Introduction: How is a Photograph?

In this opening chapter, Rexer examines the significance and changing meaning of photographs in an age in which photography has become more accessible than ever before. Faced with this deluge of images, contemporary art photographers have increasingly begun commenting on the medium itself in their work. The photograph given at the beginning of the chapter is an example of one such work. Artist Myoung Ho Lee took a series of photographs in which he erected a large, white backdrop behind various trees before taking their picture. The result is an image that evokes, more than its explicit subject, the photographic process itself. It’s something we’re accustomed to seeing on movie sets, product advertisements, and the like. Usually it is an object whose presence is stealthily concealed, masked to appear an infinite sea of white upon which the subject of the photograph appears in all its detail. However, in this particular image, that illusion of infinity is broken. Instead, we are left with a small, singular tree, trapped within the now narrow confines of its artificial backdrop. 

This contemporary form of expression through photography contrasts with many traditional views of photography, including those shared by famed street photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson. As Rexer states, this philosophy could be described as : “There is a pre-existing reality to be captured, this reality makes sense, and its significance can be discerned and communicated by a photographer…”. Indeed, this is what many picture when they think of photography as a medium: a small slice of reality, suspended in time. However, this view fails to explain many other types of art made in the medium such as surrealist, abstract, and of course, self-reflective photography. 

I find the challenging of these “norms” of photography to be a profoundly interesting subject. Unlike painting, sculpture, or other arts, photography brings with it a certain expectation of “truth” which other mediums aren’t encumbered by. A photo whose colors have been manipulated in post-processing (in the darkroom, or the ever more popular Photoshop) will often be swiftly called out as “fake”. Even a distracting element removed or cropped out of the frame can incite calls of “fraud” or “cheat”. This added expectation can be a great strength of photography, but it can also be a monumental burden for those more concerned with creating, rather than documenting, reality.