h

i.l
"
f$
t:
;li!!ltrr.,
_i.ll'rrrttl
illtrlttll)
:itlrr!rtfi,r
ilirrrral,;t
Ithil;riif
:fi,':
-
I
^"-
fri
t#isry
The 1999 sc ence fiction fi m lhe Malrlx
(d rected by Andy and Larry Wachowsk
)
proposed
a dystopian future in wh ch
lur"r be rgc J e o- r ed Lo d
pd)c .e
fe funct oning as
'baiteries'
for nte lgent
machines; humans are
pLugged into a
computer progran'rme
that simu ates
rea ity and aTe ufalvare of the tr!e nature
of the r existence As ["4orpheus, leader
ol a
group who had escaped the lvlatrix,
asks: t4lhat is real? Haw da
yau deline
'real?
lf
Vau
are talking about what
you
can feel, what yau can smell what you
can taste and see, then'real' is simply
electrical signals interpreted by
yaur brain
The Matixis of couTse, fict on and rro o|e
-
IlF)
rooe-oot-oi
toI i1" "g ott - v./i .-
Neverthe ess, there is some sense irl
[,4orpheus s observation: our grasp
on
'^dl
/ t< oe.6.^t r6d b1 o_r
porr^p
o-,
To be sure there are facts on wh ch we
can a I agree and wh ch are by definit on
ndependent of our ind v dua percept
onsi
we can broad y agree on what someth ng
ooks lke albe t under specific cond tlons
lowever appearances can be decept ve.
As djscussed, in the prev
ous chapter, what
th ngs mean, is subject to interpretat on.
[,4eanings are not on y shaped by the
funct oning of our perceptual
apparatus
(the processing
of sense data nto electrica
signa s in our brain), but also by the
ideo og cal framework and be iefs which
determ ne our point
of view. Photographs are
part
cularly problematic
in th s respect we
can be seduced inlo bel ev ng that a faithfu
record of appearances is actua ly a
's
ice of
rea ity'. That real sm rs the same as rea ity.
i.)
Titler Keanu Reeves and Hugo
Weaving in 'The Matrix', 1999
Source: Warner Broihers
The rea ism of The L4atrix te es
Lrpon the a!djence s suspens on
of d sbe ef n the lace oi ayers
of LJnrea ty C nernatrc specia
effects show us the lus on of
humans I ying wh ch s exp ained
as a f ct ona representat on of
\] rtua rea ty experenced n
the I ctiona wor d of the f lm
71
A
point
of view
Laak at it my way Do you
see what I mean?
[,4elaphors of see ng and look ng are
ntrins c to our conceptua izat on of
understand ng Curious
y.
ihey emphas ze
both the subjective (in my v/ew/) and the
apparently olrlect ve statement of revelat on
(row iseel Alow / undersland). The camera
emllod es both aspects every
photograph
s by defin t on a po nt of v ew, an angle
of vision and a moment se ected by the
photographer. At the same time the resulting
p
ctlfe can be seen as object ve
proof
ol the scene wltnessed its lruthlu ness
apparently ndependent of the
photographer
The va ue of photojourna
sm and
do rn. '"
,
pao
og apr
\
d^pp o .
upof oui faith n the oblect vity of the
photographer
and the ev deft ary status of
the photograph
ndeed, every day we ook
ai
p
ctures informing us about the world and
broadly accept them as rrefutable evidence
of events and
phenomena.
The fact that we
know that
photographs
can be tampered
w th and be used to tel ies on
y re nforces
our
gefeTal la th n the essent al lruihlu ness
of
photography:
if we earn that a
documentary'
photograph
has been altered,
then we fee cheated we feel manipulated
Piclures that
purport
to te lthe truth about
events aTe subject to cons derable ethica
and phi osoph ca conslderatlons.
,1.2
I
What is real ?
o-o
o o o
6dl
r
iiiiizz what is 'reat'?
The camera never lies
The Vietnam War (1954 1975) has been
described as the
'med
a'war: images
of it were beamed into homes across
Amer ca and Europe, and publlshed
in magaz nes and newspapers. lt has
become commonp ace to c a m that
the course of the war was materia ly
affected by the disseminatlon of mages
because the truih that they revea ed
gave the lie to the off c al stor es.
On 1 February 1968, Eddie Adams was
in a street in Saigon
(Vletnam)
and he
saw General Nguy6n Ngoc Loan ralse hls
pjsto
to the head of a Vjetcong prisoner
as Loan
pu led the tr gger, Adams pressed
the shutter on h s camera and
produced
one of the most icon c irfages, not
iust
of ihe war, but of the twentieth ceniury.
The p
cture was and rema ns, profoundly
shocking. lt is shocking because of the
brute fact il so stark
y
shows. The camera
has object ve y recorded a rea event,
a human execution. The fact that the
sp it second exposure
(1/50Oth
second)
Jreezes what no human eye could actualy
perce ve does not d mlnish ts trLrthfulness
-
f anything, t cements t. There can be
no doubting what happened. Adams
won a Pu itzer Pr ze for the
picture.
