On Looking At Photographs - David Hurn & Bill Jay
Following their highly successful first collaboration, On Being a Photographer, this volume presents Hurn and Jay's discussions about the medium itself. Topics include photographing and the act of looking at photographs, along with more closely focused examinations of content and meaning, the rarity of true merit, the place of art in photography, and the role of morality.
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ON LOOKING AT PHOTOGRAPHS
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ON LOOKING
AT PHOTOGRAPHS
s A Practical Guide s
David Hurn/Magnum
in conversation with Bill Jay
L e n s Wor k
PUBLISHING
2000
Copyright © 2000 David Hurn and Bill Jay
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or
by any electronic or mechanical means,
including information storage and retrieval systems,
without written permission in writing from the authors,
except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review.
First Printing, January 2000
Adobe Acrobat PDF Version 1.0, February 2001
ISBN #1-888803-09-6
Published by LensWork Publishing, 909 Third St, Anacortes, WA, 98221-1502
Printed in the United States of America
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Our thanks to...
Molly Patrick, research assistant at Arizona State University, for
her valuable help in the preparation of the manuscript.
Chris Segar, producer for Forest Films in Wales, for his exacting
reading of the text and for his many astute comments.
And to the fine photographers whom we have been privileged
to meet, and often call friends, whose conversations and images
are continual inspirations.
David Hurn/Bill Jay
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CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION ....................................................................... 9
CHAPTER 1
FOUR FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF PHOTOGRAPHY ............ 11
CHAPTER 2
MEANING, AND WHY IT IS SO SLIPPERY .............................. 25
CHAPTER 3
MERIT, AND WHY IT IS SO RARE ......................................... 43
CHAPTER 4
ART, AND WHY IT IS SO DIFFERENT .................................... 59
CHAPTER 5
MORALITY, AND WHY IT IS SO IMPORTANT .......................... 75
CHAPTER 6
LOOKING AT PHOTOGRAPHS ................................................. 85
ABOUT THE AUTHORS ........................................................... 92
8 • ON LOOKING AT PHOTOGRAPHS: DAVID HURN & BILL JAY
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INTRODUCTION • 9
INTRODUCTION
Never, we have been told, begin writing with a negative. But rules were
made to emphasize their exceptions and so we will begin by stating
that this is not a how-to-do-it book in the usual sense.
It is not a textbook on how your camera works, on which lens to buy,
how to mix up a developer or make an exhibition enlargement. In fact,
it is not technical at all. There are plenty of good books like that already
on the market.
But it is a how-to-do-it book in an unusual sense.
Its purpose is to suggest how to look at photographs, how to under-
stand them, how to think about them, and, as a result, how to use
photography more effectively in your daily life. It is a step-by-step ap-
preciation course on photography, its basic principles and the charac-
teristics which make it a unique visual medium.
In brief, On Looking at Photographs aims to answer the question: What is
photography? and demonstrate that photography is a rich, vibrant,
complex tool in the hands of intelligent practitioners.
It would be a mistake, however, to assume that this book is directed
towards photographers alone. Photographs are so ubiquitous in this
day and age that we, whether or not we even own a camera, are all
picture-consumers. Photography is a constant and natural part of our
visual environment, and we cannot escape it. Its images shape our po-
litical views, entertain us in moments of relaxation, inform our minds,
illustrate our reading, help us choose between items in the market place,
create images of fantasy which mould our identities, give instruction
10 • ON LOOKING AT PHOTOGRAPHS: DAVID HURN & BILL JAY
on a bewildering variety of topics from growing roses to building a
boat, encourage contemplation in art galleries and museums, transport
us to previously unknown destinations — and sometimes encourage
us to visit the place for ourselves — take us on voyages of discovery
beneath the sea, inside the human body and into outer space, provide
security in our banks and other high-risk locations, and perhaps most
importantly of all, allow us to capture, and hold permanently, the im-
age of someone or something which we value highly.
We are all, everyday, on the receiving end of the photographic process,
passively soaking up those pictures which we encounter with rarely a
thought on their purpose or meaning. Many of the purveyors of pic-
tures, however, do not have our best interests at heart. In this, as in
many other cases, an informed mind is the best defense. An under-
standing of how photographs work will make us a more intelligent,
and discriminating, audience. It will also awaken and deepen our ap-
preciation for the best photographs which we encounter. Lastly, as cam-
era-users, it will strengthen our satisfaction in our struggles to emulate
the great photographers of the past.
