Turn the camera on, point and click. So what has changed with regard to photography – everything or nothing? Contemporary commentators have suggested that due to the development of sophisticated technology and the digitization of the photographic image the ease with which it can now be manipulated, gives rise to a certain amount of distrust in the truthfulness of the images we see.
If we accept that the image has always had the capacity to be manipulated in some way, then should it not depend on the context in which the image is seen to determine whether the truthfulness of the representation is important or not? For example, if the image is to be used only in an artistic context, should it matter whether the image has been manipulated if it improves the overall aesthetic?
Could it be said that regardless of what medium is used – whether painting, print, or photography – that we have always had a desire to manipulate the image in some way? There has always been and there still exists a need to satisfy the demand for the “idealised” image. Painters and photographers have always recognised this and have sought ways in which to portray their subject or object in the best possible manner.
This was often achieved by the clever manipulation of a scene prior to or following the completion of an artwork. To satisfy the demand for the idealized image, reality could be manipulated by the artist to the extent that the image became a representation of an alternate or staged reality – if that was how the artist has chosen to work. The purpose of using some of the images selected for this work is to demonstrate and discuss how various artists may have manipulated the scene prior to, or following, the execution of the work.
The author’s method of working depends on what she wants to say with the photographic image she wishes to produce. If it’s an installation piece, she has taken some of the objects into a studio, removing them from their everyday context and photographing them against a white background. The objective here is to focus specifically on the object in question and to eliminate the ‘noise’ that sometimes intrudes into an image. To a certain extent this approach continues with the landscape/seascape photographs where the images are the result of zooming in on what is being photographed in an effort to capture the essence of the scene and allow it to create its own narrative. The resulting images act as a reminder of the things we tend to overlook in our busy lives or as an encouragement to look again or more closely at the world around us. An important point to note in this work is that irrespective of technology and its capacity for manipulation, a photograph is always waiting to be taken just outside your door; all you have to do is open it.
