Semiotics
Semiotics are the study of signs and symbols and their use or interpretation. So what is a sign? A sign could be many things, from a symbol to a colour. An example of this would be a logo of a company, as presented in the video, the apple logo. This would be the signifier, the thing that creates meaning. There are two ideas that can come from this sign, one being the denotation. The denotation is the literal meaning, for example, the apple logo's denotation would be that it is the logo for the computers and phones. The other aspect is the connotation, the signified meaning. For example, although the apple logo is just an apple, to some people it might mean high tech equipment. Depending on your ideology, background or culture, people will have different connotations to different signs as signs are Polysemic, meaning, to have multiple meanings.
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Denotation and Connotation - Garry Winogrand.
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Looking into Garry Winogrand, it gave me a different perspective to photography that will help me with my personal investigation, the idea that photography doesn't consist of taking pretty pictures, it's to find a way to transform the real world into something completely different. "When I photograph I see life" Winogrand tries to think about what's in frame, choosing where he places the camera, rather than thinking about how the photograph will turn out. A photo is an image of reality, it isn't a perfect depiction of life, and so therefore in a sense all images are corrupt. Furthermore, editing the image by changing the filter, saturation, contrast etc. only creates further corruption, which is what helped me with my personal investigation.
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Connotation:
- The clothing suggests cold weather, gloves and jacket - The trees have no leaves, cold weather, winter or autumn - The clothing of the two could suggest they are well educated and or have money |
This was one of the images that I looked at and thought of it's denotation and connotation. When initially looking at the image, it gives a sense of inequality. As the crowd is separated from the couple with the chimps, alienating them. The idea of race also plays a part. Due to the mans skin colour, we beging to think of prejudice, and due to them being a mix raced couple, that is why they are away from everyone. The two chimps also link to Darwin's theory of evolution, how we come from monkeys and chimps, almost as if the people of colour are seen as inferior and or animals. Denotation: - A crowd - A man and woman holding chimps - An urban town (New York) - The sky - Central park zoo on the left - Formal clothing - Chimps wearing clothing - Photographer's shadow |
The Rhetoric of the Image - Roland Barthes.
After researching Garry Winogrand, his images and his practice we then looked into Roland Barthes and his book "Cameral Lucida". In the extract we were given, Barthes speaks of the denotations and connotations of the image, explaining the "italianicity" of the advertisement and why it catches peoples attention. Once looking at the image, it instantly gives away discontinuous signs. The bag gives the idea that the person who bought all of these "italian" products just returned from the market, suggesting the products are just as good as fresh produce. The colours of the packets along with the fresh veg further presents the main signifier, the "italianicity" that people are drawn to. Colours are used to bring attention, create emotion and feeling and to persuade the public to buy their product. Although they are a French company, they are making Italian products. The colours and the veg is what makes it seem authentic, almost as good as the real Italian thing.
Denotation:
- Pasta
- Sauce
- Cheese, Parmesan
- Italian brand
- Onions, peppers, tomatoes, mushrooms
- String net bag
Connotation:
- The vegetables are ingredients, suggesting the sauce is homemade, tastes almost as good as homemade cooking
- Colours are from the Italian flag
- The colour red is vibrant, catches the eye and brings attention
- Pasta
- Sauce
- Cheese, Parmesan
- Italian brand
- Onions, peppers, tomatoes, mushrooms
- String net bag
Connotation:
- The vegetables are ingredients, suggesting the sauce is homemade, tastes almost as good as homemade cooking
- Colours are from the Italian flag
- The colour red is vibrant, catches the eye and brings attention
Denotation:
- Hippo laying/resting
- Crowd watching behind bars
- Old styled clothing
- Water with reflection
Connotation:
- The image evokes a sad emotion, it almost looks dead and people are just watching
- It was taken from it's land
- The hippo is imprisoned
- People were more cruel towards animals in the 1800s
- The reflection/water give a sense of freedom, where the hippo can swim
- Hippo laying/resting
- Crowd watching behind bars
- Old styled clothing
- Water with reflection
Connotation:
- The image evokes a sad emotion, it almost looks dead and people are just watching
- It was taken from it's land
- The hippo is imprisoned
- People were more cruel towards animals in the 1800s
- The reflection/water give a sense of freedom, where the hippo can swim
My own image.
