the boundaries of photojournalism into new and unexplored realms. It is the work created by these western photographers that have formed the memories of the war.

VIEWER

When looking at how a person views an image we have to consider reality and realism as the groundwork of this discussion. “The realism of an image corresponds to a perception of reality.” (Bate, D. 2009. P.41) This quote is suggesting that no matter how realistic an image may appear, if it does not fit with our pre-existing beliefs of the world, then the image will not be believable. The foundations of reading an image involves assessing if a photograph is credible or plausible and whether it corresponds with any pre-existing conceptions of reality and knowledge about the world.

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