Dave MaceyMA                     Photographer

John Berger argued that “All images, including photographs, involve a way of seeing by the person who has created the image.  Further when we look at someone else’s image, our understanding of it depends on our way of seeing.” Discuss.

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Everybody has a different interpretation to what they see and no two people see exactly the same thing the same way, but this is not because of a deficiency in either of the people but is a reflection on the diversity and flexibility of the use of a visual language.  Within this essay I will explore the complexity with which an image is viewed, how a photographer interprets what they see and how the viewer interprets that image.

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“Some aspects of reading meaning from photographs are blindingly obvious, others are much more subtle.” (Langford p3, 2008) This sentiment neatly summarises using a visual language, that an image can either be interpreted with a minimum of definition, being a literal presentation of what is in front of the lens, or the photograph could have more complex connotations with social, political or notions of humanity expressed within it.  However, with the use of the visual language there are two key perspectives, which are the intention or the motivation of the photographer and how the image was subsequently viewed.  As both parties are using a visual language there is some common understanding as to why a photograph is taken and the way a photograph is read.  To demonstrate this dynamic I shall concentrate on just one image which will be Migrant Mother by Dorothea Lange.

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Fig 1: Migrant Mother (1936)

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The importance of a photographer’s background cannot be overstated and this can be demonstrated by asking a simple question, would a different photographer have taken the same image?  As an example, would another great photographer who was renowned within a different genre, such as landscape photography, captured such a powerful image?  If Ansel Adams was behind the camera would we of got a different result?  Admittedly such a question does lead to the obvious answer that the result would be different but it demonstrates the importance of the photographer’s intent, understanding and their own personal history.

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Berger states “Photographs bear witness to a human choice being exercised in a given situation” (Berger, J. 2013 p18).  The photograph is one of a series of five images with Migrant Mother being the last one taken.  Consequently, we can conclude that when photographing the scene Lange was working through a process and this can be seen in the images, that in each subsequent exposure we see the viewpoint change, it moves closer and becomes more intimate with the subject.  There are also references within the photograph that relate to Lange’s experience as a photographer and as a person who has witnessed the suffering of the great depression.  Migrant Mother was carefully composed to highlight the emotional impact of the image and, again, this is achieved by decreasing the distance of the viewpoint and draws the attention to the woman’s expression.  These decisions were influenced by her previous experience working within a studio environment and the genre of social documentary and influenced her visual interpretation of a scene.  This was Lange’s way of seeing, how she interpreted the visual language and how she chose to “bear witness” to this particular scene.

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Berger goes on to claim that “A photograph is a result of the photographer’s decision that it is worth recording that this particular event or this particular object has been seen” (Berger, J. 2013 p18).  At the time of taking the image Lange was working with a cumbersome Graflex camera producing 4x5 negatives which would be mounted on a tripod.  By using this equipment the process of taking the photograph is slowed down and does not naturally lend itself to producing quick “snapshots” that are familiar with 35mm cameras.  Consequently the decision process is emphasised and to load the film, move the camera to change the viewpoint and then take another photograph is very time consuming.  This again emphasises the photographer’s decision, that Lange is reasserting her own visual interpretation onto the scene, and to quote the question above “involve a way of seeing by the person who has created the image.”

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So we can see that the photograph Migrant Mother was not an act of serendipity or a lucky chance.  Lange had been sent to photograph the migrant farm workers, had a background in social documentary and would naturally emphasise with the subject matter.  These factors all influenced the final image because they influenced the thought process which Lange used when taking the image and led to the final decision, which is taken by every photographer, “I have decided that seeing this is worth recording” (Berger, J. 2013 p18)

With taking the image Lange wanted to communicate a harsh reality and a gritty realism that sometimes accompanies social documentary.  She wanted to concentrate on the human element, to create an image that people would emphasise with, an image that is emotionally accessible and has a universal humanitarian understanding.  To be able to achieve this Lange relied on the body language of the woman, in particular the frown, the preoccupied stare and the hand on the side of the face.  By using these gestures, the viewer is able to relate to the woman and so then become involved with the photograph, they are an invitation into the woman’s world.  To put it another way, Lange used body language to transmit the function of the photograph, the message that it carries, even though body language is not an inherent language of photography, but an inherent language of human nature and is virtually universally understood, even though there can be cultural differences. 

