Photography, as I said in my past essay, is everywhere. What we need to realize is that it does not just exist, but rather is active. Photography shapes your interest in the world around you. For instance, advertisements are meant to make you want something by showing you why you should want it. Photographs are constantly changing our perception of the world.
There are three main ways in which we interact with photos: we take them, we view them, and we use them. In taking them, we are deeming a moment to be memorable. This changes our understanding of a moment in time. Whether the moments before were leading up to the taking of the picture (like in food advertising or a family picture), or the photographer simply snapped a picture of an event, the moment was deemed necessary to be remembered.
That moment then is defined by the photo. The reality of that moment is the photograph, captured forever. We view photo's as reality, which is not always the case. Family photos come under my particular scrutiny, showing the "happy family". Are those memories actually happy? There are times we view an image and are not fooled by this perceived reality. For instance, a McDonalds ad of a big, juicy hamburger on the side of a truck. Firstly, we know burgers are never as big as the side of the truck. Secondly, we know a McDonalds burger won't ever look that good. However, we still get hungry sometimes.
The third way we interact with a photo is for use. Whether an advertiser uses the picture of the hamburger to make us hungry, or an old woman uses a picture of her younger self to relive her old days, we use photos to draw up the past or the present and rearrange it to suit us better. We rely on photos to reafirm the truth, remind us of a loved one, restore our faith in humanity, and so on.
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