How do we see what we see? and why? This is not only a question pertaining only to personal bias and past experience in response to an image in front of us, but also about how the artist's chose to portray an image through devices within their control. Buckminster Fuller said, "Seeing-is-believing is a blind spot in man's vision." I couldn't agree more. Photography has a controversial history when it comes to be recognized as a fine art rather than just a documentary medium. Back in the day Steiglitz lead a fine art revolution of sorts, he was determined that photography should be recognized as High Art. This would require people to acknowledge that photography isn't simply documentary but that the image is a direct result of decisions made by the artist. This is not so much a problem anymore, photography has been acknowledged in the more recent years as a high art within the visual canon. It is not so much about the dispute of whether or not it is a fine art but how best to accomplish an image that is considered fine art. All most go into the thinking process of a photograph, and sometimes that process might have to be changed to read an image correctly.
After all when asked "what is this?" when presenting an image of a chair most people respond "a chair"...but it isn't a chair, the image is only a two dimensional representation of a chair. A picture of a chair, not a chair. This may seem obvious but it is important to note. For a photograph always has a point of view, a direction or angle, a film speed/ISO, shutter speed, depth of field, etc. And to ignore all of these conscious decisions of a photographer is blindness, to see without thinking about how the nature of that photograph came to be. Much is manipulated and controlled in what appears to be the most "straight forward" photograph. Photographs carry a certain amount of weight in the viewer's eyes. A photograph is a representation of something in the real world. Whether the subject matter is acted out or uncontrolled there is a certain sense of reality that is undeniable in a photograph. This is a parallel aware between all modes of photography.
Every mode of the photography has controlled aspects, the differences only by the nature of what is in front of the camera. There are three main modes; representational, responsive and directorial. Documentary, pure, straightforward are all deceptive words when describing a mode of photography. As much as one may think that an image of an event is unbiased since the photographer just stood there and took photographs of what is taking place, with no interference, there will always be a bias and a certain perspective. The photographer will consistently wait for the right moment to take a shot while trying to find the best angle to capture a compositionally strong image, and along with other mechanical choices in camera, and during process and printing of an image there are many choices to be made. All of these choices effect the outcome of a singular image, so even though there is a certain amount of spontaneity happening in front of the camera there is an overwhelmingly amount of control going on in and behind the camera. Responsive mode is a hybrid mode. This mode is based on a personal understanding and feeling that translates from photographer to image. There maybe a strong connection between the photographer and what they are shooting that is translated through the photograph. It is apparent in images of a photographer's home and loved ones, and of personal struggles that they themselves maybe going through. These images are a responsive type of photographing, interacting with subject and feeling. These photographs are controlled somewhat by subject matter and the response of the artist and therefore point of view becomes more of a focus. The last mode is directorial mode, this the mode of fabrication. The photographer takes a stronger hand of control with these images, not only are the mechanics of the camera, film/digital processing, printing and point of view controlled but also some or all that happens in front of the camera. Creating an image is apparent throughout the entire process. The artist may interact and direct what is going on with the subjects, choose to create the set in which the subject shall take place, makeup, costumes, lighting etc. all become factors of creating the image. The directorial mode is a very involved process. So what is the best mode for expressing one's creative outlet? It would seem that is another choice to be made.
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