Practices of Looking chapter one provided a very interesting overview of the themes we will cover for the rest of the course. I think that some of themost interesting points were made in the beginning when the book discusses how our society has evolved into an image-obsessed culture. The fact that even traditional written works must utilize images to capture an audience shows the shift from words to images in our attempt to gain knowledge.
I think one of the hardest things for me to determine as I look at different images in my everyday life is the idea of representation. Sometimes I find it difficult to figure out whether something is sheer mimicry or if objects are placed to convey meaning. Many argue that the image always conveys a meaning, but sometimes I feel as though someone was just attempting to draw a picture without alluding to something more. But anyway, the reading discusses the debates between these two ideas. It states that often the paintings from the past were used to depict religious myths and other abstract ideas and therefore attaching a meaning to the image. But also, the book brings up the work of a different painting asking whether or not the fruit on the table was just meant to be fruit, skillfully painted by the artist. My main problem, I guess, is searching for meaning within an image. I hope I improve in this throughout the course.
Another topic I liked in the reading was the fact that the camera was seen as a scientific tool because it captured reality better than hand drawings did. In the past, the camera was seen as void of a subjective force, however I must disagree with this point as a former photography student. I do not believe that its as simple as pointing and clicking. The subjective side of photography is also mentioned in regard to framing, lighting etc. (which I was glad to read. Barthes was referenced in the difference between what an image denotes and connotes. Using his theory, the book provided an example which I really liked. The trolley picture they used worked well because it acutally seemed like every passenger had a story in their expression waiting to be told. Hopefully I can grasp this concept well enough to portray it in our assignment
Going back to the idea that photos were this accepted scienitfic tool, I really liked the way the book talked about the idea of photos as this "truth," I never really realized how much of a truth our culture held photos up to be until I read this reading and realized that passports, credit cards, drivers licenses, etc all have our photo on them with the understanding that it validates our identity.
To start on a completely new topic, I found the part about the advertisements really fascinating. I particularly liked the Benetton ads. It was really interesting to see how the meaning behind the ads changed as they "aged." The car on fire initially would have signified urban crime, then as the 90s came it meant terrorism. Clearly, the picture never changed, but the audience and their culture did, thus the meaning behind the car did as well. The ad with the black woman nursing the white child was particularly interesting, because the US did not print it because they believed it would connote the idea of slavery and the use of wet nurses. Looking at the ad before reading the article, I didn;t assume that meaning at all, but I can see how someone would bring that idea up and an entire racial protest would result.
Well I've knocked one post down...