The Duality Of The Photograph
Is a photograph documentation or art? Self-expression or communication? Reality or illusion? A photograph can be all of these and more; but, most certainly, it is not an ‘either-or’ dichotomy. You cannot have a left without a right, a valley without a mountain; all dualities and seeming dichotomies are part of a whole.In her book “On Photography”, Susan Sontag observed, “The history of photography is punctuated by a series of dualistic controversies.”
Today these controversies might include film and digital. Clearly, photography is not about what camera you use. Digital capture is, now, almost universally accepted; although, not without controversy. An especially persistent notion: digital photographers can and will cheat; although there is little agreement on what constitutes “cheating.”
Before digital imaging there existed a slides versus prints controversy. At its core, this controversy was over where and when the photographic process ended. For printers the creative process does not end with the click of the shutter as it typically does for slide photographers. Printers have long continued the photographic process in the darkroom. Today, that process more often than not continues in the digital darkroom and so does the controversy.
Leave a Reply