So what is the magic of photography and what of the magic in the first image I saw?
Perhaps not the first image, but the first I can remember was from a
family album. Simple remembrance of past
experience that binds us together, there is something sacred in there. And the simple seeing of a likeness of me –
“So that is what I look like.”
It was only at second glance that this image
made it into my selection. It speaks of
connections and the amazing power photography has over us all. On one level our entire experience of the
world has been transformed by the existence of photography – we can understand
pretty much anything by looking at a photo and before photography our experience
of the world was limited to the things we could experience first hand.
Photography may bring us secondhand
information but it is the only art form that has the potential to reveal things
that can be accepted as fact. Sure there
are many other art forms but nothing has the ability to capture reality like a
photograph, it makes photography unique and it is deeply ironic that so many
images are edited to look like art, they trade in the most potent aspect of the
original image.
The first professional photos that caught my
attention captured a harsh reality. They
were in a series by FSA (Farm Security Administration) photographers sent out
to capture the plight of those struggling through the dust bowl of the 1930’s. Photographers like Walker Evans and Dorothea
Lange captured the heart and soul of people who did not know if they were going
to survive. The photos said it all. They captured an emotion that cut to the core
and moved people to action. No need for
words.
And as for this image? It is simple – it captures the magic of
seeing a likeness. It is the same
likeness that binds us all together.
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