1st sub page of my "personal investigation part two"
What does Semiotics have to do with Photography?
Semiotics, the study of symbols and signs related to photography, or more precisely the way we look at images. We know images are split into two ways of viewing, the obvious; what we can see in the actual picture and the not so obvious; what we can infer from what we already know about the image. This can be split into two words, the denotative and the connotative meaning in a picture. This is where semiotics comes in, to find out the denotation of an image is the simple part in that we simply have to look at the image and say exactly what is there however to find the connotation, we must look at what the denotation may symbolise and only then are we able to find what the purpose of a photograph.
Garry Winogrand:
|
Winogrand is the type of photographer that knows that when taking a photograph it is reliant on only two things, the camera and the subject or the world around the photographer. This idea made me question my own way of photography. "[photography] is to find a way to transform the real world into something different" From this we can understand his way of thinking, that we should take photographs by not taking photographs that we a comfortable in taking as it doesn't let us learn new things about the world and as such we are unable represent the world. Therefore, by taking photographs in uncomfortable places we are creating something new.
|
Connotation and denotation of other peoples images:
Garry Winogrand - Central Park Zoo, 1967
|
Denotation:
- A couple with 2 chimps - A black man and a white women - The chimps are in children clothing - There is a crowd behind them - They're in an urban area - They're dressed in good quality clothing Connotation: - It appears as though this has something to do with being parental by the way they are holding the chimps close to them - We can see the photographers shadow in the photo meaning that he was close up to them and therefore they should be aware of the photographers presence - Because of the bizarreness of the picture: the way they are dressed, the fact they're holding chimps as if they were children, that they know the photographer is taking a picture of them, it all suggests that they are there perhaps to model or to make a statement - There is a child which due to the flatness found in photographs, appear to be looking up at this couple as if they were to idolise them, therefore we may interpret this image as modern viewers as coming to respect multi - racial relationships along side single ones. |
William Klein - Little Italy, 1955
Denotation:
- Three children and a woman
- The woman is holding a gun towards the boys head
- All three children we can see are smiling
- The boy with the gun to his head is also smiling
- The woman and the boy are holding hands
- The young people are dressed in dirty clothing
Connotation:
- The dirty clothing shows that they have been playing in the streets for quite sometime now
- The boy holding hands with the woman holding the gun to his head suggests that they must have some attachment or connection
- The fact that there is a gun to the boy's head suggests that there is a threat, however, believing there is a threat in the photo is wrong. The reason this is true is the fact that no one in the image looks concerned, they are all smiling, also these people are on a busy appearing street - therefore there is no danger because no one is rushing towards them.
- Conclusion: The gun is a toy model, they are just having some fun outside, looks like it could possibly be a family
- Three children and a woman
- The woman is holding a gun towards the boys head
- All three children we can see are smiling
- The boy with the gun to his head is also smiling
- The woman and the boy are holding hands
- The young people are dressed in dirty clothing
Connotation:
- The dirty clothing shows that they have been playing in the streets for quite sometime now
- The boy holding hands with the woman holding the gun to his head suggests that they must have some attachment or connection
- The fact that there is a gun to the boy's head suggests that there is a threat, however, believing there is a threat in the photo is wrong. The reason this is true is the fact that no one in the image looks concerned, they are all smiling, also these people are on a busy appearing street - therefore there is no danger because no one is rushing towards them.
- Conclusion: The gun is a toy model, they are just having some fun outside, looks like it could possibly be a family
What else is there in an image (Studium and Punctum):
To figure this out we can split it down into two ideas as described by the studium and the punctum. These two words come from "Roland Barthes' camera Lucida" written in 1980 on an occasion after his mothers death. He describes the studium as the "application to a thing, taste for someone, a kind of general , enthusiastic commitment", in essence this means the application of our general knowledge to presume something about an image. Presumably,, most people raised in a certain geographical location will all have similar conclusions as a result of the general knowledge we can draw from. He then continues to eventually describe his idea of punctum, a "sting, speck, cut, little hole - and also a cast of the dice" and he into detail about how a photographs punctum "is that accident which pricks me (but also bruises me, is poignant to me)", what he means, in a more easily understood form of English is that within a photograph, it is the part of the image that causes us to have an emotional reaction towards it. For example below is an image by Koen Wessing in Nicaragua in 1979, the punctum for me would be the presumed mother crying of the child underneath the white sheet. This crying is the punctum, it is what makes me feel for the image.
Attempting connotation and denotation of my own image:
Denotation:
-It is a picture of a violin -next to the violin is an enclosed letter which has "To Stephen" on it, written with neat handwriting -it is on a fabric background -it has been manipulated to have colder tint as well as desaturated Connotation: -Usually a violin is considered a classy instrument however due to the fact it is desaturated and cold could mean that I do not have a warm connection to the image, instead appearing distant via the blue - The first idea is however debunked by the fact that there is a clearly personal letter next to the violin, as shown by the care in the handwriting addressing me so therefore I do have a warm connection in this image -The background, clearly made of fabric creates a softness to the image also making it appear as though I again have a connection to the image |