#//More often than not; they accidentally/unconscious project their thoughts into their object of affection's heads

[orphiicheartd]

Both Robin and Sunday have exceptional control over their thought projection, having barred their minds from being perceived or read by others, even fellow Halovians even each other, but their fine-tune control goes right out the window whenever they find themselves enamoured by someone

[photo-art-w21]

Interpreting Images: Visual “Meaning” or “Symbolism”.

Hi Class,

How can an image have meaning? Let’s consider some ways. To begin the weekend and most likely continuing to think about your photos for Monday, here are some words of motivation to hopefully inspire your explorations.    

Creating meaning and symbolism is something that we seem to learn to do in various ways over time, and this gives us a good reason to practice the forming of symbolism, or at least considering the possibilities of symbolism in what we see, if we choose to do so. (Or not. We don’t have to.)

(2018)

In class we talked about the potential meaning of photos and how to possibly interpret images. I say “possible” because I recognize that there are multiple ways to interpret images as opposed to just one way. I asked you for this next week to start thinking about the idea of objects and meaning. For your assignment, try to make 10 photos that have a symbolism or meaning to you. These photos can be of objects or scenes, or even people. Mainly just think about this as a concept and see how it affects your photos, but overall I’m more interested in you having fun or being inspired while shooting your photos. So, do what you need to do to keep your head in that spirit of things. Don’t get too bogged down with this concept if you have no interest in it.  We’ll take a look on Monday.

Now let me speak some more about this concept and hopefully it will serve to motivate you to experiment with the idea. I’m about to get a little heady so bear with me...    

Maybe you remember the image below that I showed in class that I had made in 2007. The title in this photo does a lot to reveal some kind of potential meaning behind these things rather than just being empty objects, even though they could be. It really depends on how we choose to see them. The title implies a context that helps our imagination to think about the history of these objects more. We might start to relate to the image not by relating to the object but by relating to what they mean to someone else, the person who might have owned the objects. Simply understanding that they are significant objects to someone else might be enough.

(Dad's Work Boots on Swedish Horses and Joni. St. Paul, MN 2007)

While out photographing once in 2007, working on a photo project about some apartment buildings in Minneapolis, I met a woman named Linda who said that I could photograph her apartment. Without knowing anything specific, I noticed this stack of objects that just seemed like it had some kind of significance. I asked Linda if I could photograph the objects. She answered, you must be an artist. I think I smiled and didn’t know how to answer. She said, “I respect that.” She then told me about the objects but just to the point of describing them by name only, not going very much into the back story of each object. Her description was brief, mainly just as the title ended up:, “Those are my Dad's work boots, I grew up on a farm in Wisconsin and that’s barn paint on his boots. I’m Swedish and involved in the Swedish heritage center. These are Swedish horses I used for something, and oh,.. Joni. with a sigh.” (a Joni Mitchell record cover). Even though she didn’t go into great detail, the way that she said what the objects were communicated that they were significant objects to her. Without knowing the back story, this is an example of an image where the meaning is mostly unknown to the viewer in terms of specific stories known only to Linda. However it’s still somewhat universal to understand that these object could be meaningful in general to someone. Thinking about the image and knowing that they are hers, I notice that my mind starts to imagine Linda in earlier points of her life, living within the significant moments of these objects. 

Sometimes we may not need a full story about a photo to form a sense of meaning. A few words or a title can often serve to lead us in a direction of thinking though.

(I wish that summer would last a little longer) September 2019

It seems that imagination is a key component involved in what we’re discussing. As we start to think more about the meaning of images and creating meaning ourselves, it seems like an interesting approach to explore would be to think about it in a less intimidating way by thinking in terms of “symbolism” rather than “meaning”. The two concepts are related but I believe “symbolism” is a little less lofty of a word or concept, at least to serve as a starting point. It seems to me that “symbolism” and “metaphor” are things that exist because of our willingness to allow for our imagination to be active, because “symbolism” or “meaning” usually involves the evocation of something that is not directly present in what we are seeing with our eyes. 

Symbolism is more related to what we see in our mind, that has been triggered or associated by initially seeing a referential object with our eyes. 

(October 2017)

In the photo above, you see the imprint of the leaf on the concrete but does it make you think about the actual leaf, a tree, or even just the changing of a season, the movement of time, the cycle of life?

Because our mind can follow tangents down infinite roads of thought, what we see with our eyes and what that reminds us of or represents doesn’t have to be obviously known by others, but the more we practice the skill of interpreting images with others the more common our understandings become and start to align or become more universal. We can come to a more common visual literacy together over time with practice and exposure to this idea together in conversation. 

