Photographs are as much an interpretation of the world as paintings and drawings are’ (Susan Sontag)

Justin Watson

In this essay, I will aim to discuss and analyse some of the key texts that deal with the subject of photography, and approach the issues raised by Susan Sontag in the above quotation.  My central reference will be the work of Roland Barthes, and specifically his essay ‘The Photographic Message’, and I will also use my own examples to address issues of how the photographic image can be read by the observer.

Firstly, Sontag’s use of the term ‘interpretation’ instantly brings to mind, for me, notions of control and manipulation, which are terms we might associate with art of drawing, especially modern examples.  I would not, however, describe my own holiday photographs in a similar way.  The reasons for this surround issues raised by Roland Barthes, in his work on photography, and I will discuss why it is an uneven analysis to compare fine art with my holidays ‘snaps’.

Certainly, it could be said that a photographic image records a moment, a fragment of time, possibly even ‘reality’.  Sontag writes

            ‘Through the camera people become customers or tourists of reality’

(Sontag 1978: 110)

Sontag writes this in a rather detrimental fashion, with the use of the words ‘tourists’ and ‘customers’, which to me hold connotations of secondary, or even an inferior experience, especially in this context.  However, this idea would fit in with the notion of ‘interpretation of the world’.  Experiencing a ‘recorded’ reality may well be inferior to the experience of reality itself, but this, but this ‘secondary’ experience can evoke a past experience or memory, and aid in our memory of the object or event.  Sontag, in her introduction to On Photography (1978), also remarks

            ‘To collect photographs is to collect the world’

(Sontag 1978: 3)

Photographs are a constant, and also a relatively new visual code, which is now one of the most present visual forms in many medias.  Its variety of uses, and the contexts within the photograph operates, enable us to, as Sontag suggests, collect the elements of our world within visual references.  This ‘world’ could manifest itself through newspaper photojournalism (the world as social construct), or simply our own ‘snaps’ (our personal, individual world).

Using Barthes essay ‘The Photographic Image’ as a model, we could say that this process is two-fold, and that the nature of the photograph gains relevance from it context. Barthes, in this essay, focuses on the roles of denotation and connotation within photography, and also the relationship between ‘text’ and ‘image’.

The denotative quality of the photograph is straightforward, in that what is denoted is represented, or portrayed as the ‘object’ of the photograph.  Barthes writes

‘What is the content of the photographic message?  What does the photograph transmit?  By definition, the scene itself, the literal reality’

(Barthes, from ‘A Barthes Reader’ 1980: 196)

Sontag supports the denotative quality of the photograph.

‘A photograph passes for incontrovertible proof that a given thing happened.  The picture may distort; but there is always a presumption that something exists, or did exist, which is like what’s in the picture’

(Sontag 1978: 5)

The photograph is a reporting of the object featured within the image, a representation of an object, at a particular time in a particular place.  The context of these variants is discussed in Barthes’ essay.

Connotation, within other ‘imitative arts’ (Barthes 1980: 197) can be drawn from ‘the manner in which the society to a certain extent communicates what it thinks of it’ (Barthes 1980: 197).  Barthes describes this as ‘the style of reproduction’ (Barthes 1980: 196), meaning that a certain degree of treatment has been made in the reproduction of the image, which is ‘a result of the action of the creator’ (Barthes 1980: 196).  The notion of style can be seen in any presentation of realism, or of an object from reality.  This is most easily seen in art, where the style of an artist, or indeed a movement, or possibly an era, dictates the manner of representation (to an extent), however ‘realistic’ the attempts may be.

The artist Eugene Delacroix (1798-1863), writing in his personal journal, opposed the idea of ‘realism’ in art, because he believed that the attempt at realism itself was futile.  Delacroix believed that any realistic art ‘from the hand of man’ would always be an inferior reproduction of reality when compared to ‘mere casts of nature’ (cited in Harrison, Wood and Gaiger, 1998).

‘…for can one conceive a case in which the mind would not guide the hand of the artist and will anyone believe it possible, likewise, that, despite all attempts to imitate, he will not tinge his singular work with the colour of his mind’

(Delacroix, in Harrison, Wood and Gaiger 1998: 363)

Harrison, Wood and Gaiger comment that Delacroix disliked photography for ‘its apparent exclusion of the work of imagination’ (Harrison, Wood and Gaiger 1998: 359).  Delacroix was concerned was Romanticism, and a fierce critic of Realism, especially where photography was used, although the photographs he enjoyed were those which were imperfect, thus leaving something to the imagination (Harrison, Wood and Gaiger 1998: 359).

