30.04.2014

Communicating through photographs.

30.04.2014

Communicating through photographs.

The communication function of photographs.

Photographs have three essential functions: as records, as a vehicle of communication, and expression.
In the blogs thus far, I have discussed the expression and records functions of photographs. Today, I would like to discuss the communication function of photographs.
Whether for expression or as a record of some sort, the photograh is the ultimate vehicle for communicating something to the world.
As a form of media for social communication, the fact photos with their high potential as records — journalism and documentation, etc. — have been used is because of their important function for communication. News photographs are the best examples of this type of media.
The advent of news photography in the 1920s to the 1930s in Europe caused a revolution in photography throughout the world. A milestone in news photography was the creation of Life Magazine in 1936 and Magnum photos in 1947.
Looking at photos from the period, development of photography and printing technology of course played a big role in the communication of news photographs at the start. Also, the need to respond to the public’s desire to be able to see what is happening right here and now and to communicate it immediately. This role has not diminished to this day.

As this is my last blog, the pieces I will showcase are a few extras I chose from the “Expression” series.   “Expression” is the key concept in my photographic creation process.

When I created this composition, I deeply thought about not only the subject but also the way of communicating the subject.

I think the fact that the communication process of the artistic photos is different from other types and this has a large impact at the time of viewing the piece.
For example, photos have a completely different communciation aspect depending on whether the photographic compositions were created from a modernist or post-modernist point of view or method. As a result, the style or even the title that the photographer assigns to the photographic creation at the time of communication will also vary.

This makes the multifariousness of modern photograph expression difficult to understand. This difficulty also makes it more interesting, however.

Photos have three main functions: as records, as a communication method, and as expression. If you think deeply about these three functions, they are all very helpful or useful to people in some way.

 

ERI KUWATA

Born in Tokyo in 1990, and now living in Tokyo.
A graduate from the Nihon Daigaku (Japan University) Fine Arts Photograhy Department in 2013, she went on to complete a Master Degree in Fine arts, Specialization: film, at the same institution.
2013 Recipient of head of the Fine Arts Department award.

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