Can an image provide evidence of what was in front of the camera? Scholarly thinking is divided and the question hinges on how the researcher perceives the relationship between the image and how it 's portraying. The researchers position depends on how closely, if at all, the photographic image is considered to relate to the material and social world it seemingly depicts (Tinkler.P, p3). The question that must be asked is the photo a copy of the real world or is there a more complex relationship?
Although practitioners like myself, working the fields of photojournalism and photo-documentary livelihood hinges on the factuality of the photographic images. My training and experience …show more content…
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We often think of a photograph as a two-dimensional image. Scholars like #### #### argue that photos need to be conceptualised as material objects, three-dimensional objects. Photographs taken within the private setting often have intangible linkages like affection and memories associated with them.
Throughout the history of photography, images have been printed and used in various ways. They have been printed on postcards (1800) and exchanged, cherished in photo-albums (1950-90), placed prominently on a wall, and in recent times - on mobile phone covers, screen savers on computers, digital photo-frames and photo-books.
Once printed or viewed on a device, a photos construction is also shaped by the material qualities, how they are printed, framed and other choices you might make. Photographs in their materiality form have a value placed on them, Edwards and Hart (2004a) stress, understanding photos – what they mean, why they are or not significant or valued, how and why they are used – involves engaging with their material properties.
I have established Mongolian herders living a subsistent lifestyle have had limited exposure to photographs and other forms of visual