Barthes makes a similar distinction between ‘imitative arts’ and photography, believing that photography has no second order message, but is ‘exclusively constituted and occupied by a denoted message’ (Barthes 1980: 197).

The emphasis of the photographic image’s first order message is purely denotative, and also indexical as well as iconic, according to Peirce (cited in Chandler, 2002: 163), ‘meaning that the signifiers did not simply ‘resemble’ their signifieds but were mechanical recordings and reproductions of them’ (Chandler 2002: 163).  Barthes also makes this point, in specific reference to the press photograph.

‘The photograph professing to be a mechanical analogue of reality, its first order message in some sort completely fills its substance and leaves no place for the development of a second-order message’

(Barthes 1980: 197)

Connotation, then, in photography, requires ‘the imposition of second meaning’ (Barthes 1980: 199) on the photographic image.  The image is ‘captured mechanically’, and does not involve ‘rule governed transformation as codes can’ (cited in Chandler, 2002: 163).  Barthes describes photography as ‘a message without a code’ (Barthes 1980: 199), onto which ‘a connotated (or coded) message developes’ (Barthes 1980: 199).

With this in mind, we are able to read photographs because of a series of processes by which the photographic image gains a connotated meaning.  The photograph only signifies because of a series of historical and social meanings present within society. The ‘reading’ is dependant upon these variants.

For example, Barthes believes the use of ‘objects’ can be a code which enables the observer to read a photograph.  He writes

‘Special importance must be accorded to what could be called the posing of objects, where the meaning comes from the objects photographed’ 

(Barthes 1980: 201)

Barthes refers to the ‘composition of objects’ (Barthes 1980: 202) within the frame, and the ability of these objects to signify.  He uses the simple example of the ‘bookcase=intellectual’ (Barthes 1980: 202).  This study of the composition of the frame refers to ‘mis-en-scéne’, of which the positioning of objects is one element (others including the lighting, focus and use of colour).  The use of mis-en-scéne now forms the basis for photographic advertisements (as an example of the use of mis-en-scéne), although adverts also contain other codes such as textual and social.

In Xanthakis’ History of Greek Photography: 1839-1960 (1988), Voula Papaioannou’s photo ‘Athens’ (see figure 1) is accompanied by the footnote ‘No further comment is necessary’.  Of course, the use of the text, and the statement that no comment is needed, is in fact a comment in itself, but we are able to understand what Xanthakis’ means because of our historical knowledge, and also because of the object (the human) and the objects surroundings.  It seems inhumane to discuss this particular image in terms of ‘object’, and context, but our external knowledge connotates, to me at least, thoughts of suffering of the innocent, and the brutality of humanity.  Our knowledge of war, and of other similar war images, help us to read the photograph, and draw connotations from it.

In terms of personal photography, even ‘holiday snaps’, the deconstruction of these photographic images proves difficult with Barthes’ model, mainly because Barthes concentrated his analysis on the work of press photography.

In the example of ‘holiday snaps’, (see figure 2), the code of the pose is used, as the figure poses for the camera, smiling and looking out onto a typical holiday view. The dressing of the object (i.e. The figures clothing) and the surroundings are also important, because they give us clues beyond what is actually denotated.

The figure is sun-tanned (in a very British way, i.e. not very much, but a little burnt), wearing summer clothes, in a hot climate, relaxing and posing for the camera in a very ‘knowing’ fashion.  Johnny, the figure, is aware of the holiday snap conventions, and mocks these conventions humorously.  The composition of objects forms a connotation, for me, of the classic British holiday, and the one week of the year that the average person gets to ‘escape’.  These notions of ‘classic British holiday’ and ‘escape’ bring their own connotations as well, whether they be positive or negative.

The deconstruction of the image can be confusing though, if these social and cultural conventions, which we are accustomed to, are not as explicit.  For example, Figure 3 shows a snow-covered street, at night, and it is not instantly obvious that this photograph is a holiday snap.  This is an example of where historical, cultural and social codes may not aid us in the reading of a photograph.

