[EviLToYLeT]

I've been struggling a bit with an essay that I have to write in literature...
basically, trying to figure out what ways there are to read photographs, and i guess what I need is your opinion on how you read photographs.

To provide you maybe a vantage point for starting --

I think of photographs as an expression of the photographer, that he wishes to show the world what he thinks and evoke specific emotions from his piece. However, because each individual is different, the emotions, words, and themes that he tries to convey may be specific to him only. That's why I suggest that we don't read into the background information -- who took it, why he took it, when he took it, because we would be learning about the photographer, not ourselves.

Photographs are supposed to evoke emotion within a person without any prior information. ... mmm and some other stuff that I hvae written down.

Anyone want to tackle this from an artistic standpoint, ora documentation of a point in time in history?

I'm hoping that not only pro photographers respond...
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AIM: EviLToYLeT

[Atherium]

Hey evil, one of the best ways you can learn this skill is prely through exposure to the medium.

Go to your local library and check out Jeff Wall. You can thank me after

[Ian Jones]

I geuss you could define photographs into some different categories.

Like

Portraits
Action (recording a movement, emphasising movement by freezing it at a critical point in its action)
Documentary (documenting a series of events, or recording what you saw one day)
Historical (something you want to remember, something that needs to be 'frozen' in time because it will soon be gone without a trace and therefore needs photographing)

I dunno... just some ideas.

[EviLToYLeT]

thanks for the replies guys... any more opinions? *looks at lunatuque, beth, among others*
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AIM: EviLToYLeT

[Lunatique]

As most of you know, I take tons of photographs.

My thoughts:

I try to capture a moment that could be lost forever. A glance, a gesture, a mood..etc, sometimes only happens once and could never be repeated to the same effect. I do my best to bring forth a series of these and then capture them--freezing them in time.

I also sometimes try to project my ideal onto the subject. A girl might not be very attractive in her looks or aura--until I confine her with the frame of my lens, discarting what I find undesirable, and directing her to become what she could never be on her own. People always commented on how beautiful my models are, when in fact, many of them you wouldn't look at twice if you saw them on the street. I don't pile on makeup or use elaborate lighting. It's all in the body language and the eyes.

But of course, when you have a beautiful model who is not only photogenic, but also has a wonderful sense of how to project that ideal for the camera, you already won half the battle.

[Ragnarok]