But what can \r'/e :::, .
mage? What s c=-
-:-
man on the leli a':^= :
gun
at the head :':-=
seems, from the :. : : -
the man on the I
!-:
:-
been fired. Those a-: :'
eloquenlly of ma. :
- -
But the
picture b'. ::: '
the circr..rmsiafc:: ,' :
execution thoLrJ- :-=
to conclLrs ons s,. -:::-
Li
Title: General Nguy6n Ngo
executing Viet Cong
prisor
Nguy6n V6n L6m, Saigon
February,1968
Photographer: Edd e
::"-
Of the nany tlroJs:_:,
pholographs mac. :-
:
--
course of the V eir.- l
th s is one of a 1a-:-- ::
_:
acqu red lastng s
Q-'
. ::
apparently cas!a a', :. :
executlon terna ns :.
-_:
now as t appeara:
_
:: :
'[Loan]
prrs
-
,- :
of my mel :-
-]
It was a vu'a'
nice, llut
-
=
mlght ha,i: ,: ,-
fLoan'sl
ife a-:
e se
gr:::
to hurt
pec:
= =
lntention oe-l:
Eddie Adams,
photograpr
,-r"f
t
itr
{'
."., I
- ,.it I
But what can we actualy read from the
mage? What s denoted ls very plalnithe
man on the left of the
p
cture points
a
gun
at the head of the man on the I ght;
it
seems, from the expressiof on the face of
the man of the r ght,
that the bu let has
just
been fired Those are the facts they speak
e oquent y of man's inhuman ty to rnan.
But the picture
by itse f tel s us I tt e about
ihe c rcumstances of, and reasons for this
a 6
.,o't ougl
-nl3
.
ewal
^
ar
I
."rp
to conc us ons sympathetic to the victim.
Title: General Nguy6n Ngoc Loan
execuling Viet Cong prisoner,
Nguy6n V;n L6m, Saigon, 1
February,1968
Photographel Eddie Adams
Ol lhe rnany thoLrsands of
photographs.iade
dLr ring the
course ol the vielnam war.
thrs s one of a handfLtito have
acquired ast rg s gn I cance The
apparent y casua bruta ity of this
execution rema ns as shock ng
now as l appeared n 1968
'l[oan]
puts
his
psto
n hs holster
il
Truth and interpretation
n a fllmed interview (,4n
Llnlikely Weapan,
directed by Susan l\,4organ Cooper,2008),
Edd e Adams ta ked about his photograph:
1,la
about ft/a teel
dAa\
ltam
ne
U$anel
and ta my left Ihis guy,
I had na idea
[wha
he wasl, went over and lcauld see him ga
for his pistal.
. I taak ane frame: that was
the instant that he shat him . I didn't even
knaw lgal him shaoting him. when I see
the picture
/ was not impressed .
jt's
nal a
great work af an in lerms af
photography
the light wasn I right composlllon was
lerrible .. I still dan t understand why it was
so important
Adams was do ng his
job:
making pictures.
A p cture such as th s comes allout through
"
o'rbtdlior o o o'^ ^o-d
o.pe'
e^.e
instinctive teactlon and lL"lck As Adams said,
he d dn't know what he had caught n that
split second exposure nor d d he understand
the sign f cance of the picture,
the mean ngs it
would be given
and the effects it would have.
It s on y
by conextualiz ng the image, bringtng
nformatlon to t that the v ewer can properly
read and nterpret it. What the v ewer cannot
read from the p
cture is the context.
he said,
"he
k ed many
of my men and many of
your people"
and
llst
kept walking
It was a war I had seen so many
p)eop
e d e t's not
n ce, but he shot him he was a
prrsoner,
and he shoi h m
might have done the same thing The
p
ctlre destroyed
l[oans]
life and that's what bothers n.re more than anyth ng
else guess
the
pictlre
d d
good
th ngs blt dof't waft
to hurt peop
e either rt rea
y
bothers me, tl.tat's not my
ftent on be ng a
photographer
that's not what I want to do
Eddie Adams, photographer
whatis.real.?
D
oo!i.io
.o.p.
74
Representation
and reality
But for Adams p
cture (and
the newsreel
of the sar.te incideirt), the execut on of
\o t.^, \".1
-^-r b, GF'6 o, Nor
r6.
Ngoc Loan wou cl be an unconsiderecl
now Jorgotten, routine fc dent of war;
an anonymous
statist c in the mi lons of
deaths However the representat
on of ihe
incident has endowed t with sign ficance
ln a lectLlre exam ning representation
and
the med a Professor Stuart Ha I argues
lhal the mearting af an event does nat
exist until it has been represerled.
the
process
ol represe ntatlan enters inta
everts lhemse/yes.
Represertatlon
is constltutlye
of eyenls.
Io'd,.r.tt - pLol
".01
o'^od.tr
picture
had an effect not only or ihe
persona
ife of General Loan but also on
the weighi of publ
c opinion about e
war, and consequentiy on ts course, th s
wou d seem io be true. The mean ngs
ol the event (beyord
that for the
fdlv duals concerneLl)
arise dtrect y
from
rts representation
ir the photograph.
