Myth of the Photographic Truth

This week we learned about visual culture and photography. Photographs influence us greatly and we are exposed to them constantly. They can cause us to feel deep emotions and elicit memories. People spend hours each day on social media sites such as Instagram, which floods them with visual images.

However, this can become problematic. Photographs are often accepted as objective representations of the real world, especially when presented in mass media. This brings us to the problem: the myth of photographic truth. Photography “always involves some degree of subjective choice through selection, framing, and personalization (Sturken, 16). The simultaneous objective and subjective nature of photographs is the center of much debate.  

Below is a YouTube video of Ruben Salvadori’s TED Talk on this issue. One quote stands out:

“We are extremely visual beings to the point that more than half of our brain’s computational power is that it can decide. We’re designed to rely heavily on our eyes because they are the doors to which we make sense of the world and we’re convinced that seeing is believing” (Youtube 1:14 mark).

Roland Barthes touches upon the concept on how photographs have denotative and connotative meanings. Photographs may not be the representation of reality, instead they can be signifying the total opposite. Denotative meanings “...refer to its literal, explicit meaning,” and give an apparent objective representation (Struken, 20). On the other end, connotative meanings “...are informed by the cultural and historical contexts of the image and its viewers’ lived, felt knowledge of those circumstances” (Struken, 20).

“Roland Barthes once wrote that photographs always indicate a kind of mortality, evoking death in the moments in which they seem to stop time” (Struken,18). This quote in depth is talking about the power in which the photographs have over people and how it is affectionate because, it triggers the emotions of the audience. Barthes argues that the Photographic Truth is a myth, due to cultural and contextual factors.

For your task, please find a popular, historically significant photograph. First, identify the denotative meaning of this photograph and what parts of the photograph would be considered objective. Next, identify the connotative meaning of the photograph and what parts would be considered subjective choices made by the photographer.

For example, below is a photograph of police brutality protester Ieshia Evans meeting police officers to be arrested following Philando Castile’s death in 2016. The denotative meaning of this photograph could be exactly the description you just read. This is objective because there is no denying that the police were approaching Ieshia Evans at the time that the photograph was taken. When discussing the connotative meaning, we could talk about the timing, as police brutality was just beginning to be addressed and protests were rampant throughout America. We could talk about symbolism in a calm woman of color with her arms out being approached by two seemingly frantic white police officers in full riot gear. As for subjective choices made by the photographer, we could talk about the angle of the photograph, which shows us the line of police officers behind the officers, while Evans stands apparently alone.

Ieshia Evans being approached by officers. (Laurent).

Laurent, Olivier. “Ieshia Evans: Meet the Photographer Behind Baton Rouge                     Photo.” Time, Time, 12 July 2016, time.com/4403635/ieshia-evans-jonathan-bachman-baton-rouge/.

Salvadori, Ruben. "Photos Don't Lie. Or Do They? | Ruben Salvadori | Tedxdornbirn". Youtube, 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYJA4Ae3bDc. Accessed 22 Feb 2019.

Sturken, Marita, and Lisa Cartwright. Practices Of Looking : An Introduction To Visual Culture. 2nd ed., Oxford University Press, 2017, pp. 16-20.