#PrabhakarKafle

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Blogpost #6

Bruce Davidson Subway. New York City, USA. 1980. © Bruce Davidson | Magnum Photos

Bruce Davidson Subway. New York City, USA. 1980. © Bruce Davidson | Magnum Photos

Bruce Davidson Jimmy Armstrong, 'The Dwarf'. Palisades, New Jersey, USA. 1958. © Bruce Davidson | Magnum Photos

Bruce Davidson East 100th Street. New York City. USA. 1966. © Bruce Davidson | Magnum Photos

W. Eugene Smith World War II. The Pacific Campaign. Battle of Saipan Island. Japanese civilians emerging from hiding. Saipan Island. June, 1944. W. Eugene Smith © 1965, 2017 The Heirs of W. Eugene Smith / Magnum P

W. Eugene Smith Takako Isayama, a 12-year-old fetal (congenital) victim of the Minamata disease, with her mother. Minamata. Japan. 1972 © W. Eugene Smith | Magnum Photos

W. Eugene Smith Dr. Ceriani with Lee Marie Wheatly, a two and a half year old child who needed emergency treatment after having been kicked in the head by a horse. Kremmling, Colorado, USA. 1948. W. Eugene Smith © 1965, 2017 The Heirs of W. Eugene Smith / Magnum Photos © W. Eugene Smith

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I find it impressive how connected Bruce Davidson is to some of his subjects from his photography- be it in his early in the circus with Jimmy Armstrong- The Dwarf or later in his Brooklyn gang series. "If I am looking for a story at all, it is in my relationship to the subject - the story that tells me, rather than that I tell," says Davidson. I feel like this adds to the motivation and meaning to the work which will end up reflecting in the final result.

From Arthur Goldsmith’s interview with Eugene Smith, I agree with Smith’s view against available-light purists. In addition to being a frozen frame of a scene, photography is also an artistic rendition of how the photographer would see the scene. So if I, as a photographer, think that the subject would look better with some additional fill light, that is how I would like the audience to view the scene as well. That way they will be able to look at the scene through my lens. In addition, I find Smith’s way of analyzing the scene fascinating- especially when he describes to the interviewer how he would take a picture of him.

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Blogpost #5

Jamel Shabazz. The Flatbush Crew, Flatbush, Brooklyn, NYC, 1983

When it comes to street photography, I agree more with Jamel Shabazz's philosophy of asking the subject's permission to take photos when appropriate to do so. Besides being sure that you are not encroaching on someone else's space, it also gives you the chance to know more about the subject. The photograph above embodies it very well. The connection between the subjects and the photographer doesn't just end at that- they know and trust each other.

Bruce Gilden. Cemetery, Port-au-Prince, Haiti, 1988

On the other end of the spectrum is Bruce Gilden. Gilden's photography presents an element of surprise and randomness to the subject which can be seen in the photo above. The photo above is an example of just that. The motion blur of the background suggests a motion of the camera while taking the photo and the man on the left is looking at the camera somewhat surprised. However, the power of the photo does come from the raw emotions of the lady in focus.

Boogie (Vladimir Milivojevich). Member Of The Bloods Gang Flashing His Guns In The Hallway Of A Public Housing Project Building, Brooklyn, 2003

Boogie (Vladimir Milivojevich)

Boogie embodies this mixture of free spirit and risk/adventure in photography by taking it to a higher level. The above photo is a good representative of his photographic depiction of the underworld of New York- something which very few people would dare to do.

Mary Ellen Mark. Boys playing on the beach, 2003

Mary Ellen Mark. Pride March, New York City, 1997

I love how prominent and distinct the subjects are in Mary Ellen Mark's photographs. I believe her use of flash helps achieve this. The subjects in both the pictures above look as if the photo was taken in the studio with proper lighting while still capturing the candidness of the moment.

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Blogpost #14

The calmness of Blue

The conflict of Red

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Blogpost #13

The color blue signifies a sense of coolness and distance. Rebecca Solnit evokes this effect of blue in her essay The Blue of Distance. Reading the essay teleports the reader back to a time when Salt Lake still had water. A scene forms in the reader's mind. The sky is clear blue with a few stars and a clear bright crescent moon just rising over the horizon. You can see the reflection of the moon in the dark blue water of the lake which extends for miles to the horizon where it meets the sky. The author is walking, not on damp sand, but in knee-deep water in the lake at night. Everything is calm like the color blue.

