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November 27, 2004
photographs and drawings
The camera records all in front of it, or almost all. Lots and lots of it anyway. Millions of pixels, if we believe the statistics. So when we look at a photograph our brains are bombarded with almost the same amount of information as when we look at something in real life. So to simplify things, our recognition system kicks in, and looking at photographs, if we are not careful, becomes a blind activity.
We don’t see people in photographs, we recognise them. But what the photograph does not give us is context. So sometimes photographs are a puzzle. As is evident by the amount of puzzles that have sprung up from sections of photographs and photographs of things from odd angles. It is often hard to even recognise the image, how often have you heard someone say of a photograph of someone: “Oh, that doesn’t look like them at all”? But it is this puzzle, this difficulty, that allows the photograph, when handled with care, to illuminate our lives.
A drawing has far less information. The artist processes the information presented to him and extrapolates the details he feels are required to form the image. And, with any luck, bypass the ancient recognition systems and present fresh images.
Posted by john at November 27, 2004 11:09 AM
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