Photographs and Contexts

For a short introduction to how context operates in relation to photographs, read Terry Barrett’s essay ‘Photographs and Context’: terrybarrettosu.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/B_PhotAndCont_97.pdf[accessed 25/01/18]

Barrett suggests that we interpret pictures according to three different types of information: information in the picture, information surrounding the picture and information about the way the picture was made. He calls these the internal context, the external context and the original context.

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Robert Doisneau. At the Café, Chez Fraysse, Rue de Seine, Paris. 1958

Source: Moma

I read the article Photographs and Contexts by Terry Barrett, and I was interested to hear the story of Robert Doisneau's photograph. I was also interested to research deeper into his work and also other information about photography and context.

This of course makes a lot of sense and we need to make sure we are careful with the context of a photograph we take, what is in it, where we display it and what is around it (words etc).

Same as a graphic designer, we have a lot of power in our hands with the subliminal messages we share when sharing our work. I take it very seriously and I think it is very unfortunate places don't respect it and share images without permission or copy work of others.

In formulating interpretations or in adjudicating among implicit or explicit interpretations, three sources of information are available for examination: information evident within the picture, information surround- ing the picture in its presentation, and information about the picture's making. Each of these intersects with the others and influences our experience of pictures; each of these contains potential evidence for positing meaning; each of these should be examined before final conclusions are drawn. These sources may be called the picture's "internal context," "external con- text," and "original context." Internal context includes the picture, its title, if it has one, date, and maker. External context refers to the picture's presentational environment. Original context refers to the picture's causal environment, namely, that which was physically and psychologically present to the maker at the time the picture was taken...