On the other hand, Derek Jarman’s On seeing Red evokes a mix of conflicting emotions and imagery. I guess such is the nature of the color red. It is the color of a rose and the color of war. It represents the warmth and calmness of love and the agony and aggression of the fire. As Jarman talks in the essay, it is the same red that is the color of Little Red Riding Hood as well as the color of the eyes of the wolf chasing her in the forest. I have tried to depict this conflict in the collage posted in Blogpost #14.

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Blogpost #12

TS Eliot’s most famous poem The WasteLand is a commentary on the modern society. Throughout the poem, he draws upon the readers' imagination evoking imageries to comment on the isolation and alienation of modern life. The poem is full of scenes from everyday life.

The poem starts with an image of a female character remembering going sledding with her cousin when they were children. Life has changed for her as she grows up and she is sad at the loss of this human connection. Eliot uses another imagery of one only being able to see one’s own shadows and nothing beyond that to signify this isolation. This same emotion is evoked by another imagery later in the first part of the poem of countless people walking across the London Bridge looking down at their own feet.

In addition to the isolation, one can also see Eliot’s commentary on modern consumerism. In the second part, he shows a contrast between the richness of physical wealth with jewels, perfumes, and marbles and the absence of any answer to the human call for connection and emotional support. One is surrounded by “dead people” in the sense that there is no one to answer one’s calls.

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Blogpost #11-a

During the mid-20th century photos and photo-magazines were popular forms of media. Among them, Life Magazine was the most popular. It is estimated to have reached a quarter of the American population regularly. As such, they yielded great power. From what I saw in the exhibition, the publishers and editors of Life were aware of this power and the responsibility that came with it. This can be seen since the start of the magazine's prospectus. “Pictures have become a dynamic power in the Fourth Estate of the 20th century,” they understand. This awareness and thoughtfulness is seen repeatedly during the time the magazine was active. Notably when making decisions about publishing controversial images, like that of the Holocaust.

Prospectus, Life Magazine

Life's stance on Publishing Holocaust Photographs

From the exhibition, Alfredo Jaar’s works stuck out the most to me; his ”The Silence of Nduwayezu” is one of the most powerful artforms I have seen. I had heard about the event tragic Rwandan genocide before and the fact that around a million people died during that. But Jaar’s work gives a soul to that number. He lays out 1 million slides on a light table where each slide has a translucent picture of a kid’s eyes. ‘Eyes are the window to the soul,’ they say, and looking into these slides with a magnifier, one looks into the eyes of a kid who saw his parents killed before his own eyes. And presenting a million of these eyes, and thus stories, is a powerful way of depicting the scale and extent of the tragedy which just saying the number ‘1 million’ cannot justify.

The Silence of Nduwayezu, Alfredo Jaar, 1997

Rwanda, Alfredo Jaar, 1994

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Blogpost #xA

Nothing says only celebrities should be photographed and made posters of. Yet, we do make an unconscious association between the two. In Faces Places, Agnes Varda and JR break this association. The film revolves around stories of ordinary French people and places away from the shiny lights of the cities. They meet people from different ages and modes of life- from a waitress to a farmer to dockers. These stories and people are connected by Agnes and JR’s energy to get to know them, photograph them, and make murals of them. With this, they dissolve the unconscious interconnection between being photographed and celebrity status. In some sense, they immortalize these people in their local community.

Besides the thread of stories of everyday life in rural France, the film is also a story of an extraordinary friendship between Agnes and JR. The organic chemistry between them getting to know each other through the course of the film brings a smile to the viewer. Even with one being in the early 30s and the other in the late 80s, their friendship makes the age gap between them invisible.

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Blogpost #10

In his essay “Notes of a Native Son”, James Baldwin portrays his relationship with his father as a lens to talk about racism. He focuses on two aspects mainly. First, the psychological trauma racism has had on African American people and second, how hard it is to understand the trauma without similar experience and how it could cause distancing, including with family.

Baldwin’s father moved to Harlem from New Orleans. He faced a lot of racism which had an everlasting effect on him- psychologically and socially. Baldwin calls this 'the weight of white people in the world'. It had caused his father to not trust anyone which severely affected his relationship with others including within the family.