Given this potentia,
there ts a ciear
ethica responsib lty on the part
of
the photojourna
ist or clocumentarV
photographeri
if their pictures purport
to
r^ ord a. o oi- l .n d.- -.o.1_.
o
.
Lttr-tg
around the world, we need to be able to
,. 5d In^ pt'
t^.'tO\\
d td' d- \
possrb
e what we wou d have seen hacl
we stood in the shoes of the photographer
The picture
that most moves is one
which persuades
us that t is a neutra.
d s nterested observat on; the photographer
may be moved bui the mechan
ca eye
of the camera s taken to be ndifferent
Lo
lr -.
6na
d o o dr-. lt_e
l.lowever the recogn t on that photographs
can be so powerfu
ls an open invitation
to
explo t the r capaclty to affect the v ewer and
the course oi events. Toclay, that recognition
.-r \^d Otr rr r,,tO'
media irnages s effectively a peTfo
|ance
enacted to lle represenied.
This can rafge
lrom the devastat ng terrot st act; to the work
of the spin doctor ensur rg that thelr chaige
is wearing the right c othes and s in the right
company to transm t the desirecl message
to the pLtb
ici through to the humblest
famiy photograph 'smi
e for the camera,.
The photographer
who appears to be
invisible to their subjects who catches
them apparent y
unawares (for
example
Wa ker Evans subway portraits
or Richarcl
B I ingham s pictures
of h s tamiy)
seems to take us c oser to rea ity.
75
Title: London, UK,26 lriarch 2011
Phoiographer: 1000 Words
n most mages oi currenl
-avents,
the pfotographer
s nv slb e
g v ng th-. v e\N,er ol the phoiograph
the us on of a privieged v eyr
of the act on By rnc Lrd ng the
pholographers n th s picture
of
a c ash beti,eef prolesters
and
po rce in London. thal lusoI
s shatiered. rcvea ng the
photographers
as pari of the story
and not mcaely n,a!tralobservers
. \A/hal s rea
r'
Representation and reality Faclsandfcton =
Representation and reality
Realism and illusion
Real sm s a surprising
y tr cky terro. Of the
face of t t seeafs to refer straightfor\,,i ard
y
to mages that convincing y miiate realty
It has been a ong stand ng assumpt on
thai the
lob
of art was to do
just
that.
Arguab
y, this spans from the Greek story
of the competit on between Zeux s and
Pa[hasius (the former
pa]nted grapes
so
rea st caly that they foo ed the b rds; the
atter
pa nted a curta n so conv ncing
y
ihat t fooled his r va
)
lhrough to the
nvention of
photography. And, indeed, the
endur ng fascinat on and usefulness of
pholography ies
pleclse y in its (apparently)
laithf uL recordinq of appearances.
However Real sm a movement assoc ated
with nineteenih century pa nters, such as
.r ,
p ,
o-rb-t - )r illad
16
-r pl d
from mere appearance
(which could
be rendered conv fc ng y even fol
who ly idea zed or fantast ca themes)
to representing the truth of exper ence
Courbet made
paintings (such as A
Burial at Ornans,1849) which depicted
ordinarv
peop e in everyday clrcumstances
in nformal compos t ons (One of the
nnovatlons of Real st and lmpressionist
tr"i
i
qs
u" ]a r oP rol
-6
roPP I o
o tra tl.
ge /r''L 1 \- dr-
-
"
d". c-
wh ch sign f es spontane ty and rea ism.)
1.5
77
r:ed Realism and reality
A further complication in the use of the
term 'rea
ism' s to emphaslze, not
just
the
persuasiveness
of the rea ity of the scene
represented, but the reaiity of the medium
tself. While ilusionism has been the stock
in trade of painters
through the ages,
modernist art tended to draw attention to the
construction of the work tself the brush
marks (lndexical
marks of the presence
of the pa
nter, the flatness of the support:
a surface to be looked at rather tha| af
lllus onistic window to ook through.
Part of the pecul
arity of photography
is the
'transparency'
of the medium: the mage
is inseparable from the surface (whether
viewed as a projection
of ight or a print),
making the il usionism of
photography
as a window onto reality very compel ing.
There is no material trace or ev dence of
the photographer.
ln purely
convent onal
terms, such a trace wou d
generally
be
regarded as signifying'bad' photography
-
the finger in front of the ens, out of
focus subjects, over exposure, off-kjlter
composition
-
draw ng attent on to the
process.
On the other hand, these could
be read as sign fy ng a raw authenticity,
honesty and awareness of the
p
cture as
a 'real'
thing itse f, a
part
of the rea world.
l5
Title: Reflections, 2012
Photographer: Joanna Casey
The photograph
as a window
onto rea ty' s rnade complcated
here by focus fg on an aciua
wlndow lnstead ol look ng at
reality, the window here reflects
a mLr ti ayered co lage ol colours,
forms and s gns W thin the chaos
and abslract on, a womans face
looks ca m y out at the viewer.
