Comments on: Narrative and Meaning in Photography http://www.keptlight.com/2007/12/narrative-and-meaning-in-photography/ A. Cemal Ekin on Photography Sat, 04 Feb 2012 19:23:42 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: A. Cemal Ekinhttp://www.keptlight.com/2007/12/narrative-and-meaning-in-photography/comment-page-1/#comment-390 A. Cemal Ekin Tue, 10 May 2011 19:56:27 +0000 http://www.keptlight.com/blog/?p=46#comment-390 The "story" and "narrative" require more information than a single photograph can carry. We never know what happened the moment before or the moment after the photograph was taken, which may be a split-second. What you are referring to, I believe, is the viewers' imagination creating these missing moments and along with the illusion that the photograph has narrative. If this is the perspective you are looking from, then the narrative belongs to the viewer not to the photograph. Words, movies, are far more suitable for narrative than a single moment captured. The “story” and “narrative” require more information than a single photograph can carry. We never know what happened the moment before or the moment after the photograph was taken, which may be a split-second. What you are referring to, I believe, is the viewers’ imagination creating these missing moments and along with the illusion that the photograph has narrative. If this is the perspective you are looking from, then the narrative belongs to the viewer not to the photograph. Words, movies, are far more suitable for narrative than a single moment captured.

]]> By: ChrisWhitehttp://www.keptlight.com/2007/12/narrative-and-meaning-in-photography/comment-page-1/#comment-388 ChrisWhite Tue, 10 May 2011 17:22:48 +0000 http://www.keptlight.com/blog/?p=46#comment-388 But surely as an artist you have the ability to create and manipulate a perspective and with that comes narrative. Yes we adapt our own connotations to these photographs but the word "Ellipsis" means a break in the narrative leaving the audience to fill in the gaps themselves, this is widely used in media so if nothing else our pictures leave the audience to feel the gaps in the narrative, thus saying there is a narrative? But surely as an artist you have the ability to create and manipulate a perspective and with that comes narrative. Yes we adapt our own connotations to these photographs but the word “Ellipsis” means a break in the narrative leaving the audience to fill in the gaps themselves, this is widely used in media so if nothing else our pictures leave the audience to feel the gaps in the narrative, thus saying there is a narrative?

]]> By: A. Cemal Ekinhttp://www.keptlight.com/2007/12/narrative-and-meaning-in-photography/comment-page-1/#comment-272 A. Cemal Ekin Wed, 09 Feb 2011 14:18:57 +0000 http://www.keptlight.com/blog/?p=46#comment-272 Patty, it is not whether photoraphs have a story or not but whether they narrate a story. Meaning, it is in the mind of the viewer not in the message. Patty, it is not whether photoraphs have a story or not but whether they narrate a story. Meaning, it is in the mind of the viewer not in the message.

]]> By: patty georgehttp://www.keptlight.com/2007/12/narrative-and-meaning-in-photography/comment-page-1/#comment-271 patty george Wed, 09 Feb 2011 11:39:16 +0000 http://www.keptlight.com/blog/?p=46#comment-271 Every picture has a meaning and a story. Every picture has a meaning and a story.

]]> By: acekinhttp://www.keptlight.com/2007/12/narrative-and-meaning-in-photography/comment-page-1/#comment-9 acekin Thu, 22 May 2008 13:44:55 +0000 http://www.keptlight.com/blog/?p=46#comment-9 Artur, when you look at that photograph on the banner do you know how I took it, whether the boat was out of control, what happened the moment after I took that photograph, or who the person is driving the boat? These are just a few of the shortcomings of the "narrative" capability of this photograph, and perhaps many others. Attempts have been made, as you said with diptych, triptych, panels, story-boards, and so on, to use photography as a narrative medium. Consisting of extreme slices of life, even the time exposure or time lapse photograph included, there are far greater time gaps between each image than there are in each photographs. Film and written works are far better in the narrative mode than photography as they provide a temporal continuum and establish relationships.Meaning in photographs is a totally different story of course. As I said in my entry, narrative needs to belong to the photographer, the story teller, where the meaning belongs to the viewer, the interpreter of meanings. Artur, when you look at that photograph on the banner do you know how I took it, whether the boat was out of control, what happened the moment after I took that photograph, or who the person is driving the boat? These are just a few of the shortcomings of the “narrative” capability of this photograph, and perhaps many others. Attempts have been made, as you said with diptych, triptych, panels, story-boards, and so on, to use photography as a narrative medium. Consisting of extreme slices of life, even the time exposure or time lapse photograph included, there are far greater time gaps between each image than there are in each photographs. Film and written works are far better in the narrative mode than photography as they provide a temporal continuum and establish relationships.

Meaning in photographs is a totally different story of course. As I said in my entry, narrative needs to belong to the photographer, the story teller, where the meaning belongs to the viewer, the interpreter of meanings.

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