Succinctly, then, this book is for everyone who has ever seen a photo-
graph …
It is not about the actual making of photographs. That topic was cov-
ered in our companion volume, On Being a Photographer. As in that book,
this sequel is formatted as if it were a discussion between the two of us.
We have been friends for over thirty years and we have discussed these
issues so many times that it is difficult to know who said what, when
— or who generated which idea. It does not matter. What is important
is that our conversations with each other and with friends and col-
leagues, who are also fine photographers, have convinced us that these
principles of photographic appreciation deserve a wider audience. We
hope you agree.
David Hurn
Bill Jay
FOUR FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF PHOTOGRAPHY • 11
CHAPTER 1
FOUR FUNDAMENTAL
PRINCIPLES OF PHOTOGRAPHY
The contemplation of things as they are
Without error or confusion
Without substitution or imposture is in itself a nobler thing
Than a whole harvest of invention.
Francis Bacon, philosopher
[Dorothea Lange tacked this quotation to her darkroom door,
where it remained for over 40 years]
Bill Jay: We should start at the beginning …
Photography was born in 1839. Since that date photographers have scru-
tinized a bewildering variety of faces and places and created a mountain
of images the sheer volume of which defies understanding. Not that critics
and historians have not made heroic attempts to analyze, categorize and
describe this plethora of photographs. Images have been segregated into
movements, styles, camps and groupings; their contents have been sub-
jected to every -ism in the fields of literature, sociology, psychology, anthro-
pology and every other discipline yet given a name; they have been used,
and abused, by everyone with an ideological axe to grind — like verses of
the Bible, it is always possible to find a photograph which proves the point.
Specialists from practically every academic discipline are scrambling over
and burrowing through those millions of photographs, hurling abuse at each
other’s theories, while creating rampant confusion for the rest of us.
12 • ON LOOKING AT PHOTOGRAPHS: DAVID HURN & BILL JAY
David Hurn: But the simple fact remains that for 150 years or so the
basic principles of photography have been understood and applied, at
least by the better photographers, regardless of the theories of the spe-
cialists who would confuse the issue. So let us itemize them so that
there is no confusion. Photography’s foundation is a straightforward
series of steps:
1. A subject is selected because it evokes a head or
heart reaction in the photographer.
2. The image is revealed with maximum clarity for the
fullest expression of the subject matter.
3. The viewfinder frame is carefully inspected in order
to produce the most satisfying arrangement of
shapes, from the correct angle and distance.
4. The exposure is made, and the image frozen in time,
at exactly the right moment.
The result is a good photograph.
Let’s put aside, for the moment, a definition of “good photograph” — we
will return to that topic a little later on — and look more closely at each of
these steps.
They might sound prosaic and obvious but unless they are fully under-
stood there can be no clear appraisal of the camera’s images. These
steps represent the structure which holds the medium together.
The first and most important point is photography’s special relationship to
the subject matter. In order to understand this relationship I think we have to
travel back in time to the medium’s pre-history.
There is no proof that photography existed in previous histories only to be re-
invented in Europe during the 1830s. But there is an abundance of myth,
FOUR FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF PHOTOGRAPHY • 13
legend and tradition in old documents which powerfully suggest that a direct
transcription of reality, unsullied by the artist’s hand, had been a yearning
dream for thousands of years.
During all that time, there was not a culture at any period — at least
that I can find — which produced representational two-dimensional
art. Art, until relatively recent times, was symbolic, ritualistic, even
magical.
I agree. The quest for an exact representation of nature began among
Renaissance painters. Their goal was systematically to reconstruct in two
dimensions familiar objects and views with meticulous exactitude. To quote
Erwin Panofsky, the renowned art historian: “The Renaissance established
and unanimously accepted what seems to be the most trivial and actually is
the most problematic dogma of aesthetic theory: the dogma that a work of
art is the direct and faithful representation of a natural object.” Leonardo da
Vinci would have agreed. He wrote: “The most excellent painting is that
which imitates nature best and produces pictures which conform most closely
to the object portrayed.”
Eventually, this goal was realized. Suddenly, in the 1830s, a dozen men on
various continents, independently and simultaneously, discovered what we
now call photography.
It is no coincidence that the secret was discovered at the beginning of the
Victorian age. The Victorians were fanatical in their passion for facts; their
satisfaction was a sharp, clear, close-up of the physical world, seen not in its
entirety but as isolated details. No wonder that the microscope, telescope
and camera were the three indispensable tools of the age.
