1. “Descriptive information includes statements about the photographer’s subject matter, medium, and form, and then more generally, about the photographer's casual environment, including information about the photographer who made it, the times during which it was made, and the social milieu from which it emerged.”
2. He further defines and explains what subject matter (pg 21-26), medium (pg 29-31), and form (pg 26-29) is. Also, Barrett explains how there are many more components which go into a photograph that build the environment. He goes into depth of how a message and social context (pg 34-35) can be interpreted within photographs internally as well as externally (pg 33-34).
3a. Description is the logical way of examining the photographs based off of what it displays by simply observing and stating facts not opinions or interpretations.
3b. Subject is the interpretation of what the photographer's message or intention they are trying to portray. The subject matter is the physical object or thing within the photograph that helps convey the meaning of the photograph.
3c. Form is the content which builds the photographs structure such as: dots, lines, shape, light, color, texture, mass, space, and volume.
3d. Medium is how the objects or things within the photographs came to be. It can be simply a colored digital photograph or if the photographer altered the environment that would also be considered the medium.
3e. Style is how the photographer chooses to use all of the above elements in order to personalize and create their artistic vision and recognizable quality.
4a. Comparing and contrasting is taking a piece of work and finding similar qualities and differences with all types of work which could include the photographer’s own work or others.
4b. Internal sources of information is what the view can decipher in the photograph based off of what they see. External sources of information is when a viewer uses outside research to learn more about a particular piece they cannot retrieve from just looking at the photograph.
5a. Barrett believes that description and interpretation are related and constantly working in a balance with each other. In order to describe something one must interpret the content in the photograph to create understanding of what it is. When one interprets a photograph that have to have some understanding of the descriptive content in the photograph.
5b. Description and interpretation work in a circular context constantly in relation to one another. One must understand the content in order to construct an interpretation.
6a. I think the author was also trying to make the point that photography is a subjective art that can be artistically interpreted in many ways but there are fundamental components which are facts was derive from the photographs that all people can agree on. Barrett is making the point that there is a lot of other obstacles and other factors that are in play when creating a photograph which is not possible to have knowledge of my viewing the piece of work.
6b. I learned it is difficult to simply describe an image soley without using other techniques such as interpretation. I also learned that the subject and subject matter are related but completely different ideas. Subject is what the piece is trying to portray to an audience. The subject matter is the material within the photograph that helps translate the subject.
6c. The author concludes explains the importance of description to readers. He cites that photographs should not be looked at are real life or real events rathers as a picture construct. Photographs have values such as lines, form, subject, etc. and it should be looked at as such.
6d. I think this reading definitely informative and gave me a vocabulary which enables me to speak about photography from a more educated viewpoint. Also, it made me think of photography in a different way artistically. I understand that dance can be interpreted and critiqued in many different ways based off of a set of values and photography is no different.
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