Blog Post 1: What is Photography?

 Blog Post 1:

Hey Teach, Finn here (for the first time). The first class you asked us to read a part of Photography changes everything and think about what photography was for us. For me that's a really simple question. Photography is the art of capturing what you see, we all have different perceptions and views of reality, like Marvin Heiferman quotes, "It's nature as a practice depends on the institutions and agents which define it and set it to work". Photography can be a form of passing along information, a way to make you feel something, or simply a way of communication. It all depends on who uses it and why they use it, and it's a way to show their mind to the world. For me specifically photography is a part of my life in almost every factor because I have a lot of long distance friends and to stay in touch with them I communicate online. That means we consistently send photos of things we see, like, and are doing. So currently Photography for me is more about connection then art, although in a way that itself could be seen as art. 

    I think that my perception of photography is in line with Heiferman's, that it there is no one reason or purpose for photography and I identified that in this quote he gives from Geoffrey Batchen, "Photographs never have a singular meaning; neither, it turns out, does photography as a whole," Photo's just absentmindedly snapped by someone can mean so much more to someone else. Modern and past photos absolutely show this. Say if your crush were to be out and snap you an image of them smiling, you may see it as a move, or feel somewhat jealous thinking they went with someone. Whereas they didn't even think about it. Historians will take meaning that may not have even been there from old paintings or photos. This is always done because everyone has different views of life and it influences what they think.