I What rs 'real'? I Representation and reatity I Facts and liction :
-
Represenlation and reality
Real
pictures
New York at the turn ol the twent eth century
!1o\ Ora O lf F
O, o.^JOeO pld a
i-
'he uor d. Viq dtior'."
trad
o
0.".
r
1907 when rnore than a mi lon mmigrants
passed
lhrough E ls sland and into New
York Whatever expeclations ihe mmigrants
had, the rea ity for many was, n t a ly at east
poverty
and squalor. Jacob R is, h mse f
an dmigrd f rom Denmark, who a[ ved n
1870, was appa ed by the slum cond t ons
in which so many mmigrants lved.
R is worked n t a ly as
lournal
st but llecame
determined to campa
gn
for the reforrn of
-5o
.no otd o'.o'rr.!o' o\. tg
photographs
to lustraie h s art c es and
book, How the Other Half L/yes (1890).
Ri s
professed
iltle ntetest n the
'art
of
P*o
og dpl
,
o i' le.q r' dr I
a o..
however, he was a
p
oneer n the use
of flash ight. le and his associates
wou d enter dark rooms at night ign te a
magnes um f are, and capture mages of the
unsuspecting occupants By profess
ona
standards h s
piciures
were pretty rough
(not to mention the eth cs of his approach
);
but, arguably, this perfect y
su ted the
sublect matter:
'bad photographs
expressed
the bad cond t ons. ln short, R ls was
nst nctivelv
practising
a form ol rea sr0.
i.a
Title: Five Cents Lodging, Bayard
Street, c.1889
Photographer:.lacob R s
R s p oneered the lse ot f ash io
tera y I u nate the darker corners
of the s urns ol New York Wheiher
h s slbjects rere were actua y
taken by sLrrpr se or prepared for
the event s not abso ule y c ear
H s eth .s rnay be qlest oned. blt
h s methods \,yere
c ear y eflect ve
lr
Title: Dachau,2012
Photographer Matt Frederick
A contemporary photograph
ob! ous y, cannot sho\,\r anyth ng of
the hofior assoc atel w th DacftaLl
cofcentrat on carr)p belween
1933 afd 1945 Hor,.rever, the
forma comoosit on and tone of
Freder ck s photograph
coaveys
a q!iet dign ty \",'hlch moving y
respeds tre rremory of ihe
rn ons of v ctims ol Naz s rl
.:.e
Form and content
The re ationsh p of form to content s a
fundamental aesthetic issue for a I image
makers. On the one hand. the mmacu ate
and'beautiflr' image of tragedy and
suffer ng may seem inappropriate and
even offens ve on the other hand the
.ig'
's s' .--L'.a
\
d'ro
^ ^
ed a^y
can be simu ated and seem fa se.
79
Robert Frank's p
ctures pub
ished as
The Americans (1958),
were made when
he secured a
grant
to photograph
al
I cLa of
"o,
-t
, i Lnp
-iti"t
I
r^r.
was rece ved negat ve y
by some wh e
others saw that he was
'rough
ng up a
med um that had become too retined and
sta d, add ng rea ism. Garry W nogrand
gave
his street pictures
a trademark t lt,
which connoted dynam sm and freshness.
Nowever what begins as sty ist c nnovat on
can soon become cl chdd and mitative
Stye matters
-
t shapes how
a
photograph
is read.
:'
:s3d
ayard
art
Wfrat s rea ? Representation and reality Facts and fiai on -
ao Facts and fiction
The writer A.D. Co eman has argued
Ihal all phatagraphs are fictlons, to
a far grealer
extenl than we are
Ve[
able ar willing to acknorv/edge. [,4ost
photographs
however, d sgu se the
degree to which they are constructed by
means of ihe r ilus on of transparency.
The discusslon so far has emphasized
the
quest
ons ar s ng from the
perce ved
truthfu ness of photography; but as should
be apparent that is on
y
one slde of the
story. To be sure, a preoccupat on with
truthfulness has been dominant through
much of the h story of the medlumi but
there has lreen an equa ly ong standing
engagement w th the construCtion of
fict ona scenar os, of exp oit ng the
p
ctor al creat v ty and freedom enloyed
by
pa
nters. The reaLism mplcit n the
medium g
ves an extra edge to the resu t ng
p ctures even though the v ewer may
bo
pe'^,
1, a^/drr, 5dt tl
-
".6ndrio
a stage set peop ed by perlormers for
the purpose
of making the photographl
the rea ism can be very seductive.
This approach s
perhaps
most obv ous
and fami iar I advert s ng and fash on
photography where the viewer understands
the'game and takes
pleasure
n the fantasy
and
glamour
connoied. The game
can,
however be
qu
te soph siicated where for
example, to counter a potent
al
pa
Ing of
drt f
,
dl
g
dro l . d
'grL'lga
d6 th6l L( r'lg
dFrp
-
lo or o.. old/o d rt,' oro
^.
i'rg
can mpart an iron c
g
amour and reallsm.
The fictiona mode of
photographv
can be exp ored through construct on
and man
pu
ation
-
both approaches
are as o d as the med um itse f.
1.8
Title: Fashion shoot at
the John Lautner House,
Los Angeles, US,2011
Photographer: Christopher
The mode swims iLr ly dressedi
the ocat on is the
pool
of a
g amorous and futur stic house
n Ca fornia The gorgeous
colour and abstract patterns
of the water override concerns
about pract calty and comfori.
