On Photographic Theory - Introduction

Chapter 0

The impact that photography has made in the past one hundred years is both simultaneously undeniable and fascinating. Photography is such a young art form that it is often still taught at technical schools and not at art schools, because of its origins and focus on chemistry and physics. The origins of photography also rest in a multi-centuries long lineage of painting and depicting space that has been in existence since even before Neolithic times. Humanity is constantly enamored and interested in exploring the visual spaces of our world. With origins in painting, Renaissance art, sculpture and the physical and metaphysical idea of the camera obscura, photography itself has a short history, based in the history on humanity itself. As photography has moved into the digital age, a new series of challenges, both technological and philosophical have been put on display. Yet one of the most critical uses of photography, that of its use in combat, conflict, and other forms of disturbance, has not been critically assessed as much as it should be. We are in an era of disinformation, artificial intelligence, and other imagery related issues that were unimaginable concepts merely a decade ago. But it in this exploration of photography in conflict, that we find that the issue is not perhaps necessarily how the image is received by the individual per se, but rather how we decide the image should be used and acknowledged.

In this thesis, I will focus on many major questions and issues of photographic theory. We must explore how these theories can be used to analyze combat and conflict imagery, and how the multiple actors of photography can create a plethora of outcomes that are perhaps impossible to control or contain. Everything from who and how the photo was taken, to how it was published and in what context, will all be evaluated to try to decide what sort of impact these photos have on everyday people. It is also important to study the context and situation that photographs find themselves in, and of what they record and represent. Without context it can be exceedingly difficult to understand imagery, especially of that in a conflict setting, where there are many dynamic factors to take into consideration. The questions that lie here are rather theoretical. There will not be a concrete answer as to how X may affect Y, but rather a series of methods and theories that can all be implemented into structures within security and media that can help us to identify outcomes of how a photograph could potentially be received. Overall, we are primarily exploring how do photographs and photographers react to the conflict or situation in which they are photographing, and how can a photograph change the public perception of such a conflict. We will also ask how do photographs themselves respond to the conflict at hand, and how can the subject they visualize be used, changed, or manipulated as

well. The main aim of the thesis is not only to see how photographs affect our perception of a conflict or situation, but also how they can affect our everyday lives, our memory of an event, and the history of past conflicts.

I will utilize a few core theories derived from a few core texts in a multidisciplinary manner to break down and attempt to understand how photographs and their associated signs and symbols may affect the public perception of a particular event, especially those related to conflicts worldwide. We will begin by speaking about the multiple theories that I will be using to give structure to our analysis. Firstly, it is essential to break down the core understanding of image and its genealogy developed in the 1980’s by W.J.T. Mitchell. This perceived genealogy and even its arbitrary features are overwhelmingly important to understanding the downstream issues that readers and spectators may have when evaluating an image. Aside from an introduction to Mitchell’s theories, I will primarily be using the photographic theory developed by Roland Barthes to understand the core relationship of photograph to understanding, especially those relating to studium, punctum, and historical meanings. History and banality are tied together in creating an idea of a photograph and these evaluations must be taken into serious consideration when evaluating images and how they affect people, even on a personal level. Secondly, will be the evaluation of such images through the lens of camp, the aesthetic theory developed by Susan Sontag in her series of essays to evaluate ideas of bad taste, banality, and ideas of queerness. Since camp is subject to the wider breadth of semiotic theory, one can even evaluate part of a conflict through the lens of camp and evaluate the aesthetics of conflict. This camp-based evaluation is increasingly important, especially in a world in which time and distances are becoming shorter and shorter due to modern methods of travel and communication. Thirdly, we will analyze a variety of photographs from conflict settings in order to understand how individual images can function in a conflict setting. Lastly, I will be including a brief case study of how imagery was used by both the media and military in the Iraq War and during its aftermath with the ISIS invasion of Iraq.

Of the core theories that we’ll be using for the methodology in this thesis, Barthes photographic theories is the paramount set of ideas that we’ll be utilizing. Barthes speaks about the role of the photographer, subject, and the viewer, and how their interpretations of the photograph hinge on multiple ideas from studium, punctum, banality, history, and overall interpretation of a photograph. Barthes helps us especially to understand how an image has a history and how there can be many meanings within the history of such an image. His ideas of studium and punctum help us to establish the overall feeling of an image, and to be able to break down the effective parts of it. Sontag’s idea of camp is important not only because of its relevance in the field of semiotics and popular art, but also because of the many ties that camp has to Barthes ideas of photography. Once again, history and banality, which are major mechanisms in camp, become important tools that we will use to analyze photographs and to help make assumptions about them. It is also important because camp can help us to evaluate how the public reacts to an image, and how it an image lives on in the long term. As such, this thesis relies almost solely on qualitative methods of analysis, as quantitative methods have very applications in the exercise of aesthetic analysis. These two sets of theories are the most important factors that we will be looking over.

It is imperative that we as the consumer of images on a daily basis conduct the exercise later in this thesis in which we analyze conflict photographs, in order to attune our understanding of how a photograph of any given situation can change our feelings, thoughts or interpretations of an event or situation. This is especially important in a conflict motivated setting as conflict situations are highly fluid. It will help us to further understand not only the motivations of the photograph, but how the situation can change or bend the photograph against its will. It will also help us to understand that such as ideas as “objective analysis” and any sort of analysis without previous context are not only potentially dangerous to the viewer of the photograph, but also play a major role in creating a photograph that does not live up to its original intentions. This sort of analysis will help us to discern photographs in many situations, especially in more modern situations such as disinformation and so-called fake news. As the majority of humanity takes visual understanding for granted, it is important to analyze the photographs in thesis in order to understand how we see and visualize information, and especially highly sensitive or disturbing information that may be relayed in conflict scenarios.