Teaching Photography: Notes Assembled

Television

38 Because of its directness, immediacy and narrative possibility, the medium of television is immeasurably powerful and influential. It forms ‘reality’ for much of our contemporary culture.§§§§§ Some years back I did a small assignment using Kodachrome film, which at the time was the most detailed, saturated color film available . When I got the slides from the lab, I needed a place to project them. On a whim, I taped a piece of white paper to the front of the television set and used that as a screen. After looking at the slides and editing them, I took down the paper. Later that day, I turned on the television. I had a strange feeling. I put the white paper back and projected the slides again. Then, I watched television again.§§§§§ Television is not as much of a visual medium as we assume, because everything looks pretty much the same on it. I think that television is more of a literary, narrative medium. If you look carefully at a video image, you can see that there is very little visual subtlety in that the actual tone and color are rather crude compared to other visual media. This is beginning to change with high-definition video, but there are about three generations that think they were raised in a visual world and, in fact, they were not. Why can’t Johnny see? TELEVISION 39 When a very small child sees the dog, points and says, ‘dog,’ the parents go nuts with enthusiasm and think the kid is a genius. The message is clear; in our culture the purpose of vision is to name and to classify. That’s where the ‘money’ is. What about the way light describes the dog’s fur in the sun, in the shade; at night, with ghostlike moves in the hall? What of the shape of movement of the tail when happy or frightened, the tilt of the head, the messages that can be received through tiny body gestures that cannot be verbalized? How about the way the dog animates a room with its movements. And on and on. No rewards for any of this. The naming is what counts. Intelligence is measured in reading and math scores. When was the last scholarship given to someone for being receptive and observant? How about a school system where the children spend six hours a day on art, poetry, music, dance, photography, painting, and so on. Twice a week the English teacher comes in with a cart to teach spelling and grammar for 40 minutes. The math teacher would do the same on alternate days. Then when there is a budget squeeze, people plead and have bake sales to save the English program because the art program is unassailable. The illiterate of tomorrow will be the person who doesn’t understand photography. Edward Steichen (probably stolen from Man Ray) ...