Thursday, April 10, 2014

Photography Changes Everything by Marvin Heiferman


   Marvin Heiferman explored the medium of photography’s active role in our lives and the world in his book “Photography Changes Everything.” He described photography as “notoriously difficult to assess” and asserted that it “resists being shaped by any set of single imperatives or standards.” Each person’s view on photography is different and each person shapes what photography is to fit his or her own views and is in turn shaped by photography.
   Society believes, according to Heiferman, that you need to see more to know more. This comes from the idea that you can see and experience the world through pictures. Billions of photos are at our disposal every day, piling visual knowledge on us. 1.3 billion new images span the world in seconds every day and one million of those photos are added to Facebook alone. People are defined and embodied by the photos they take, use, share, and respond to.
   With so many photos in circulation it is hard to say what constitutes a “good photo.” I agree with Heiferman’s belief that what constitutes “good photography” depends on who is talking. Just because a photo does not get framed does not mean it has no importance. The importance of a photo depends on the person’s relationship to the photo.
   The “digital revolution” occurred slowly as opposed to all at once, according to Heiferman. Technology went from digital cameras, to personal computers, to smart phones, which can share photos instantly. I personally probably take at least one photo a day on my smart phone, and that is not including photos on the app “Snapchat,” with which you can send a photo or video to someone that deletes itself automatically in a given amount of seconds. These photos are not framed and are rarely posted, but I often look back on them to remember certain moments, and if I lost them I would be devastated. Although they not pass for the textbook definition of “good photography” they are still relevant to photography because they are of importance to at least one person.
   The new relationship of the viewer to photography creates a contract between the image, the viewer, and reality. Heiferman states that we should spend less time focusing on what makes photos good and more time figuring out how they work.” Photos create an opportunity to explore the medium and its active role in our lives and world. Photography has no identity and keeps changing. Photography invites people to interact with it actively. It engages us “optically, neurologically, intellectually, emotionally, and physically. Photos are not passive but move us forward.
   According to Heiferman photography changes what we want, what we see, who we are, what we do, where we go, and what we remember. I found his description of how it changes who we are and where we go most interesting. Photography is a way of self-expression and is a depiction of how we represent ourselves. It has the power to shape stereotypes and change your perception of a person, place, or thing just through an image. Photography has also “taken” us many places we may not have the power to physically go in our lifetimes. Not only can it take us across oceans, but it can also take us inside bodies, to mars, the ocean floor, and black holes.
   The meaning of photography is ambiguous and varies from person to person. It has no singular meaning and “urges us not to just reminisce, but to act.” Photography changes itself as well. It evolves along with the individual’s perception of photograph and photographs and will continue to do so. 


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