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“This is one of the most famous of all photographs” (Jeffrey, I. 1997 p259) is an incredibly bold statement but is one the photograph justifies.  The image has become iconic of human hardship, suffering and despair and these are elements are transmitted to the viewer mainly by the woman’s expression and then her clothing.  Her expression, the gaze that seems preoccupied, the frowning forehead and the hand on the side of the face communicate the despair and worry and we as viewers can understand these signs, and because we are also capable of such emotions the viewer  emphasises with the subject.

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But how does a viewer arrive at the point where we are emphasising with the woman, what process does the viewer engage with that enables them to understand the image?  Initially the temptation is to state that a photograph depicts items which are in front of the camera, that it is a depiction of a physical reality and so we view images instinctively, as we view the world around us.

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However, evidence exists that this is not always true.  There are case studies of where people from remote communities who have never encountered photographs do not see an instantly recognisable depiction of the world.  As Allan Sekula points out “The anthropologist Melville Herskovits shows a bush woman a snapshot of her son.  She is unable to recognise any image until the details of the photograph are pointed out.” (Sekula, A. 1975)  So with this information it is possible to conclude that we do not view a photograph instinctively but our viewing and understanding are a learnt behaviour.

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This leads to the next question which is, why do we need to learn this behaviour, and the answer can seem somewhat obscure.  A photograph has often been described as capturing a moment in time, a snapshot of a specific event at a specific moment.  Berger agrees with this sentiment when he mentions that “A photograph, while recording what has been seen, always and by its nature, refers to what is not seen.  It isolates, preserves and presents a moment taken from a continuum.”  (Berger, J. 2013)  So the consequence of capturing the moment removes that moment from the other moments that relate to the photograph which then decontextualise the photograph.  The viewer is then left in the position where they are presented with lines of colour or shades of grey on a piece of paper which are incomprehensible, as in the case above.

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It is at this point that another action is performed by the viewer and is taken without the viewer being conscious of it, they enter into an implicit agreement with the image.  This implicit agreement forms the basis of communication as the viewer agrees to use a visual language so they can understand the image.  As Sekula states “When we speak of the necessary agreement between parties engaged in communicative activity, we ought to beware of the suggestion of a freely entered social contract.  This qualification is necessary because the discussion that follows engages the photograph as a token of exchange.” (Sekula, A. 1975, p453) Without this agreement the viewer would be stranded with just a piece of paper which has colour placed randomly upon it.

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So, as the viewer has agreed to use a visual language, they are now at the point where they can recontextualise the lines and colour which is before them and begin to comprehend what these shapes and different tones could mean.  It is at this point that the viewer begins to use their life experience and their own humanity to understand the image and it is because of this we can understand Dorothea Lange’s Migrant Mother photograph not only on a level of physical hardship but also the emotional suffering.  To draw on a quote from Berger “But photography has no language of its own.  One learns to read photographs as one learns to read footprints or cardiograms.  The language in which photography deals is the language of events.  All its references are external to itself.”  (Berger, J. P20 2013)  However it is at this point, when the viewer is recontextualising the image that the image becomes open to interpretation as the use of the visual language is highly subjective.

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By understanding this process we can see that viewing an image is not a passive experience.  As we do not instinctively understand an image and as the image initially has no context we enter into an agreement to use a visual language that gives the shapes and colours on the paper a context which then gives a definition.  Once the photograph has a definition it has a meaning and it is this meaning that is the function of the photograph.

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When Lange took the image of Migrant Mother it was to communicate the suffering and desperate situation of migrant farm workers.  She was not there by chance and had been commissioned to photograph migrant farm workers.  The only reason why Lange was photographing Migrant Mother was to convey a sense of human suffering which would produce and recreate the empathy that she felt with the subject.  This depended on using a visual language that would be understood by the viewer but to use the language so forcefully that there could be no misinterpretation and the function of the photograph could be universally understood.  Consequently Lange managed to capture a moment in time which has become iconic and truly deserves quote “This is one of the most famous of all photographs” (Jeffrey, I. 1997)

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Bibliography.

Langford, M. 2008 Langford’s Advanced Photography, Focal Press

Berger, J. 2013 Understanding a Photograph Penguin Books

Jeffrey, I. 1997 The Photo Book, Phaidon

Sekula, A. 1975 On the Invention of Photographic Meaning in Goldberg, V. 1988 Photography in Print University of New Mexico.

Fig . 1. Lange, D. 1936 Migrant Mother http://lcweb2.loc.gov/service/pnp/fsa/8b29000/8b29500/8b29516v.jpg Accessed 09 Jan 2014