The Photograph - Another Moment in Time

Watching Charlie Rose this evening. He has on Sally Mann. I had not heard of her but from the half hour on Charlie Rose, I was impressed with both her work and herself. What she offered seemed so rich. Perhaps it was simply fresh. . . foreign to me. I know nothing of photographers and photography. I doubt it is purely the novelty. Once again the beauty of Charlie Rose is evident. I have something new to explore in Sally Mann and her work.

The show that night was focused on photography with not only Sally Mann but two others and that focus did make me pause. The last thing I wrote focused on storytelling and the corresponding technology that has effected and changed the craft. As I take in the show I realize that the photograph is responsible for the moment.

Stories, whether read, spoken, or viewed provide a progression, a sequence. This happens, then that, and then somehow this. The beauty and wonder of a story is in that sequence. Photography, however, locks you in the moment. It captures and holds the moment. It might shock or provoke. A photograph frames or is framed. A photograph is focused.

To go back to Sally Mann she said several times in the course of her conversation with Charlie that a photograph has a story. At least that was what I was left with. For her that is success. Perhaps. She also comments how critical it is to capture the right moment. One tenth of second before or after that moment and you missed it. You missed the story.

I am not sure it is the story that is missed. It is the image that changes in that moment, in that tenth of a second. It is what is seen, what is viewed, that is effected. For the viewer, that image makes you want to see more. The image makes you want to know the story behind the image. You ask what is going on in that photograph. The image pulls you in.

I know, who am I to make assertions on something I know nothing about. I began this essay with the premise that I know nothing of photography. Yet it is obvious that a photograph cannot offer a story. How could it. It can only invite one to find a story. It can only pull the viewer's eyes to it. The best photograph will lead one to a story. You will search for meaning in that photograph and that translates to a story. A story provided by either the photographer or imagined by the viewers. Either way, it starts with only the desire or need to see and know more about that photograph. It begins with a response- one sees and one responds. The photograph provokes. The photograph leads one to ask what it is that is being viewed. With a successful photograph a story is what is arrived at.

The most interesting photograph is perhaps the one that leads to incredulity about what is seen. That is the photograph that leads one to ask what is really being viewed. That is the photo that leads one to a story, which then is questioned. The story is not believed, the photograph is not believed, yet the photograph is there before my eyes,

The beauty of photography it seems is again tied to storytelling. That said my original intent was to suggest that it is not story but moment. It freezes time. You see an image of a beach and you can smell the ocean. To witness an image of a battle is to smell gunpowder and sulfur. It is all in the moment and so sensual. It is all senses. You see and you taste and you smell. You can hear the gulls, the cannons. It is not about what happened the moment before, nor about what will happen.  It is what is there before you - and your response.

Story or no story, a photograph evokes,

For those who are not familiar with Sally Mann do check out her site - sallymann.com/. And I do encourage you to check out the Charlie Rose segment that inspired the above, Interestingly, the photographer that followed her was Russell James, whose work most have seen. Among other things his credits include Victoria Secrets and his conversation is interesting too.