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The Photographic Experience
Introduction |
Because photography is such an accessible medium for communication and expression, it has become a part of nearly every aspect of our lives. Images serve as a code that everyone can read. Like music, photography has often been called a universal language, and it has the power to reverberate throughout our visceral, emotional and intellectual lives.
With such a widespread effect and its inherent power to persuade, photography has come to serve many masters. It is intertwined throughout every cord of our inner and social being. Images work on many levels, and create associations on both conscious and subconscious planes. When we are exposed to, for example, commercial photography or skillful propaganda, we may "see" one image, but actually may be "reading" the image in many different ways. When we look at an old family album, we are looking at a record of past generations, but we also may begin to recognize something of ourselves, and later, of our own children, in the people whose faces look back at us from a picture snapped fifty years ago. 
And, when we use the photographic medium to capture a moment that touches us deeply, we may in fact be reaching out to create a bond between the world and ourselves.
Although these levels of association and empathy may serve to blur the distinctions between different purposes and uses of photography, there are some recognizable categories in which we can consider the photographic image and the motives of people who make those images. Understanding these uses may lead some to pursue a certain aspect of photography, or even a career track in the craft. It also begins to set up an appreciation of what photography can offer and the real power of this medium to communicate in many ways and on many levels. 
Photography also gives us a way to appreciate light, shadow, and form, and to open perceptions previously hidden or dormant within ourselves. The discipline of the craft works in alchemical fashion to open doors to seeing; its power to communicate, in both narrative and non-verbal ways, gives us a tool that can be used in both practical and even spiritual matters. Exploring each of the aspects of the craft then becomes a way to explore various parts of ourselves.
In this series of essays, we begin to explore some of the many ways that photography can be used in our professional, personal and social being. |
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