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October 24, 2005
In Our Glory
I really, really enjoyed this piece by bell hooks. It comments on so many parts of photography, and, subsequently, black culture. First off, I thought it was really interesting that all of this discussion stemmed from hooks looking at the photograph of her father. I think it is interesting that she was able to derive all of this meaning from a seemingly simple picture. I (all of us, actually) often have assignments like this when we are asked to view a photograph or read an essay and then respond to it. This is a perfect example of how an author can see one thing and then run with it.
There were a few things I found particularly notable in hooks' essay:
Her comment that each of her sisters saw something different in the photograph because they each had a different experience with their father. I think this says alot about photography in general and what we take away from it. For example, when each of my friends looks at the numerous pictures we took at graduation, we all see different things, even though our experience was very much the same. The exchange student I stayed with from Turkey sees the end of her time here, my best friend sees how miserable she was when she broke up with her boyfriend, etc. Our experience plays a huge role in what we get out of photographs.
Another thing that struck me about hooks' essay was her comment on photographs as tools of self representation. Especially with digital cameras and picture editing, we can basically show ourselves however we want. I always photograph horribly, but having a digital camera has allowed me to improve it at least a little bit. Similarily, we can represent others the way we want them to be seen. Of course, this is much of what we discussed in class, that even though we photograph something, it may not be a true representation of our experience. (For example, if I have a picture of my little brother crying in London, it does not necessaily mean that our trip to London was a bad one.)
I also wanted to comment on one of my own thoughts about photographs, which is the decreasing importance of photographs as the amount of time since they were taken increases. For example, when I graduated from middle school I took dozens of photographs of end-of the year events: dances, field trips, parties, and graduation. For a year or so following this, I used to pore over the pictures and recreate, in my mind, my middle school experience. Now, however, these photographs hold little importance for me since I have new photographs from high school which I pore over weekly. This is not to say that old photographs hold no importance or significance for us because they certainly do. It is just something I've often questioned...
--Brenna DeCotis
Posted by lciscotis at October 24, 2005 09:18 PM
Comments
Brenna- I loved your last point about middle school and the "decreasing importance of photographs as the amount of time since they were taken increases". You are absolutely right. I have noticed the same thing. I cried when I viewed all my pictures of little parties and barbecues in middle school with all my friends and teachers. One girl even made me a movie of all of us. And now, I just cannot pull together my intense emotions for that period of my life. As you said, they just seem to not hold as much importance. Excellent post! I could definitely relate to everything you were saying. Bell Hooks created a deep, intertwined, essay that affected me in the same way as you.
Posted by: Christina at October 26, 2005 04:20 PM