Rorschach / inkblot school of picture making

Open window ~ Montreal, CA • click to embiggen
Peppers at the market ~ Montreal, CA • click to embiggen
Flowers at the market ~ Montreal, CA • click to embiggenMuch virtual ink has been spilled on The Landscapist regarding the notion of photographic truth (or, if you prefer - truth in photography) and the medium's relationship with and to the real/reality (replete with a rather specious sidebar into what is real/reality?). As most know, I believe that photography pictures can contain more than a smattering of truth and that I really don't struggle much at all with what is real / the nature of reality.

For the most I don't struggle with either of those concepts because I have an open mind which can grasp the idea that truth has many interpretations - which does not mean that they are all worthy of consideration - and that reality has different meanings to different people - which, once again, does not mean that they are all worthy of consideration. But that said, my guiding principle regarding those ideas is the same as that stated by Richard Dawkins -

By all means let's be open-minded, but not so open-minded that our brains drop out. ~ from "Science, Delusion and the Appetite for Wonder

I bring all this up because I want to address the notion of photography pictures as a form of Rorschach / inkblot test.

There can be little doubt that every photography picture is open to interpretation in the mind of each and every viewer. This is generally true despite the fact that the picture maker may have made a very deliberate intent to create a very specific meaning / interpretation in any given picture. One possible exception (of many) to this notion are those pictures that are so simple-minded in concept and intent that the range of interpretation possible from viewing them is rather limited.

But the idea that many interpretations can be had from a given picture negates the idea that a picture can not contain truth(s) is simply not true. A single picture can contain many unrelated truths and the discovery of any of those truths does not negate any of the truths a picture may contain.

Each and every viewer of a picture brings their very own and often unique life-experiences, emotional and intellectual acumen, prejudices, preferences, and so on to the viewing table. All of that "baggage" obviously influences what a viewers quite literally "sees" in a picture. And, what one sees, in a quite literal visual sense, will most likely influence one's perceptions of meaning(s) to had in / gleaned from a picture.

That is why I am often very surprised by the sometimes many different meaning(s) / interpretations that my pictures engender in those who view them. In many cases, those meanings / interpretations are not at all what I had in mind when I made the pictures in question and I find this to be quite enjoyable and interesting.

What this multi-interpretive, multi-truth concepts tells me is that pictures are filled with truth(s) and that there is much to be learned about truth and reality if one approaches one's own picturing and pictures as well as the pictures made by others with an open mind - but, of course, not so open-minded that your brain falls out.

Comments

[Svein-Frode]

Hear hear!

[gravitas et levitas]

Svein-Frode - hear, hear! indeed and you can bet that there won't be 16 comments on this entry.

Thanks for your interest.

[Gordon McGregor]

So do better pictures have more multi-faceted truths? Or do they tend to raise more questions than answers in a viewers personal interaction with it?

I find the pictures I keep coming back to are those that don't tie every little question up with a neat conclusion, so not so much the truth they contain but the avenues they open.

3 comments now...

[Frank]

I think that anything that opens an avenue for us is showing us something new and maybe showing us a glimpse of a truth. Or maybe a glimpse of someone else's truth that helps us understand something which they saw and is worthwhile to point out. I don't think any kind of truth is proclaimed in banner headlines. You have to seek it out - even in photographs.