A frame of Fujifilm as the scanner saw it.

 

I think the subjects that have been discussed on TOP (view bottom of the post for links) are far more important than many would like them to be. While there is something as being too theoretical, we are in fact discussing the most important aspects of photography as a medium and art form.

We al know that photography isn’t truth in a box and that prints are just paper with images on them. As a visual medium though, there is nothing that comes as close to representing how something looked like at a certain moment in time as photography (including film). It is a far better record than anything stored or made from our own memory and imagination. That is why photography can be used as evidence in a court of law, as a witness statement in newspapers or as snapshots of historical events in a family photo album.

As kids we learn how images are two-dimensional representations of the visual world. Even small children can make the distinction between a cartoon and a film or a painting and a photograph. The latter two are in fact illusions of a historic reality. In fact we learn through a cognitive process a visual language that makes our brain associate images with real world objects, just as words are associated with memories of objects, feelings and experiences. 

The important distinction is one of truth. It is important in many circumstances for a viewer to know if the photograph he is looking at is a record of what the camera captured through a mechanical-chemical-electronical (whatever) process pointed at a certain place at a certain moment in time, or if the photographer has altered the film or RAW file to a degree that makes the image more a subjective than an objective representation of that scene. 

The transformation from film to digital is an important one. It is undebatable that manipulation is more widespread and easy than before. As such both photographers and viewers of photography will have to alter their perception of the medium and question it’s ability to represent truth. Art is no exact science, but evolve through discussion and practice. As professional photographers I think we are obliged to reflect on the issue and understand that it affects how the public perceives our work. It isn’t just an aesthetical issue, it is one of credibility that greatly affect the entire medium and profession of photography. A photograph is always an image, but an image isn’t always a photograph.

In response to the photography/film/digital/truth debate:
http://theonlinephotographer.typepad.com/the_online_photographer/2007/08/the-article-by-.html
http://theonlinephotographer.typepad.com/the_online_photographer/2007/08/six-comment-on-.html#comments