A street, at night, with snow on the ground is clearly denoted, but connotation is not straightforward in an image which does seem to represent a specific place, even ‘record’ the place at a specific time, but nothing more.  The photograph does, however, have very clear connotations for the creator, because the link between the reality experienced and the representation in the photograph.  For me, the creator, the denoted street gives connotations of a quiet, beautiful, very cold Krakow, Poland, where I spent many evening walking along these streets, through the snow.  The power of the image comes from the knowledge of the context, which I would not expect anybody else to be able to understand in the same way.

I do think, however, that style, or even a lack of what we could call ‘professional photographic style’, is a key code in deconstructing a photograph.  The style, or quality, of a photograph can help us to read the image.  For example, the poor technical quality of Figure 3 (e.g. bad framing) may well bring connotations of amateurism, or ‘tourist’, whilst a more professional photograph of the same construction would give an alternative meaning.

Figure 4 shows a typical rural landscape view, with green fields and blue sky.  It is a typical ‘nice view’ photograph, which could easily appear in a nature or tourism magazine, or on a postcard. The connotations of this photograph may well change with the accompanying information.  For example, if the text with this photograph read ‘Weekend breaks in the country - book now’ or ‘Foot and Mouth Grips Bare Countryside’.  The meaning, in this instance, lies in the relationship with the accompanying text.

Barthes makes the link between the image and the text, and writes of the relationship between the two.

‘Formerly, the image illustrated the text (made it clearer); today, the texts loads the image, burdening it with a culture, moral, an imagination’ 

(Barthes 1980: 205)

In the reporting of ‘news’, especially in print media, photography could be seen as supporting the story, or the text.  For example, if the news story was about Tony Blair’s visit to India, then a picture of Tony Blair in India might well appear in the newspaper along with the news story.  The choice of the photograph is important, and not a decision that is often made in direct relation to the story.  The photograph may show Mr Blair in a good light, smiling or just being nice, or it may show him tired and weary. 

These editorial decisions effect the connotations of the photograph, and also the relationship with the text.  Barthes argues that the text now ‘loads the image’ (Barthes 1980; 205), with the representative nature of the photographic image being consumed by the text surrounding it.  The text is, of course, subject to context, social, political, cultural and historical issues, as well as the ‘style’ of creator (which Barthes believes is not possible with photography).

Away from newspaper journalism, there is a trend towards, in my view, a degree of ‘text supporting the image’, where the validity of the photograph is explained and justified through the text.  This could be considered the case with celebrity gossip magazines, such as ‘Heat’ magazine and ‘The National Enquirer’.  A section of these magazines, and others very similar to them, involve the photographing of a celebrity, normally in a secretive manner when they are unaware that they are being watched.  

These magazines believe that the general public are keen to see their favourite soap stars being normal, so publish images of them doing these things (see Figure 5 and Figure 6).  We are able to read the images because of our cultural and social codes, we are, or may be, aware of who they are, and may be interested to find out things about them), but the reason for the image seems less certain.  The photographs could be seen as the lowest form of ‘news’, or even gossip (which isn’t really news at all).  In cases such as these, the photographs become more important than the text, and therefore the text merely excuses the existence of the photographs, or explains them.

Whereas Sontag, in the opening statement at least, attempts to show the relationship between photographs and paintings and drawings, others, such as Barthes and Delacroix, focus on the inherent differences, which they see between technical recording and artistic representation.  Barthes is primarily concerned with press photography, but it is still difficult to imagine the absence of style within photography.  The creator makes choices, just as a painter might, and ‘artistic’ photographs can now even be seen in photojournalism.

I believe that style, the use of style, and also the absence (which is in itself a style, certainly a modern aesthetic) are important in our reading of photographs, as well as the codes Barthes describes and the relationship with the text.  Photography is not reality, so cannot be anything but an interpretation, due to the influence, and choices made by, the creator.  Although photography is a technical process, the elements of choice and style within the medium lead to an interpretation of the world, as well as a representation.

14th January 2002

Featured Photographs

Figure 1: ‘Athens’, by Voula Papaioannou (1942).

Figure 2: ‘Johnny Beside the Sea in Zada’, by Helen Archer (2000).

Figure 3: ‘Untitled – Krakow’, by Justin Watson (2001)

Figure 4: ‘Cadair Idris from Castell-Y-Bere’, by Jeremy Moore (Wild Wales Postcards)

Figure 5: ‘Dido jogs on her birthday’.  Heat magazine, 12-18 January, 2002.

Figure 6: ‘Beppe finally gives his chin an airing’.  Heat magazine, 12-18 January, 2002.

References