The constructed image
Hippo yte
Bayard was ofe of the
pioneers
of
photography.
n 1839 he invented a
d rect paper positive process
and exhib ted
work pr
or to the pub
ic announcement
of the daguerreotype processi polt
cs
iO,r^.-. o, o.aO-O o." j 1l.d
farne that accrued to Daguerre. ln 1840,
Bayard produced
Self-Partrait as a
Drcwned Man. nscr b-od as fol ows:
Ihe corpse which yau
see here is lhat af
M Bayard. invenlar af the
process
lhal has
/ust
beer showr ta yau
.The Gavernment
which has been only taa gererous
fo
Mansieur Daguerre has said it can da
nathing far Monsieur Bayard, and the paor
wretch has drawned himself . He has
been at the morgue far several days. as
you
can abserve, the face and hands af
the genlleman
are beginning to decay.
'l
Bayard had not d ed, but he had
produced
the f rst staged photograph.
n 1858 lenry Peach Robinson exhib tecl
Fading Away a work that exemp if ed the
d scomfort engendered by the staged
image. The p
cture purports
to show
a young
woTnaf dying probably
from
tuberculos s. lt s constructed, ho\\iever,
lrom f ve separate negaiives and leatures
actors As art histot an Stephen E senman
notes the p
cture offended some for its
nde cate approach to such a subjeci and
others for its art f c a ity, which was seet
as a vialatian af phatographic
authenticity.
i.!
tlr
Title: Fading Away, 1858
Photographer: Henry Peach
Roblnson
Rob nson a pa nter t!rned
pholographer enloyed cofs derab e
sLr..-.ss w th his P.torial st
corrpos t ons lle skelched oLt
the pan for hs pLtLr-.s
shot
the sepa ale e ements then
comb ned the negat ves (frvc, n
th s case) to make a s ng e pr nt
Representat on and rea ty Factsandfiction Casestudv IhomasHoeok-.r
a2 Facts and fiction
The directorial mode
llenry Peach Rob nsor.r s a rf had becf to
nrake ari cut of
photography lov/ever h s
approaih t0 construct ng p Litures Liarfe to
ire rf arg na z-.d |
-.ar
y
tvr'-.nt eth c-.nll]ly
Lihoi.graphlc
fash on afd h story uih ch
carre to favo!r tfre sira
ght photograph.
lowever. as A.D Co eflri]r has flraoe
al!a,.r lhe dir-.ator ir mode mere y
u/-cnt !rdergro!nc and re emetged
n the 1970s notab
y I the \'rork of
C r,dy Shernran afd,Jell \"y'i,. .
n ihe t\,!enty I rst centur! ih-o rnod-o has
rfoveal to c-.ntro stalle n lor examp e
thc
\J,/ork
of Thama:i DemarLl \,,, ho
cor-ctructs three d tnelrs ofa moale s fOr
the
purpose
cf makrng a
phctograpn:
afd
Gregory Crc\,,,dsoir who !mp oys vrhat
antoLrnLs to a 1 m cTe!,r cast afd sa]lipt to
produce s1i I
photographs.
TyD ca
\,.
such
mag-os arc ilrg-a sca e alrd oxh ir tcd I
gi:r
-oli-os
th,o r
p
e:LSUres and []ean rgs
der v ng lror.r the r eqr voca statLrs
\r'/ tfr respeci to
ilholograLrir
Li tr!tlr
t1:
-J 11
l:n t. 11
Title: Untitled (Brief EncounteD
Irom the series 'Beneath the
Roses'. 2OO3-2O07
Photographer: Gregory Crewdson
Crewdson is a d rector of s ngle
frame Tfov es tfre pictures
are
storyboarded, ocal ons sec!red
ghting crews and aclors
emp oyed. Shoots rnay take ll
days Crewdson ev-on employs a
camera operator The images are
ed ted before being pLrb slred
as imiied ed t on pr nts
yrh
clr
may be up lo seven leet wide.
Titler Dead Troops Talk (a vision
after an ambush oI a Red Army
patrol, near llroqor, Af ghanistan,
winter 1986), 1992
Photographer: Jeff Wa I
Wa shot a ser es of tab eaux
!s ng actors n a studio before
assemb ng the fina image as a
dgta monlage Wal frequenlly
rnakes refereNce in h s mages
to the lr story ol art. Here the
macabre scene seerns lo draw
on a oombination of documenlary
phoLography wilh horror Tnov es.
The mage s exfr b ted as a huge
transpaaency na ghtbox
I
R-.preseftat on and rea ty Facts and fiction Case study Thomas Hoepker
Facts and fiction
:.1: b
,
G
1f,,6 .* ;
-r.-
"-:t
r-.
*.
'n;:-S
The manipulated image
The advent of d gital photography
has
rarsed awareness of the man
pulation
of magesi however, the
practice
of
maf ipu ation is as o d as the med um itself
It wou d not be unreasonable to argue
that man pulat
on s to some degree, an
unavoidab e part
of the
process
itself
lrom fram ng to cropping to select ve
focus, to ightenlng, darkening, saturating
colours, to pos ng re enacting
-
every
photograph
is a manipu at on of visua
material to produce
a
picture.
ndeed one
could reasonab y
ask: what would an
ent rely un-man pulated
mage ook lke?
