Writer: Ioanna Balafa
The
word photography comes from the combination
of the two Greek words light
and writing referred to the creation of visual images through the “imprinting” of light. From the early photographic methods (camera
obscura) to chemical photography, the daguerreotype,
the relationship of positive and negative photography and contemporary digital photographic programs besides artistic
expression akin to painting, photographic art
works as a direct
way for us to reach global news through the
power of the image.
Photography serves the art and the news media through the fields of photojournalism as an integral part of journalism, advertising photography, architecture photography and street art as a visual documentary.
The relationship of social photography and objectivity has emerged since the appearance of the first illustrated journalistic magazines as a revolution of journalism and the different viewing of the world and society by changing perceptions and stereotypes, affecting entrenched political systems and trying to highlight the values of humanism. Photography captured the emancipation of the masses, the social, political and human rights conquer by opening new forms of perception and understanding of the world through photos taken in the most isolated parts of the globe.
Through the realistic reproduction and depiction of wars, power malpractice, civil conflicts and natural disasters as photographic documentations unchanged over the years, raises questions in the most direct way, “carrying” most of the times the chaos and "hell" that are reflected by discrimination and wars between races, religions and ideologies, often by cases of photojournalist who gave their lives for that visual report and by so many others who acquired serious injuries and disabilities.
At the same time, photography is covered by ethical rules and legal restrictions about the depicted brutality of the images or about documented cases of published photos of dead persons without the consent of their families. Everything of course depends on our personal perception and interpretation of events and images. How much violence is allowed to be published and in which cases it can work in reverse, as a mean of manipulation especially through the convenience of digital photography which made even more complex the photographic moral dimension.
Photography is also one of the most expensive form of art as regards the technical part and the often astronomic prices in showrooms and galleries, and is inseparably tied with the world's major museums. It also highlights problems of social groups and minorities, as a part of art therapy which act supportively to verbal communication using the lens and the camera as a link to a personal change and improvement.
In all cases, when we look at a photo we create specific concepts and ideas or we reinforce the existing ones by decoding our inner reality, while creating different reactions to subjective and objective external reality. And why not, we create the world from the start, through the lightning fast journey of digital images. Visual perception comes anyway long before words. Choosing to look is a fundamental act which defines our relationship with the surrounding world in order for the dialogue needed to follow about global social problems.
Photography serves the art and the news media through the fields of photojournalism as an integral part of journalism, advertising photography, architecture photography and street art as a visual documentary.
The relationship of social photography and objectivity has emerged since the appearance of the first illustrated journalistic magazines as a revolution of journalism and the different viewing of the world and society by changing perceptions and stereotypes, affecting entrenched political systems and trying to highlight the values of humanism. Photography captured the emancipation of the masses, the social, political and human rights conquer by opening new forms of perception and understanding of the world through photos taken in the most isolated parts of the globe.
Through the realistic reproduction and depiction of wars, power malpractice, civil conflicts and natural disasters as photographic documentations unchanged over the years, raises questions in the most direct way, “carrying” most of the times the chaos and "hell" that are reflected by discrimination and wars between races, religions and ideologies, often by cases of photojournalist who gave their lives for that visual report and by so many others who acquired serious injuries and disabilities.
At the same time, photography is covered by ethical rules and legal restrictions about the depicted brutality of the images or about documented cases of published photos of dead persons without the consent of their families. Everything of course depends on our personal perception and interpretation of events and images. How much violence is allowed to be published and in which cases it can work in reverse, as a mean of manipulation especially through the convenience of digital photography which made even more complex the photographic moral dimension.
Photography is also one of the most expensive form of art as regards the technical part and the often astronomic prices in showrooms and galleries, and is inseparably tied with the world's major museums. It also highlights problems of social groups and minorities, as a part of art therapy which act supportively to verbal communication using the lens and the camera as a link to a personal change and improvement.
In all cases, when we look at a photo we create specific concepts and ideas or we reinforce the existing ones by decoding our inner reality, while creating different reactions to subjective and objective external reality. And why not, we create the world from the start, through the lightning fast journey of digital images. Visual perception comes anyway long before words. Choosing to look is a fundamental act which defines our relationship with the surrounding world in order for the dialogue needed to follow about global social problems.
(published on www.protagon.gr & iwww.ndependent.gr)
