Ambiguity

Which is the correct caption for this photograph? (You can click on the picture to view a larger version first.)

"Entrepreneur Milton Hawley shows off his son 'Cannonball' in front of his establishment last Sunday morning."

or,

"Billiard specialist Charlie Tucker places daughter Rosalie behind the eight ball."

or,

"Police detective Thomas Brannan puzzles over abandoned baby and pram at the Hawley Garage."

I once listened to Museum of Modern Art photography curator John Szarkowski make a presentation where he proposed something similar: three completely plausible descriptions of the same photograph. And for the first time I realized the elemental deceit of photographs: they tell you everything and nothing at the same time. Forensic specialists may be able to determine that the Hawley Garage was located in Southern California, and the approximate date of the image from the reflection of the gas pump in the window. The pin-striped suit, starched collar and button shoes may also signify the years of such fashion. And certainly the pram manufacturer and years of production will confirm the above. But none of the photographic information will dispute any of the captions suggested.

Szarkowski, who passed away last year, recalls to my mind another New York genius, Leonard Bernstein: multi-talented, erudite and persuasive. My sister gave me Szarkowski's book "The Photographer's Eye" back in the 70s and it was a great introduction to his penetrating perceptions on photography.

A great mystery about photographs is how, as simple traces of light reflected from the subject, they can present something that may completely recast factuality. Diane Arbus once said, "A photograph is like a secret about a secret; the more it tells you the less you know."

I once devised the following class exercise on photographic conceptualization:

You are the only photographer in a small town. As you sit in your studio retouching some wedding photographs, the phone rings.

A contractor has purchased a plot of land downtown and wants to build a small office building. However, before he can clear the property of the dilapidated structure that still remains there, he must obtain permission from the Planning Commission. He wishes to hire you to make pictures of the eyesore to show why the community would be better served by replacing the shabby structure with his new offices. You accept the commission.

As you begin to assemble the equipment you will need for the job, the phone rings again. (You are still the only photographer in town.)

It is Mrs. Burton-Thomas, the president of the Historical Society. She relates her great concern that one of the local historical treasures of the community is threatened with demolition. She wishes to hire you to photograph the building to help to muster support in the community to save the building. Your passion for history is aroused and you accept the job.

You decide to begin on both buildings the same day. As you arrive on the job, you finally come to the realization that both projects are the same building! How do you proceed?

At this point in the class we would begin to brainstorm the options we have as photographers to make the images that would serve these antipodal purposes. Many of the decisions we make are subliminally guided by our intent without being consciously directed. We naturally move toward the best or most dramatic angle, we step closer to eliminate a disturbing foreground element, we turn the camera vertically, etc.

When analyzed, however, we find that photographers constantly explore two important aspects which impact the appearance of the photograph: Vantage Point, and Moment in Time. Here are two examples of the same subject photographed under vastly different lighting conditions, with quite different exposures. The first taken on a brilliantly sunlit day at 1/500th/sec; and the second on a foggy, overcast day using an exposure of 3 sec.

The Spatial qualities of the image include the camera position relative to the subject (high angle, low angle, horizontal, vertical, near, far, etc.) The choice of lens has the effect of compressing space (telephoto) or magnifying the foreground (wide angle). Lens and camera position determine which parts of the subject are not only included, but which are excluded from the composition. Choice of aperture affects Depth of Field, which may be extensive or limited to a more narrow zone of sharp focus.


Temporal qualities derive from the idea that the image represents a slice of time; eliminating from the viewer the opportunity to know what occurred just prior to or just after the moment of exposure. Like a frame clipped from a movie, we must invent a plausible sequence of events from the clues we are able to see.


A secondary element of time is the duration of the exposure; a long exposure induces motion related to picture elements (or to the photographer), and a short exposure freezes action. Either direction extends human vision which is limited by the persistance of vision of the retina where an image is perceived for about 1/16th of a second before being replaced by the next image.

And finally there are the decisions related to materials and printing. Will the subject best be shown in color or monochrome or something in between like hand-coloring? Should the print be dark and dramatic or light and lively? Should colors be saturated for effect, or muted?

Here are six variations of the same image. I used Photoshop to make the changes, but all of them could have been done with fairly straightforward analog methods.

The left image is the original color interpretation. The one on the right is a simulation of an albumen print from the late 19th century. I changed the street clothes on the figure to a cassock on the albumen version.
Here the left picture is a simulation of a mid-nineteenth century salted paper print, while the image on the right suggests a "nocturne"; popular with the pictorial movement that derived from the Photo Secession.
Finally the image on the left is printed with diffusion to give it a romantic pictorial effect and the image on the right uses a technique called posterization. Andreas Feininger from the 1950s used this technique, as did Todd Walker from the 1970s.

So these are a few post camera modifications that suggest vastly different potential interpretations of the same image. But equally diverse approaches can be taken with camera and lens to steer the viewer's inferences toward the original subject.