How Do Read A Photograph?

The way we read a photograph can be problematic as it can present an ambiguous message which can conflict, question, present relationships between the observer and the image, as well as show contradictory meanings and representations. In basic terms the reading of a photograph can be rather intricate.

• Photographs achieve meaning: through presenting questions, 'photographic discourse'using it's own individual codes, grammar and syntax.
• Photographic discourse can usually be seen to overlap in many cultural and historical settings.

"'Photographic text' like any other, is the site of a complex intertextuality, an overlapping series of previous texts 'taken for granted' at a particular cultural and historical conjuncture"

• Photography is a complex structure, constructing meaning and reflecting that meaning as a stamp of authority and power.
• Photographic messages (by a system of signification) reflects codes,values and beliefs of culture as a whole:
• 1. PRODUCT OF THE PHOTOGRAPHER (photo representing their viewpoint)
• 2. MEANING EXISTS IN WIDER BODY OF REFERENCE (in culture, history and society)

'Identical Twins' Diane Arbus,(1967)

When applying the idea of meaning to a wider setting when analysing Diane Arbus's 'Identical Twins' it shows that looks can be deceptive. Despite photography having a passive way of mirroring life , it is never neutral. The symmetry of the photograph supports the title that they are identical. However the more we look, the more we try to pick out differences rather than admire similarities Small details come to light which give evidence that the twins aren't so symmetric in every way and this expands to a wider setting posing the question, is everything always as it seems?

Every photograph is surrounded by references linking to historical, aesthetic and cultural frames. However it is also  referenced by an entire set of relationships and meanings relating to the photographer themselves; their feelings and ideas they had at the point the photograph was taken are very much part of the image and meaning.

The best way to remember this is:

'The image is as much a reflection of the 'i' of the photographer as it is of the 'eye'of the camera.'

Roland Barthes

Roland Barthes suggested there is a distinction between the relative meaning of different elements within a frame:

1) DENOTIVE = the literal detail, meaning and significance at first glance, the first level of reading into a photograph.

2) CONOTATIVE = 2nd meanings, for example signs which are reflections of gestures, expressions and attitudes which are considered norms in various societies.

In Roland Barthes book 'Camera Lucida' he develops the concept of studium and punctum:

• STUDIUM = indicating the cultural, political and linguistic interpretations of photographs.
• PUNCTUM = indicating wounding, and directly effecting and touching detail which establishes a relationship between the observer and the image within the photograph.

'A Family on Their Lawn One Sunday in Westchester, New York' Arbus(1969)

If we apply Barthes' thinking to Diane Arbus's 'A Family on Their Lawn One Sunday in Westchester, New York',we see that the Denotative meaning is a family resting in their garden what we gather to be on a sunny Sunday afternoon. On the other hand when looking at the conotative meaning of the piece says a lot more. The garden is big and in a place in New York they clearly must be well-off. The table between what we assume to be the husband and wife separates them and judging by the man despaired gesture this could suggest a marital break up. The women has a stronger more dominant pose so she may be the one inflicting this. The child in the background meanwhile gives the idea of isolation as he is playing alone with little involvement from his parents. It's odd how stark the garden is in a busy bustling place like New York, and this strengthens the feeling of loneliness that is felt within the family and the relationship which is deteriorating. Being a black and white photograph the atmosphere of the dreary and eroding is prominent on what should be a sunny and happy day, as indicated by the title.

Lee Friedlander and reading photographs

('Route 9W New York', 1969)

In full, many contemporary photographers have questioned the idea of single representation, Lee Friedlander's photographs in particular are difficult to read. they do not draw the observer in to an assumed world but they do not mirror a world which confirms our own ideas of semiotics. His photographs work through paradox to break up the images surface creating new relationships difficult to read, ambiguous and questionnable