I don't know what my pictures "mean", per se. I know what they are. I know what I wanted to capture, what I wanted to highlight, discover, reveal. But what does that mean? I guess it's up for interpretation - or anyway, I can't stop people from forming their own theories. But I don't usually like hearing them.
In class a few weeks ago our teacher spent several minutes speaking about the person in one of my photos. I couldn't help but be insulted, because while it was an educated and sympathetic guess, it really wasn't anywhere close to the truth. The events that led up to this person being in this state when I took that picture were nothing like what was surmised. But it was anyone's guess, I suppose. Photos are like those choose your own ending stories, only there is a real ending, somewhere out there. I guess people would rather use their imagination than know the truth.
I showed this picture yesterday in class, receiving reactions of discomfort, disbelief, disgust. And then I told them it was my own neck. I'm not ashamed or bothered by my scar - in fact, I kind of like it. But these things don't matter when you see the picture. You'll make your own decisions about how the subject feels, about why they did one thing instead of another, about what happened thirty seconds before or two seconds after the shutter clicked. And I can't stop you. And I think I'll stop trying.
1 comment:
It's kind of a double-edged sword. I mean, I always find it funny what some people will come up with from some of my pictures. So what if it isn't the truth? So long as it's creative, I don't really care what people think from my photos, as long as they realize that their interpretation is, most likely, nowhere close to the actuality of the photo.
I was personally shocked at this photo because I never noticed the scar before. I'm usually better at picking up on these kind of things. :/
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