African American people have been facing this trauma for generations. The coincidence of his father's death after the trauma, his nineteenth birthday around which he understands it, and his youngest sibling's birth symbolize this vicious cycle. As a child, Baldwin never understood this and even hated his father for how he was. It was only after he was away from home that he faced the harsh reality of the racism from which his father had protected him. It was only then that he discovered the weight of white people that had crushed his ancestors including his father. It is then that he misses his father for answers for he now understands his father's struggles that he had earlier failed to notice. Baldwin's own words summarize it beautifully- 'Thou knowest this man’s fall; but thou knowest not his wrassling.'

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Blogpost #9

I chose to cover Brassai (Gyula Halász) for this assignment. He was born in Hungary and moved to Paris in 1924 where he got involved in the artistic community with the likes of Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dali. I found Brassai’s journey into photography non-traditional, and thus fascinating. Working initially as a journalist who did not like the photographic medium, Brassai got into photography after having to use a camera for one of his assignments.

I looked at Brassai’s works in his arguably most famous book- Paris by Night. The book contains 64 photos he took capturing the nightlife of Paris- from busy streets to empty train stations to night workmen.

Brassai, Paris by Night cover (since the book I got from library just has a green hard binding cover, I got this from the internet)

Night photography can be challenging with an analog camera. Despite that, Brassai’s composition and use of whatever light is available from the street lamps are beautiful. This looks especially mesmerizing in the matte print of the book. Consider the photo of a curved sidewalk below from the book. The framing of the gutter starting from the bottom left and curving in and out just within the frame is pleasing to look at.

Brassai. An open gutter snakes across an empty street. Paris by Night.

In this other photo below, the dispersed light and silhouette of the buildings give a dreamy painting-like look.

Brassai. On the roofs of Paris. Paris by Night.

His photos also show the bustling nightlife of Paris. The medium exposure photo below while the traffic is still but people on sidewalks are moving gives a ghostly appearance to the sidewalks.

Brassai. A glimpse of the Boulevards at the Place de l'Opera. Paris by Night.

He also frames light in his photography to guide the viewer’s eyes along different areas of the image. Below are two excellent examples- one of a bird’s eye view of a traveling fair, and the other of an empty train station with lamps of different brightness.

Brassai. Traveling fairs regale. Paris by Night.

Brassai. last train out. Paris by Night.

And it is not just light, but also the framing of shadows and silhouettes as in the photos below.

Brassai. A young prostitute between Sebasto and the old Beaubourg quarter. Paris by Night.

Brassai. Fire!. Paris by Night.

Brassai. The Eiffel Tower lights up. Paris by Night.

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Blogpost #9-1

The first episode of Ways of Seeing by John Berger makes me think about the changing concept of reproducibility in art with technology. Consider forms of art like oil paintings. As Berger talks about, any attempt to reproduce it fails to match because of the fundamental knowledge that only one of the painting was ever painted. Even if the same artist makes a second attempt, it is a different piece of art. But if you consider a more modern form of art, this limitation does not exactly apply. Consider photography. Once the photo is captured in the film or digital sensor, the variables of the scene and the photographer’s vision is frozen. One one can develop multiple copies of it- each representing the same art. Same with other digital arts too.

At the same time, I cannot help but think about what it does to the value of the art. Are oil paintings more valuable than photographs just because they cannot be replicated? Given the difference in price for which paintings are sold in comparison to photos, it does seem to be the case somewhat.

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Blogpost #8

At a first glance, Magnum Photos seemed to me like a 21st-century equivalent of a guild from the medieval period- an association of craftsmen from a profession formed for the collective betterment of the members. On a closer look, I find the vision behind Magnum Photos very commendable. In a world of photography where the work otherwise is very much constrained by assignments from magazines or other third-party agencies, Magnum helps photographers retain their agency. Plus unlike with commissioned works, photographers retain the copyright to their work. This helps photographers express their creativity even better. I love this idea. But at the same time, I cannot help but think about how exclusive the group looks. Their website mentions that they normally accept only one photographer per year which makes it look to some extent like an elite club.

Raghu Rai

Raghu Rai is one of the few photographers from a South Asian background I saw on Magnum Photos. Rai was born in a village in now-Pakistan. He worked as the chief photographer for The Statesman newspaper for 10 years before joining Magnum Photos in 1977 through an invitation from Henri Cartier-Bresson. His works, some of which can be seen here, portray raw India- from day to day life of people to celebrations. Rai has been awarded multiple awards including the Padmashree- one of India’s highest civilian awards.

