Critical Paper Responses

Philosophy of Photography by Vilem Flusser

I think the general concept of Vilem Flusser’s writing is that the camera and invention of photography is a fundamental in human history and civilization.  He talks about images as having much deeper meaning than just the flat print that they are physically. They represent relationships between the objects photographed that is up to interpretation of each viewer. On photograph can have limitless meanings depending upon who is looking at it.  Therefore, photos are not real because they are a constructed copy of our real world. It is a symbolic viewpoint, not an actual reality. The apparatus is merely a device for creating and sharing such viewpoints and to communicate with the world.  I find it interesting that a photographer is limited first by their knowledge and skill to use an apparatus, but secondly a photographer is limited by the apparatus itself since it is still just a machine. The machine cannot do everything in the photographer’s imagination. They have to tailor their idea to the capabilities of the apparatus.

Here I have quoted some of the significant aspects of photography that the author mentioned, and have written personal thoughts about each:

“Images are meant to render the world accessible and imaginable to man.”

 I think that this means since the world is so vast and complex it is hard to pay attention to everything all at once and to see the beauty in the little things. Most beauty gets lost in the craziness that is our lives. By taking photos, one is focusing on a specific aspect and simplifying the world in a way that it becomes more accessible to people and they can really appreciate the individual things captured.

"The invention of photography is just as decisive an historical turning point as was the invention of linear writing.”

Writing is about communicating, and communication is necessary for civilization to exist.  To say that photography is just as important as the invention of writing is saying that the type of communication that an artist can do in photography is just as important as the communication in writing. Photographers communicate to the audience feelings, thoughts, opinions and how they see the world, through their photos.  The amazing thing about communication through photography is that no language barrier exists. This is communication at its height. To be able to understand what someone across the globe is trying to tell us just by a photo is really fascinating if you think about it. Just like in our class presentations, we talked about many artists, most were not from the United States, and a few said they didn’t speak English well.  Yet we were able to understand the meaning behind their images. I think that is what the author meant by the invention of photography being just as historically important as the invention of writing.

“Apparatus are not meant to change the world, but to change the meaning of the world.”

The meaning of this quote is that apparatus changes how we see the world. We pick out different images and objects that have certain meanings to us and we shoot them how we want other people to see them. The photographer can control how other people see the world when they look at their photos. You can’t change the meaning of the world all at once, but little bit by little bit.