Ways of seeing things
source: google images |
- The way we see things is affected by what we know or what we believe in
- We only see what we look at. To look is an act of choice. As a result of this act, what we see is brought within our reach - though not necessarily within arm's reach
- Images were first made to conjure up the appearances of something that was absent
- The more imaginative the work, the more profoundly it allows us to share the artist's experience of the visible
- When an image is presented as a work of art, the way people look at it is affected by a whole series of learnt assumptions about art. Assumptions concerning:
o Truth
o Genius
o Civilization
o Form
o Status
o Taste, etc.
- Mystification is the process of explaining away what might otherwise be evident
- The meaning of an image is changed according to what one sees immediately beside it or what comes immediately after it
- The art of the past no longer exists as it once did. Its authority is lost. In its place there is a language of images.
(source: John Berger - Ways of seeing things)
Taking photos means capturing a moment, a memory. We then look back at that photo and remember that moment when we pressed the button on the camera to take the photo. As the writer says, we only see what we look at, so when taking the photo we choose what to look at and what to capture. Whether it's a memory or a form of art, the meaning changes for each person. For us it might be a memory or something we relate to depending on our emotions, feelings and what we relate this memory to while for others it might be something else.
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