Raghu Rai. Uttar Pradesh. Benares (Varanasi), India 1990. From Magnum Photos

Raghu Rai. During Prayer. Calcutta, India. 1979. From Magnum Photos

Raghu Rai. Local commuters at Church Gate railway station. Mumbai, India. 1995. From Magnum Photos

Raghu Rai. Through the doors of a wrestling school. Delhi, India. 1989. From Magnum Photos

Raghu Rai. A rickshaw man taking a nap in Jama Masjid Market. Delhi, India. 2005. From Magnum Photos

Raghu Rai. Celebrating the arrival of spring, and the festival of colors Holi at Ravindra Bharti Bhawan. Kolkata, India. 2006. From Magnum Photos

Raghu Rai. Migrating Seagulls in Jamuna River. Delhi, India. 1989. From Magnum Photos

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Blogpost #7

The documentary ‘The Salt of the Earth’ shows the power of photography as a medium through Sebastio Salgado’s works. Salgado’s photographs of people and situations from all around the world speak by themselves articulating stories by capturing the visual and emotional attention of viewers. The documentary captures this very well- going through his works in Brazil and Ethiopia and Kuwait and Rwanda. The following picture from his work, also shown early on in the documentary, stuck out to me. The photo of the workers in the gold mines in Brazil conveys story that pages and pages of words cannot.

Sebastio Salgado, from Workers: An Archaeology of the Industrial Age 1986–92 Serra Pelada, Brazil 1986

These photos also do another job- they make the invisible visible. They shed light on these stories which would very well go unnoticed otherwise. It is this power of photographic media that has inspired me in the readings and discussions so far. We saw this when looking at other photographers’ works too including Bruce Davidson and Eugene Smith.

The documentary also portrays Salgado as someone who was on a mission- who knew what he wanted to do and why. Because the situations he was in- from famine in Africa to oil well leaks in Kuwait- requires real determination and courage of steel. Even with that determination and courage, I can’t help but think how he could keep his sanity and work with the world collapsing around him.

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Blogpost #4

I find it interesting how the German Leipzig City Advertiser called out any desire to do photography as blasphemy because ‘man is created in the image of god and god’s image cannot be captured by any human-machine.’ This seems especially ironic given the meaning painting, sculpture, and other forms of art have had in society. Paintings and sculptures try not only to capture the ‘god’s image’ through the lens of the painter’s eyes but even create an image of god themselves from the painter’s imagination.

It is also fascinating to think how common photography is now and how more or less numb we have become to being photographed and seeing our photographs. But the author compares photography during its beginning to psychoanalysis- how photography made people aware of the unconscious. Previously you could see self only in mirrors, that too when you intentionally stand and look at the self in the mirror directly. But photography enabled freezing time and looking at it. You could see yourself and your surrounding in a more candid situation. This also made me curious as to how photography would evolve in the next century or so. What things we are not used to now will be taken for granted then?

Newhaven Group, David Octavius Hill (1843-47; E.P. Goldschmidt, Ltd.)

Edinburgh. Greyfriars' Churchyard, David Octavius Hill (1843-47; E.P. Goldschmidt, Ltd.)

Afghans, David Octavius Hill (1843; Robert O. Dougan Collection)

Poor Musicians (Notzeitmusikanten), August Sander (1925; Die Photographische Sammlung / SK Stiftung Kultur - August Sander Archiv, Cologne / ARS, NY)

Young Girl in Circus Caravan, August Sander (1926; 2022 Die Photographische Sammlung / SK Stiftung Kultur - August Sander Archiv, Cologne / ARS, NY

Fête des Invalides, Eugène Atget (1898, Abbott-Levy Collection)

Bords de Seine, Eugène Atget (1898; Abbott-Levy Collection)

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Blogpost #3

Eye Tracking

✼　 ҉ 　✼　 ҉ 　✼　 ҉ 　✼　 ҉ 　✼　 ҉ 　✼　 ҉ 　✼　 ҉ 　✼　 ҉

Imagined Photographs

For our morning promenade, Prabhakar and I decided to stick around the Kendall Square area and walk aimlessly. Despite being upperclassmen at MIT, we both had sadly not taken the time to explore the area in-depth and were delightfully surprised by the many new sights we passed. Some of the things we noted down for appreciation include:

The wafting fragrance of food being prepared in Cava before the restaurant officially opened

The slanted “P” on the Parking sign outside a garage

A man emerging from the depths of a construction manhole

A vibrant yellow WB Manson truck turning the corner

A mural outside Blue Bottle Café composed by local teen artists (there were photographers depicted on there!)