Connotation:
- Spider
- Fangs and legs
- Glisten of the eyes
- Skull shape on the abdomen
- Yellow brick wall
Denotation:
- The proximity of the spider to the camera creates the illusion that the spider is bigger than it actually is
- The skull on it's back is almost screaming "stay back, I'm dangerous"
- Spider
- Fangs and legs
- Glisten of the eyes
- Skull shape on the abdomen
- Yellow brick wall
Denotation:
- The proximity of the spider to the camera creates the illusion that the spider is bigger than it actually is
- The skull on it's back is almost screaming "stay back, I'm dangerous"
The Studium and Punctum - Roland Barthes.
When looking into the studium and the punctum we first looked at the images of William Klein and Koen Wessing. We read extracts from Roland Barthes' "Camera Lucida" which mentioned these images and explained the punctum and studium. The studium means "the application to a thing, taste for someone, a general enthusiastic commitment but without special acuity" in other words, what ideas you gather from looking at the image, and from what you know of the image, location or time etc. The punctum however,"a sting, peck, cut, little hole and a cast of the dice. A photographs punctum is that accident which pricks me (but also bruises me, is poignant to me)". It is the emotional baggage a certain thing in the image carries, something that grasps the viewer and makes them feel. For example, the image with the dead child in the street, covered with a white cloth. The punctum of the image, for me, is the weeping mother, mourning the death of her child. The anguish in her face is instantly noticeable and to me is what sticks out, seeing her pain and agony is what gravitates me towards the image, therefore does it make it wrong for me to look? Is it wrong for me to be gravitated towards the image because of the pain that it communicates?
The studium of this image would be the close relationship that each subject has, they're all smiling and posing almost like a family. Although one of the boys has a gun pointed at their head, he continues to smile while holding hands with the person aiming the gun, suggesting a close and trustful relationship. The punctum for me would be the boy's face. His eyes are positioned to face the gun, however they almost look completely white, like he's dead, yet he continues to smile while a gun is pointed at him, creating this eery and uncomfortable feel. Furthermore his teeth are broken and mistreated, which to us nowadays wouldn't be normal, but back then with the lack of money and treatment, that would be the norm. But to us more modern viewers of the image it may seem disturbing, making us uncomfortable.
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Inside / Out - Abigail Solomon-Godeau.
When is it not ok to take a photograph? Should you always seek the permission of your subjects before taking their photograph? Does it make a difference whether or not you have a personal relationship with the subject of a photograph and can it hurt someone? Abigail Solomon-Godeau discusses what she refers to as the inside/outside positions of photographers in relation to their subjects. She refers to Susan Sontag's criticism from the book "On Photography" about Diane Arbus' images. For Godeau, Arbus has an outsider perspcetive which leads to an "unsympathetic, objectifying, voyeuristic attitude" to those photographed. Sontag compares her to a "supertourist" allowing her to take pictures of what she wants because of her camera. For example, the image of Eddie Carmel, "The Jewish Giant" and his parents. Whys has Arbus decided to photograph him? Undoubtedly it is because of his size and stature, he is different, and Arbus exposes this.
Susan Sontag argued that certain forms of photographic depiction were especially complicit with processes of objectification that precluded either empathy or identification [...] Arbus was indicted as a voyeuristic and deeply morbid connoisseur of the horrible. |
Therefore, if the outside perspective is bad, and Arbus' images are unethical, that means the insider perspective is good, the opposite of the outside "engagement, participation and privileged knowledge".
