Posted Tuesday, September 25, 2018
Reaction to Robert Hirsch, Chapter 2 of Light and Lens:
Photography in the Digital Age.
Robert Hirsch posits that
photographs are a means of communications and as such can be useful or not
depending on the visual literacy and experience of both the photographer and
the viewer of the photographs they create.
He makes the point that a good photograph is well thought-out ahead of
time in terms of how the different elements (shape, color, balance, symbolism,
etc.) will create an image that contains the intended meaning. He also points out that both the photographer
and the viewer must share a common set of cultural experiences, symbols, and
influences if the message created by the photographer is the same as the message
received by the viewer. Hirsch also
points out that this potential difference between what is sent and what is
received is today additionally complicated by the multitude of digital channels
and modes that are available world-wide. Or not.
Hirsch makes three statements in
this chapter that to me, at least, are worth remembering. One states that image
making is 10% what we encounter and 90% how we respond. The second is the
principle of subtractive composition which states that the camera will record
everything that reflects light, creating visual chaos. The photographer needs to control what is
included and what is excluded. How this happens is planning and experience.
Third, and perhaps most meaningful in the digital media age, is the
consideration of the woefully short attention span of the modern viewer and the
need for any message, however presented, to capture and keep the viewers focus.