A man carrying groceries from Brothers’ Marketplace, one bag was reusable and the other one was paper

A sculpture of a central neuron with a transparent glass center that captured the morning sunlight (I wonder if it lights up at night)

Multicolored kayaks littering a dock and a seagull flying overhead

Half staff flags (I thought it was because of 9/11, but a Google search later, and we found out it was to commemorate the Queen’s passing)

Our pictures, though, were the ideal scenes we both thought encapsulated our experiences of the morning city bustle best.

Ideal Image 1: Coffee and T

Description: A relatively tall, middle-aged man in a light gray shirt (single-striped sleeve) and light blue jean shorts is crossing the middle T-gate just as the T-train is rushing past him as it arrives. The T-gates split the picture slightly diagonally in half. The image focuses in on his side profile as he carries a dark gray backpack on his back (to work or study?). One hand is holding a steaming paper cup of coffee from Blue Bottle Cafe and the other is grasping a CharlieCard as he taps onto the platform. The overly bright overhead light is reflected on his slightly bald head. The train is screeching and blurring past him in the background, and a Square-it Cheese ad is on display on the side (a dark blue backdrop with the vibrant yellow of a grilled cheese, slightly burnt, on a plate). There are few more people, blurred, already waiting on the platform and standing further in the back. Everything except the man and the train ad is black and white in order maintain attention on the two subjects.

Ideal Image 2: Chaos at the Crossing

Description: This picture is taken from a corner of the crossing facing Dunkin’ Donuts/Shy Bird (blurred) in Kendall. A man with a distinct moustache is sipping hot coffee while glancing at his phone in front of the Dunkin’ shop. While there is no actual sky in the photo, a puddle of water (left over from yesterday's rain) located at the center of the crossing reflects an image of a skyscraper and the very vibrant blue sky. Different styles of people are crossing the street (the walk light is on), all at the same time. A man dressed in a pressed dark blue suit walks with confident strides, carrying a bright red rose and an anticipatory/excited expression. A mother (who looks both ways and watches for cars before crossing) is wearing a black, informal knee-length dress and pushing a black stroller with a little kid in it engrossed with an i-Pad. Finally, a young, casually dressed, Asian man (who is looking at camera wondering what we’re doing), is carrying a tiny white dog diagonally across the street. He has a backpack plastered with lots of pins, and he sidesteps the puddle when walking. There is also yellow-orange colored graffiti on an electric box next to the streetlight (looks like cartoon Garfield?). The shadows of skyscrapers nearby have covered the crosswalk, though the graffiti and the rest of the scene is still in sunlight.

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Blogpost #3

Photo: Henri Cartier-Bresson

Photo: William Klien

Photo: Robert Frank

Photo: Garry Winogrand

Imagined Photographs

I partnered with Audrey on this assignment and we went around Kendall Square and the Cambridge side of Longfellow bridge. We started from Ames street walking by the warm smell of Cava. It was just after 10am in morning. They were not open yet. However, the Blue Bottle cafe down the street was bustling with people rushing for their morning coffee. “Expensive but not very good,” Audrey says. Outside, two men probably in their late twenties sat at a table chatting and sipping coffee. Opposite the cafe, a narrow street ran between Broad Institute and Residence Inn hotel. The first floor of Broad had a parking sign with a bit slanted P. Just next to it, one corner of the street seemed to be blocked with a man emerging out of a manhole and 3 or 4 others in yellow construction vests surrounding him. Some construction work maybe. The street was enveloped in the shadow of the building and at the very end, you could see light shining on a whitish glass building (Draper) above which was clear blue sky. We walked along broadway crossing MIT COOP, Google’s office, Marriott, and other buildings. You could see a few puddles of water from the rain the day before reflecting the buildings and clear sky. There were few people on the street- some in a hurry and some with babies in strollers. We walked around a few blocks to reach a park next to the Watermark East apartment. The park had a neuron sculpture in the middle with glass beads capturing sunlight. “It would be cool if the beads light up at night,” we wondered. Next to the park was the Broad canal with a bunch of kayaks. We had almost reached Charles. You could see seagulls flying around. The colorful kayaks and the beautiful Boston skyline in the background on a sunny day brought the photographer out of Audrey. She got some fantastic photos with her phone. We went towards Charles from there. We could see the Museum of Science to the east with a wind turbine rotating at full speed on one side on top and the US flag half-staffed on the other side. We thought it was to commemorate 9/11 (the date that day was 9/14) but looking it up online showed us that it was as a mark of respect for the memory of Queen Elizabeth II. At the same time, a plane was flying over the museum. In the end, we came back to Kendall and went to the T-station there.