(Andreas Gursky, Bahrain I, 2005)

It can be pretty confusing to try and dissect how meaning or symbolism through images actually works, and less fun to over-analyze it, but it’s interesting to at least consider the mechanics of what is possibly at work for at least a moment. Imagination is something that is probably working all of the time, allowing us to envision what we might do next in the day without having to actually be doing it, which basically lets us set tasks, plan, and make schedules for ourselves. So in this way it seems that imagination could be tied to our logic systems in general and we have the ability to use imagination for different purposes. We can use imagination in very practical and functional ways and it seems that we might also use our imagination to activate or acknowledge our emotions or have empathy for others.  

(Henri Cartier-Bresson, Rue Mouffetard, Paris, 1954)

If we are thinking of imagination in terms of being something active and also passive, meaning that we can both choose to be open to it, running along with it, letting it guide our thinking, and yet also have imagination constantly working involuntarily like when we unconsciously breath air, it seems to leave a lot of room for interpreting how symbolism or meaning is actually operating in our lives. 

(Image by Lucas Zimmerman)

It seems that either way, “meaning” and “symbolism” are based on the building of knowledge and personal reference, built up through the experience of living our lives. We agree by a certain age that a green traffic light symbolizes that it is safe to go, and a red light symbolizes that we are supposed to stop. We learned that symbolism. Who first created this symbolism? This is one way that we create meaning even though it is not a particularly deeply sentimental form of meaning. What do you think about these theories?

I’ve just described symbolism in a very technical way in terms of how it might work as a process. To talk about it more simply, “symbolism” or “meaning” is something that you think of personally, naturally, and surely already do by your own nature. You just might not directly think about it or acknowledge it in those terms. 

An example of sentimental or personal meaning in an image that I can share is with this photo I have of my Mom that is probably the most meaningful photo I own. It has always been this way and I never had to decide that it was going to be meaningful. It just immediately was this way. But even so, I kind of did make a decision that it would be meaningful to me at some point when I saw it and I think it has become more meaningful to me over time.

In the photo she is probably 10 or 11 years of age. It’s a black and white photo. She’s is being photographed in a very soft light against a dark background and is staring right into the camera, as if she was asked to do so. I imagine that my grandfather, her father, took the photo. Who else would she look at with such trust and openness at that age? I believe my grandmother is slightly in the photo just out of frame to the left. The photo has a finger print that appears on the top left corner of the photo and I imagine this to be either of my grandparent’s accidental fingerprint, now permanently part of the image. The back of the photo says May 3rd, 1959, written in a handwriting that is probably my Grandmother’s.

This is a very special photo to me for a number of reasons that relate to being sentimental but I think there’s also a universal meaning or understanding of why it might be meaningful to me. I think you all could relate to it being meaningful to me even if you don’t know specifically why. It’s in this way that I think empathy is related to meaning. The viewer doesn’t need to know the entire specific story or all of the facts of an image to allow the image to be meaningful. In this way, it could be that an image is an open door to meaning waiting to be walked through if it draws the viewer in to do so. 

Think about your approaches to meaning in as open of a way as you want to. What is meaning when related to an image? 

(Minor White, Beginnings: Frosted Window, Rochester NY, 1962)

Less sentimental interpretations of meaning exist and its totally acceptable to approach it more visually open and undefined. For example, in class I used Elizabeth’s photo of the wet street and puddle as an example to explore my imagination through what I thought might be a common reading of the image. I thought that even though it was a wet road, it reminded me of a outer space and stars, and it seemed like others had a similar reaction. It then made me think of pushing that idea forward by finding a photo of the moon to be paired with it, making the symbolism of space more obvious even though it was probably not intended when Elizabeth made the photo. (photo below by: Elizabeth Blue, your classmate.)

This approach is an example of applying symbolism to images that are possibly less sentimental than the previous example of my Mom’s photo, or the photo of Linda’s items shown earlier. You could almost say that it is more of a visual association rather than meaning but it certainly could be meaningful to someone under the right view.

Finally, after all of this, just think about how the images that you make might be meaningful or symbolic to you, even if only after you’ve taken them, and be as open with the interpretation as you want to be. There are no real rules or expectations other than to think about it. Be as loose with the terms as you wish. Again, try not to get too bogged down by thinking you have to be very serious or dramatic with this. Alternatively, you can be simple and humorous if that’s how you see it. Remember the cat food cans on the watermelon photo that I showed in class? That is humorous I would say. It would seem that humor alone is just as meaningful as heavier topics might be meaningful. If you think about it, anything has the potential to be significant or hold meaning if you choose to acknowledge it in that way, either before or after the present moment. (Gabriel Orozco, Cats and Watermelons, 1992)

Finally, it is perfectly fine to take a photo without knowing if it means anything or not. Don’t let this conversation about meaning intimidate you out of the natural impulse to just shoot a photo when it feels right. It's ok if you don’t have a meaning for it. You might discover it later, or never at all. It's totally fine either way. Meaning is fluid.

(Alec Soth, Falls 26, 2005)

I just wanted to get your brains thinking. Overall, just make 10 photos of any kind and try to make them interesting. That is the main goal.

Have fun,

Phillip