85
Neverthe ess, t s
poss
ble to recogn ze thai
those e ements are understood and taken
on trust; of more conceTn is when mages
have been mod f ed del berately to m s ead
or misinform. Of course here too the context
is cruc a. The 'adjustment
of the relat onsh p
of the pyramlds
to f t more comfortably nto
t
^
g dot dp5 g^
ol d
-rdga,/ -^.
o e ^
of
^
".
v-
r
rrlle on
aoL6^ p
Tl-6 n
6
g
-rg
of two separate shots into an'mproved'
0ne represent ng moments in the theatre
of war is a together more sens tive.
-*-s
"
o.noo.r^ o^o-og.apr- o, B ar
Wa sk, one n which he comblned rwo
s mi ar images of what was actuai y
recorded by the cameTa nto one which
wh le making a more eftective compos t on,
shows a scene that cou/d have happened,
but was not actually w tnessed Because
such a
picture
ex sts to feed lnterpretation,
wh ch in turn informs beliefs w th
potentia
for pollttcal
consequences, thls
is a very serious matter indeed. Wa sk
was Sacked front his newspaper
3.I). -3 1)a
Title: Photographs of Voroshilov.
l\Iolotov and Slalin with.
and without, Nikolai Yezhov,
c.1937-194O
Photographer: Unknown
The manipulal on of ihe ower
mage rs a sinrster ref ecl on o{ the
polt
ca manipu ation of rea ty
Niko a Yezhov Comrn ssar of
WaterTransport fel from favour
and was shot n 1940. lf the
manrp!laied prcture
he s made
to d sappear from h story.
'
Represeniation and reaity Facts and fiction Case slLrdy Thomas Hoepker
i
The manipulated scene
A very dltferent example of manipu ation
of the scene rather than the image
-
was
uncharacteristlcally
deployed by Don
N,4cculljn in his 1968
photograph Body of a
North Welnan]ese soldier' Hue, Vielnam ln
af interview with Colin Jacobson, N'4cCullin
recalled; lhere was a kind af insanily in
the atr there had been day after day af
btoadleuing. / came across the body of a
youno \
ie,
aona <aloet
Some
,4rnpltcdn
so/drers were abusing him verbally and
stea/ing his things as souvenlrs /l upset
me
-
lf thls man was brave enough Ia fight
far the freedom ot' his cauxlry, he shou/d
have respect lpased him with his few
possesslons for a
purpase, far a reason'
ta make a stalemetl . Ifelt I had a kind of
puritanical abligatian lo
glve this dead man
a vaice.
ln the s ncere effort to make the most
effective
phoiograph
-
how far would
you go?
Al of life
presents ttself as an
lmmense
accurx!lation
of
spectacLes.
EverYthing that
was directly
lved has rnoved
away rnto a representaton'
Guy Debord, writer and theorist
113
Title: Death of a loyalist
militiaman, C6rdoba
front, Spain,1936
Photographer: Robert CaPa
Capa famous
y said, if yo!r piciL.lres
aren t good enough
YoLr're
nol
c ose enough'. Here we wiiness,
at cLose range the momeni of a
so diels death Picked
out bY a
sniper s b! let A andr.ark P
cture
n the hislory ol
photojournalsm,
ii has, nevertheless, been dogged
by susprc ons that t was staged
l.1l
Hyperreality
This chapter opened wilh the assurI]pt on
thal we know the differefce betweef llusion
artd realily and, of coursc. ln q,-nerat
lertns
we do. However, it has also been argued
here and n the prev
ous chapter. that
rea ily as exper enced in socia terms (w
th
respect to bel efs and
'norma
behav our,
afd the meanings we g ve to olrlects) s
doodL lof d g.agad
o.oga r
shoft represenlalions. Th s t is proposed
s a
perlect y natural staie of affa rs
However, it has lleen argued by lor example,
Guy Debord n lhe Soc/ety of the Spectac/e
(1967) that oLrr cu ture is so saturated by
images
- on televrsrof n advertrsing, and
now the nternet and that we are so
mmeTsed n consumeT sm that realty now
ex s1s pr mariy n terms of those mages and
the des res and re ationsh ps they s
gn fy.
87
These ldeas have been fu(her deve oped by
French phi
osopher Jean Bauclr lard (1929
200l), wlro is associatecl
w th the te |s
simLrJalio. and hvpetre.ttitv tr BrLrd Ia..:t.s
vjew, the signllters ol meanjng n our cu ture
are ncTeas ng y detached from a relerence
to physica
realty and fstead refer to other
slgnifiers n an end ess cha I of sign f cat on.
This dea s perhaps
most eas y underslood
n re ation to brand ng: a brand is mere y
a
name that s
gnif
es a set of assoc ations with
ce ellrity w th g
amour, w th siatus w th
images which in turn lend meantng ancl
va ue to a commod ty wh ch may otherw se
be ndist ngu shable ftom a ternat ve
products.
Thus, a set of meanings values
and even dent t es (see
Chapter 4) may
be constructed eniire y out of
jmages.