Scene 1: T and Coffee

Setting: Inside the Kendall T station; from just outside the gate where you tap CharlieCard

A middle-aged man in a light gray shirt and light blue jean shorts is trying to get to the train through the gates. You can see his side profile- he is holding a steaming hot coffee from Blue Bottle cafe in his left hand in front and his right hand is extended a bit back to tap his CharlieCard on the gate. The overhead lights provide good lighting to the scene and are also reflected on his head. He seems to be in a hurry and a bit relieved that he just made the train. The train is just arriving before him- you can see with a slight motion blur. But you can still make out the Square-it Cheese ad on the side with a picture of vibrant yellow grilled cheese on a dark blue background. There are a few more people blurred in the background couple of feet from the man on the other side of the gate waiting for the train to stop. Everything except the man and the train is black and white.

Scene 2: Chaos on the Crossing

Setting: At the intersection of Broadway and Third street; from the pavement opposite Shy Bird on Third street from a low angle

You can see Dunkin’ and Shy Bird in the background, slightly blurred. The neon light in Shy Bird’s sign is on but is overpowered by the daylight. At the table in front of Dunkin’, a man in his 20s with a distinct mustache is sipping hot coffee while looking at his phone. No sky is visible in the background but you can see a small puddle of water to the right of the zebra crossing reflecting the clear sky. Probably water from rain the day before. There is a walk sign on the crossing and you can see 3 people crossing. A man probably in his 50s in a pressed dark blue suit is almost at the end of the crossing. He is carrying a bright red rose with an anticipatory expression on his face. Behind him, is a middle-aged woman in a black informal dress. She is intently pushing a stroller and looks cautious of her surrounding while crossing the street. A child, probably 4 or 5 years old, is in the stroller engrossed in an iPad. At the far end of the intersection, a young Asian man is trying to cross the intersection diagonally. He is looking at the camera, aware of us, with a slight smile. He has a fluffy dog in his front and a backpack with many pins on his back. At the near end of the crosswalk (bottom left of the scene) is an electricity box with graffiti of Garfield. The shadow of the skyscraper is covering the crosswalk but this graffiti and the bottom right part of the scene are still in sunlight.

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Blogpost #2

I find the following two remarks Susan Sontag makes in her essay interesting:

Comparison of a camera to a gun: While I myself would not go to the extent of making that metaphor, I do agree to some extent with the point she raises- “to photograph people is to violate them … it turns people into objects that can be symbolically possessed.” Consider street photography. It aims to capture the candidness of the human world. So the person or subject may not be aware of the photograph being taken and thus might not always consent to it. Does that mean that the photographer is “violating” the subject’s space? Maybe? But still, street photography is one of the most popular types of photography. Where exactly is the ethical/moral boundary as to what you should and should not capture?

“A photograph is both a pseudo-presence and a token of absence.” Susan is talking about the photograph here, but I think it can be extended to the act of photography as well. With a camera, the photographer is only pseudo-present at the moment- they are seeing the world from the viewfinder- not their own eyes. So they themselves are absent from the world they see. As a result- the photograph also symbolizes the absence of the photographer from the world captured.

In the other text, Vilém Flusser mentions “technical images” as abstractions of the third order. So the interpretation is the function of both the underlying textual abstraction and further traditional image abstraction of the world. Since textual abstraction and traditional image abstraction both are subject to hallucinatory state of ‘textolatry’ and ‘idolatry’ respectively, does the interpretation of technical images also have these potential hallucinatory states? Maybe the selection of scenes photographers make (or are forced to make) influences the public view which they then project onto the world? Also, considering photographs can be more powerful than texts, is this hallucinatory state by images more powerful too?

(Questions I raise are italicized in the above paragraphs)