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Susan Sontag on Diane Arbus
Arbus' images by some people are seen as controversial and explicit, however that didn't stop Arbus, she believed that "photography was a license to go wherever I wanted and to do what I wanted" allowing her to put certain boundaries and social norms aside. Sontag strongly believed that Arbus' photos were unethical. To her, perceiving photography as a passport that frees the photographer and abolishes responsibility toward the people that are photographed, almost exposing their lives rather than just showing what they want others to see. Sontag also argued that Arbus was not interested in ethical journalism, only photographing "Freaks" rather than photographing napalm victims, which was a very popular topic at the time. Her images were believed to reflect not only hers, but the viewers deepest fears and darkest wishes, a carnality or desire of sorts, which makes her images seem more unethical, looking at them makes you feel as if you shouldn't, as if they are wrong. This is the punctum of many of her photographs. The image of the three women with down syndrome is a quintessential example of this, it is argued that the woman in the middle is being "exposed" almost sexualised making it seem like unethical imagery, to Arbus however, she saw nothing wrong. People that are out in the public are therefore exposing themselves to the world, therefore it is okay for them to be photographed, right? Or is that seen as invading their personal space, exposing an aspect of their life. These are the sort of ethical questions raised by Arbus' images.
Studium:
- Eddie Carmel "The Jewish Giant" and his parents. - They are in their home in the Bronx, New York. - Father is well dressed, the mother is wearing a dress that seems dirty. - The lamps and lights have plastic wrapped around them to maintain the material of the cover undamaged. - Cloth covers on the seats and sofa. - Eddie's cane. - Closed curtains. Punctum: - His mother looks directly at him, while his father looks away, the mother has more affection for her son and the father is almost ashamed. - The overwhelming size of Eddie, looming over his parents. His size emphasises the distant relationship with his parents. - The closed curtains communicates a sense of shame and want for secrecy as their son is a giant. However Arbus exposes this. - The lamps and seat covers suggest that they aren't the richest family in the world. Also the location the live in was an extremely poor area at the time. - The stains on the mothers dress suggest she has been working (cooking, cleaning etc.) around the house. |
Studium:
- The three women, acting like children. - Their clothing seems childish. Shoes, dresses, bows etc. - They seem to be at a park, playing, emphasising that childish theme. Punctum: - The three have down syndrome, which is why they are positioned like so. Acting and dressing more child like. - People with disabilities such as down syndrome, at the time were alienated from society, and either put in prison or in mental homes rather than being helped. - The girl in the middle is the first thing people see/look at. Her position is what catches the viewers eye, however it seems almost unethical and yet we continue to look. It's almost as if Arbus is "sexualising" the subject, or rather expressing her deepest and darkest desires through the image. |
"Ways of Seeing" Text / Image - John Berger.
The episode begins by explaining that we are surrounded by images of an alternative way of life, they are ubiquitous and promise us a different way of living. Berger explains how publicity tricks us into buying products that make us think we will be richer if we are consumers, although we just spent our money. He compares oil paintings to publicity, and said that oil paintings enhanced the views of people and their reality, usually surrounded by gold frames, creating this dream for the owner. However, publicity appeals to a way of life we aspire but we have not yet achieved. Our life would prosper, our relationships would become radiant, but we can only achieve radiance with money, publicity works on our anxieties about money, urging each of us to get more, making money to appear magical. This makes people envy those with money, however those without power or money suggests that you are inadequate as you are, you become faceless, a nobody, but if you are a consumer it all changes. Berger explains how publicity has 3 main ideas to get people to purchase a product. He calls them "dreams" that people wish were a reality, leading them to become consumers. The first being sex. We all know sex sells, it is something we all desire, something we all crave deep down, and it is used everywhere to advertise objects. Conjuring images, without horizons, infinite possibilities, images that when we go home at night, we think about those locations, and we "dream" of how we want to be there, observing them is almost being in two worlds at the same time. The skin dream, the surface you can touch, without a biography, something we all can understand, are attracted to desire.