We
ale nvited to mode our'real'se ves upo|
Idg6 hd d6d - ltd
,t"
a
^
n the ha I ol m irors of postmodern
cu ture,
we exper ence, in Baudr lard's wotds the
oss of the real; images beget mages
realty is an efdless p
ay of s gfif ers.
:; 1J
Title: The corner shop,2011
Photographer Alex B and
B an.ls p ciLIe presenls an
ef.ha rted scene a \r,/e sto.ke.l
shotr has mag ca y mater a zed n
!/ood and The hype(ea
-.ffed
was
achi-.v-.d by pa nstak ngly mat.h fg
o.ations and i,oht fg afd ayer ng
nages Soth shop afd wood and
\|rere shot
jLrsl
afler s!nset
yr
th
the \)r'ood and.l-.arino caref!
\,'
t tc s rnllalE ihe effects of
!hL
spi rng ironr lhe shop w ndows
3.rr
Representalon alral rea it,l Facts and fiction Case stLraly lhomas Ho,.pk-.r
I
I
i:i:.33
Facts and fiction
'Real
lite': street
photography
Rea fe does, of course go of Real
lfe s on the streets that is where th ngs
happen. The h!rfan story s a soc al one
't
d l- o.
Pld
lJ b'i
P
b
spaces. From the start photographeis
were dra\/n lke magnets to the theatre
of the streei wh ch
provjdes
r ch
and nexhaustib e subleci rnalter.
And ndeed, the sublect matter can be
regarded as be ng L.rnlquely matched
to ihe rnedium. The appeal of streel
photography s that t gves us a direct
(and
somelimes amus rg or voyerr st c)
ins ght nto the rea ives ol rea people lts
cu[efcy s spontane ty afd authent c ty
But street
photography
a so
preclse y
exemp f es the ssues d scussed I thls
chapter For examp e, Robe( Do sneau's
'or0o
oogdp-o'd o pl-. igi ,
Paris street seems to capture
perfect y the
romarce and sponlare ty ol young
ove:
a couple ost n each otherand bl ssfLrly
unaware of
passers-by
ard the
photographel
who has snatched the monrent
Does t change the mpact ol the p
cture
to lea r that 1 s
posed?
lvlany have
been d sappo nted by lh s revelat of
for t seems to d m nish ts truthfu fess
Do sneau c airned to have w tnessed ihe
coup e embrac ng but was too difl dent
to phoiograph them direct y and so asked
them to repeat the r k ss for his camera.
The key ssue here is context and
purpose I the ntention s to represent
af dea
-
rl this case romafce
-
would
a su[ept]lioLrs and
possilr y techn ca ly
awkward shot be superior to a control ed
and composed
picture
oi a performance?
lf n captur ng an eveft, a momenl the
dea shot ls m ssed or ludged s there a
profi
em in re enaclmeft for the cameta?
Obvio!s
y. n nrany c rcrmstarces
th s v,/ou d be h
ghly
lnappropr ate
Street
photographers
have emp oyed both
opef and covert rnethods to captL[e the
realty oJ the street: some me I nto the
background
(lenr
Cart er Bresson) and
a^r
odrdt6
,.itL
a-t
subjects (D ane Arbus); some aggressive y
push
ihe r car.reras nto lhe faces of
strangers (Bruce Gi den) wh le some set
up cameTas and
ghts
and wait for peop
e
to enter the frame (Ph I p Lorca d Corc a).
be eve that street
photography
s
centra to the rssre of
photography
thal it s
prreV pholograph
c whereas
.he other
genres,
such as andscape
and
portrart piotography
are a ti c
i-nore app ed, more n'r xed I wlth the
ristory of
pa
rt rg and other art forr.rs'
Joel Meyerowitz, street photographer
Title: Woman wa k ng :
Avenue, New York. US
Photographer: E-- - .
G ld-. r s stree: :
..
s a!!lress !e a- l
Workr'! r:r': -
: :
,..,'trhsr!rr:'.:,
p LL!res fala:
'
fac!s Thc r-.:-:. , .
!o\",
er
j!
1,,'e,iii -:: :
rea st c. arn.l : . :
oi anE e ar!
.._
l
-I
89
Title:Woman walking on Filth
Avenue, New York, US,1992
Photographer: Eruce G den
Giden s sireet photography method
s aqqress \re and coftrovers a.
\,^/ork
nat ina.rowa he !,r
(Lrr|
ra th hls ca eraan.l fashLolake
pratLres nch-.s frol.] strangers
laces The res! ts are str k ng ariLl
Powerfu
y erpreSs ve at once
rca st., and p ain y the produ.t
aif ang e ensand
qhtnq
R.presentat on an.l reaty Factsandfiction Casestudy Thcnras l.ocLiker
.g0.:.:..:.Ca5estudi::Thotias.Hoepker1:i..:
Q_asc
stud:y
Thomas
(
Hoepker
ln choosing New York as their target, the perpetrators of the terrible events
of 11 September 2001 ensured that the appalling spectacle ot two airliners
crashing into the World Trade Center, and ihe ensuing carnage, achieved
unprecedented medla coverage. No other city n the world could have
guaranteed
the immedlate attention of more photographers and film crews.
