The separation between human consciousness and mechanical creation is exemplified in the development of photography. Previously there’d been no instance of a near completely objective representation of duplicated reality. True, there is still some variation with an individual camera operator's ability to manipulate exposure times, but the idea that light is imprinted directly onto a surface without the interpretive strokes of human imagination, is indeed revolutionary.
Friday, March 8, 2013
A Slice of Time
The creativity in photography is not as fluid as that in
painting or drawing. The picture represents a slice in time in a way which must
have been cognitively shocking around its inception. It extends the idea of
realism in art to a new level, one where the framing of the picture holds a
heavier importance. The construction of the photograph suddenly becomes a
prominent issue, as the realism it portrays can itself be structured and
fabricated.
The separation between human consciousness and mechanical creation is exemplified in the development of photography. Previously there’d been no instance of a near completely objective representation of duplicated reality. True, there is still some variation with an individual camera operator's ability to manipulate exposure times, but the idea that light is imprinted directly onto a surface without the interpretive strokes of human imagination, is indeed revolutionary.
The separation between human consciousness and mechanical creation is exemplified in the development of photography. Previously there’d been no instance of a near completely objective representation of duplicated reality. True, there is still some variation with an individual camera operator's ability to manipulate exposure times, but the idea that light is imprinted directly onto a surface without the interpretive strokes of human imagination, is indeed revolutionary.
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Several of the readings treat "art" as something separate from photography. Bazin, for instance, refers to art as the traditional modes of painting, drawing, etc., which allows him to argue that photography freed painting from the onus of striving for representational realism.
ReplyDeleteAs for the important point about the camera's apparent autonomy, we could consult Lorraine Daston and Peter Galison's book, Objectivity, and their concept of "mechanical objectivity."