This chapter presents the idea that photographs can use rhetoric to present arguments or reveal a specific message. Like words, photographs prove just as effective in conveying a message evident in the everyday norm. The photograph can depict a specific situation, and be interpreted in completely different ways by people with differing backgrounds or points of view. Photography offers great understanding about the reality around us.
Just as a writer poses an argument, the photographer captures a situation about our reality that must be interpreted. The snapshot of the passing moment still says something about that particular reality, even if it isn’t the predominant reality of the situation. The snapshot of happy people in one scenario can be challenged by another snapshot of these same people in an argument. Regardless of the actual reality, two arguments are presented by the two differing snapshots. By interpreting both snapshots, a greater reality can be understood. The excerpts from “Don’t Smile for the Camera”, “Who We Were: A Snapshot History of America”, and “America 24/7: A Family Photograph Album” all describe this snapshot effect. Lenore Skenazy first speaks of how they only recorded the “Kodak moments” of their young children’s lives. These snapshots made the Skenazy family seem like the perfect happy family regardless of the daily dysfunction associated with the everyday lives of most families. The second excerpt explains how photography began and its power in creating these snapshots. The third excerpt tells of how photographs define our character. Therefore, with these photographs or snapshots, we can make our own sense of reality.
No comments:
Post a Comment