Photography transcribed reality. That was enough, and the Victorians were
truly appreciative. You obtain a glimpse of the awe generated by the inven-
tion of photography in the words of Jules Janin, editor of the influential maga-
zine L’Artiste: “Note well that Art has no contest whatever with this new
rival photography … it is the most delicate, the finest, the most complete
reproduction to which the work of man and the work of God can aspire.”
14 • ON LOOKING AT PHOTOGRAPHS: DAVID HURN & BILL JAY
Photography was, and still is, the ideal tool for revealing what things
look like. The thing exists — therefore it is worth recording. Does this
mean that all things have equal value? Is a photograph of a cup as sig-
nificant as a photograph of the Grand Canyon? From the camera’s
perspective, the answer is yes. The camera sees no difference in signifi-
cance between the silly and the sublime; both are recorded with the
same degree of value. We can sense the bemusement, even resentment,
when one of the inventors of photography remarked: “The instrument
chronicles whatever it sees, and certainly would delineate a chimney-
pot or a chimney-sweeper with the same impartiality as it would the
Apollo of Belvedere.”
At this point the photographer (as a thinking, feeling human being)
enters the picture, literally. The photographer makes a conscious choice
from the myriad of possible subjects in the world and states: “I find this
interesting, significant, beautiful or of value.” The photographer can
be considered as a selector of subjects; he/she walks through life point-
ing at people and objects; the aimed camera shouts: ”Look at that!” The
photographer produces prints in order that his or her interest in a sub-
ject can be communicated to others. Each time a viewer looks at a print,
the photographer is saying: “I found this subject to be more interesting
or significant than thousands of other objects I could have captured;
I want you to appreciate it too.”
Photographers have chosen to be our eyes; they are significant subject-
selectors on our behalf. But can we, should we, trust them to be our eyes on
the world? On the whole, no; we have a right to say: “You might have found
that subject interesting, or important, but I do not.” Occasionally, the answer
is yes, particularly if the photographer has pursued the same subject with
love and knowledge for a long period of time: more on this point a little later.
Right now, the most important consideration is that photography can-
not escape the actual. As John Szarkowski , influential past-Director of
Photography at the Museum of Modern Art, has written, the photogra-
pher must “not only … accept this fact, but treasure it; unless he did,
photography would defeat him.” The photographer places emphasis
FOUR FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF PHOTOGRAPHY • 15
on The Thing Itself, away from self. This is not to denigrate the role of
the photographer. He/she understands that the world is full of art of
such bewildering variety, incomparable inventiveness, unimaginable
complexity, that it will demand all the resources of his/her heart and
mind in order to recognize, react to, and record its individual parts and
relationships.
But there is no denying the most banal and bewilderingly beautiful truth
about photography: at its core is the subject matter. Photography’s charac-
teristic is to show what something looked like, under a particular set of cir-
cumstances at a precise moment in time.
Closely allied to the earlier quest for a faithful transcription of reality,
which fired the enthusiasms of the Victorians, was the demand for de-
tail in a photograph, which translates into image sharpness.
That’s true. Photography owes its origin to this desire for detail, for informa-
tion, for a close-up, impartial, non-judgmental examination of the thing it-
self. Early photographers recommended the examination of photographs
with a magnifying glass which “often discloses a multitude of minute details,
which were previously unobserved and unsuspected.” Viewers marveled that
“every object, however minute, is a perfect transcript of the thing itself.”
An abundance of detail — image sharpness — has been a crucial charac-
teristic of photography since its introduction. There is no denying that some
critics and historians would argue that there are some, if relatively rare, soft-
focus and even out-of-focus images in the history of photography but in this
context we are interested in the basic bed-rock principles of the medium. In
spite of the exceptions it can be asserted that from the earliest days of pho-
tography, fine detail has been an essential demand of its images, from the
Victorians who counted bricks in a daguerreotype to modern satellite cam-
eras which can read car license plates from their orbiting space stations.
We have to be careful about this point. What you are saying is true but
it might imply that all photographers should use an 8x10 inch view
camera because of its unsurpassed ability to record fine detail. But other
16 • ON LOOKING AT PHOTOGRAPHS: DAVID HURN & BILL JAY
photographers will, of necessity, sacrifice optimum sharpness for, say,
the maneuverability and quickness of operation afforded by the smaller
negative of a 35mm camera. Nevertheless, even a small format pro-
duces more detail that is specific to the subject than any other visual
art.
That is worth emphasizing. No other medium but photography, even its as-
pects which employ small quick cameras, is so rooted in the recording of
fine detail. It is one of the principle characteristics of the camera image. A
photographer who ignores this principle either risks credibility or understands
the special, and unusual, circumstances in which other considerations might
preclude image sharpness.