There can be little
question
that the cumulative evidence of thousands of
photographs
taken on the day add up to a clear and tragic narrative of death
and destruction, and also of many acts of heroism. l\,4any photographs have
acquired iconic status, functioning both as dramatic documents of that
terrible event, and as
powerful
symbols of a community responding to attack.
What, however, are we to make of Thomas Hoepkeas photograph,
young
people
on the Brooklyn waterfront, September 11, 2001.
Before reading on, note down your
interpretation of the scene:
.
What is denoted in the picture?
State
precisely
what
information the
picture
iiterally presents.
.
What does the scene tells us about ihe people represented?
What do you think they make of the scene they are witnessing?
' Where and what, is the truth of this image?
The facts can be stated briefly: five people
are sitting in a sunny waterside
spot, with a view towards Manhattan lsland where lhe plume
of smoke
issuing from the World Trade Center ls clearly visible. This much can be
regarded as objective record. Hoepker's cameia has caught the appearance
of the scene truthfully.
The people
appear relaxed, which, given
the'context gives rise to an
uncomfortable possibility
-
are they insensitive to the tragedy unfolding
before them? As Hoepker, himself, put
it Haw could this
group
of coal
laoking young people
slt there so relaxed and seemingly untouched by the
mothet of all catastrophes unfolding in the background?
91
.,]
rr:l
,'i].r:r
ij;!
$ff
3.16
IlF
Titlei Young people on the
Brooklyn waterlront,
September 11,2001
Photographer: Thomas Hoepker
Blt for the thick p ume of smoke
n the background, and the
knowledge of what th s sign fies,
the scene appears, as Hoepker has
comnrented, almost idylLc One of
the recurrenl problems n read ng
photographs
s to square apparently
object ve vlsual evidence
w th sublective interpretat on
coloured by assumpiions and
retrospective knowledge
Facts and Frction
.
Case study: Thomas Hoepker
Hoepker rejected the image for
publication
in the immediate aftermath of the event,
because it was too
'ambiguous
and
confusing'. When the picture
did surface,
nearly five years aJterwards, it sparked a
debate about its interpretation. Hoepker has
described the making of the
picture:
as a
professional photographer,
he was trying to
make his way to the scene of devastation
and
glimpsed,
en rcule, an almost idyllic
scene ... f/owers, cypless trees, a group
af
young people
sitting in the bright sunshine
.. . while the dark, thick plume
of smoke was
rising in the background. lgot out of the car,
shot three frames of the seemingly peaceful
setting and drave an hastily. As will be the
case in much documentary photography,
he
djdn't speak to the subjecis; he didn't ask
about their response to the event and he
didn't ask permission
to
photograph
them.
The easy interpreiation of the group
as
relaxed and apparently uncaring was
forcefully challenged by Walter Sipser,
one of the group pictured.
He wrote:
A snapshot can make mourners attending
a funeral look like they're having a
party.
Thomas Hoepker taok a
photograph
of
my gilfriend
and me sitting and talking
with strangets against the backdrop ot
Lhe smoking ruin ol Lhe Warld kade
Center... We were in a
profound
state af
shock and dlsbe/lef, like evetyone else
we encountered that day...
[we
were] in
the middle ol an animated discussion
about what had
just
happened.
The reality of the momenl, truthfully recorded
in the phoiograph,
is that, vjsible smoke
and audible explosions (being indexical
signifiers denoting fire and destruction)
connoted a terrible accident or attack,
along with pain and suffering. However,
this reality amounts to a bewildering visual
phenomenon,
which is yet
too raw to be
furnished
with explalatior and meaning:
the witnesses of the event could no more
be expected to have a full understanding of
the reasons for what they are seeing or what
its consequences will be than Hoepket (or
the viewer of the
picture)
could know what
those witnesses were saying or thinking.
It was only in retrospect that a meaningful
account of the day could be
pieced
together from evidence, of which
Hoepkefs picture,
for all its amblgui'iy,
is one tiny, but valuable, piece.
Title: Wortd Trade Center
attacked, September 11, 2011
Photographeri
Spencer
platt
The day afler the attack on
The World Trade Center. New
York the world s media was
dominated by p
ctures lke
thisrthe scale and horror of
the event s straightforward y
represented yet
the visual image
is drsturbrnq
V rem niscent of a
scene from a disaster movie
Synopsis
This case study has used semiotics to
show how the,truthful,
representation
of a scene may, nevertheless,
be highly
ambiguous
and open to potentially
misleading
interpretation.
.
The truih and meaning of an evert
cannot necessari y
be grasped
s mp y
through the act of seeing t;
explafat ons come later.
-
The truth of a photograph
les if
show/ng what a scene lookeLl lke. at a
part
cu ar ntoment.
from a particular
p
ace, recorded by a part
CUIaT car|era
afd lers
.
The nteipretat
on of a photograph
(as
of the ev-.nt it represents)
s subjecl to
knowledge
and assumpt/ons
which
are externa to the image tself
311
milt
- Facts and Frction Case study: Thomas Hoepker