A fundamental characteristic of a photograph, then, is its compelling
clarity. This is much more important than the idea of a photograph be-
ing a simple, if accurate, document. The clarity of a perfectly focused,
pin-sharp image of any subject implies that the subject had never be-
fore been properly seen. Even the most prosaic and trivial of subjects is
capable of being charged with significance and meaning when seen for
the first time, and a detailed photograph provokes this newness-shock
no matter what the subject matter. As Emile Zola remarked: “You can-
not truly say that you have seen something until you have a photo-
graph of it.” The subject might be trivial, in any other setting, but when
photographed in such a shocking, intimate manner it implies that per-
haps it is not trivial at all, but charged with undiscovered significance.
It must be admitted that this is both the power and the bane of photography.
Since the earliest days of the medium, the prosaic and the puny have been
viewed and respected as much as the exotic and magnificent. Indiscriminate
recording has buried us under a gargantuan avalanche of photographs of
objects and dulled the newness-shock for us all. Today the habit of collecting
facts is often more significant than the facts themselves. A vivid illustration of
the throw-away culture is the party-goer’s pleasure in posing for Polaroids
which no one wants and which are discarded with the beer cans. The ubiqui-
tous nature of photography in our society has devalued the currency of the
FOUR FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF PHOTOGRAPHY • 17
camera; a plethora of pictures has weakened even the most powerful to
exert their magic.
An aim of this book is to regenerate the newness-shock by teaching
jaded viewers how to look into, rather than glance at, a photograph.
And one of the most important lessons (and do not be distracted by
its self-evidence) is the photograph’s ability to render detail.
In terms of a good photograph it is obviously not satisfactory merely to
include the subject somewhere in the viewfinder and ascertain that its
image is reasonably sharp. The subject may be lost against an equally
sharp, cluttered background; it may be too small in the picture area to
reveal required information or too large so that it becomes unintelligible
through loss of context. Scores of other problems may plague the image
with the result that the photograph disappoints its maker and bores the
audience.
Of course, the power of the subject matter may so transcend the
image’s faults that the photograph is still valuable, as in the case, for
example, of a newspaper reproduction of an assassination attempt.
In this case, any image, no matter how awkwardly constructed and
technically inept, is better than no image at all. But that is a special
circumstance. Even in this exception, however, it could be argued
that the image would be even more valuable if carefully structured.
In practically all other cases, the subject and its surroundings must be
organized within the edges of the picture area so that:
1. the subject or main point of the image is revealed with maximum
clarity and
2. the photograph is transformed from a prosaic record into an aes-
thetically satisfying picture.
And the point of good design, pleasant composition or neat arrangement
is not merely to emphasize the artistic abilities of the photographer but to
18 • ON LOOKING AT PHOTOGRAPHS: DAVID HURN & BILL JAY
project the subject matter and to hold the viewer’s attention for a
longer time while the meaning of the image has a chance to percolate
from print to mind.
It has been said, with a great deal of truth, that the difference between a
snapshot and a good photograph is that in the former case the photogra-
pher was looking at the subject, unaware of the viewfinder, while in the latter
case the photographer was concentrating of the edges of the frame and their
relationship to the subject.
Some idea of the complexity of this principle can be gauged by a simple
exercise. Stand on the opposite side of the street to a large shop win-
dow. Imagine the edges of the window are the viewfinder’s frame. Watch
a pedestrian walk along the sidewalk in front of the window and make
a mental click! when the figure is in a satisfying position in relationship
to the frame. Relatively simple. Now watch as groups of pedestrians
pass in front of the window from opposite directions. Awareness of the
exact positions of the pedestrians and their relationship to the frame is
infinitely more challenging.
Imagine how much more complex the problem becomes on a crowded beach.
Now, your subjects are not only passing laterally in front of a window, but
also moving at every directional angle towards and away from the view-
point. In addition, the frame is no longer static but infinitely variable through
360 degrees. To pile complexity on top of complexity, the frame is also infi-
nitely variable in size by the spectator moving closer or further away from the
subjects. Add all those factors together and good picture design, especially
of uncooperating, moving people in the random flux of life, is seen to be one
of the most difficult challenges of photography.
But the principle is the same even when photographing a simple close-
up of a static plant. The photographer makes decisions of viewpoint,
distance, camera angle and scale in order to isolate the subject and pro-
duce a satisfying arrangement of shapes within the limits of the picture
area. This principle will be referred to again; suffice to say, at this stage,
that good design is inseparable from good photography.
