Life of a Photograph

The common photograph is a snapshot: a Kodak 'moment'. It is perceived primarily as a representation of a perspective in time and from space, not necessarily as an artwork or even as primarily an object. But the photograph is always an object, and whether or not it is thought of as an artwork, the photograph has a trajectory through time.

The camera is the foremost interface that enables photography: the lens, the shutter, the film or sensor, the enclosure, and sometimes, the flash. This encapsulated system, however, is not independently able to produce a photograph. Though it is the icon of photography, the camera requires a context of both light from the scene that it depicts and a method of reproduction to be a functional intermediary. It is the locus of the greatest control in this process, but it is by no means the exclusive one.

What is it that the camera enables or demands that we do? The use of the camera is an investment of time by an entity in space. It demands time in its preparation for use, in its setup and configuration, in the act of exposure itself, and in the retrieval of the represented image from the device. Retrieval of the representation is an emergence from the camera and the beginning of the process of reproductive printing, which carries its own demands.

The preparation of the camera consists of both the construction of the device and of its media, and of their acquisition and combination by the user. The act of photography would not be possible without the collection and organization of these material goods into a system that enables the representation of light in a physical medium. This is often the most social stage in the production of an artwork, involving the work of countless individuals other than the recognized artist. The physical form of the camera ultimately and completely defines its function. Perhaps because of our inability to locate responsibility in the mass of influences on the device, the other participating members of the design of the camera and film are commonly neglected, and indeed the contributions to camera technology are too vast to include here.

Even if the artist creates her own camera and film, she will necessarily use materials that are manufactured: chemicals, screws, lens glass, etc. It is sufficient to recognize that the artist implicitly and invisibly must rely on a huge set of assistants in the preparation of the camera system. In any case, it is clear that the artist is responsible for the choice of medium and enclosure, and this choice powerfully shapes the resulting representation and reproduction of the image.

The artist or creator is also responsible for the arrangement of the camera and subject in space. The scene can be constructed or spontaneous, but in either case there is a history to the placement of the camera in opposition to the image to be represented. This setup takes place in conjunction with the configuration of the camera and lens. The exposure time, and any change in configuration that occurs during it, determines the amount and position of light that is incident on the sensitive medium.

In considering the object of a photograph, we can see the combination of camera and film (or camera and memory) as one in a series of confluences that enable its construction or affect its objecthood. There are three broad actors at play: the society, the artist, and the material world. Broadly, the interaction proceeds as follows. The society and physical environment are the roots of the photograph: as discussed, society shapes the physical material into the tools and media necessary to conceptualize and begin the photographic process, and the artist's life is shaped by her social condition.

Within the tools and physical media of photography, the photograph's birth is controlled mainly by the artist, though it is of course a physical process. The scene is a physical scene, and the light is reflected within that scene and is incident on the camera's sensitive medium. Upon retrieval of the image representation from the camera, the growth process begins. This is often an iterative process, where the artist creates a physical print in a lab, receives feedback from friends & colleagues, and repeats until conceptually fulfilled. Society, material, and artist are all at work in this stage.

The next stage is that of exhibition, where the work receives public criticism and is displayed or stored publicly. The cessation of growth is marked by the intentional 'completion' of the artwork, at which point the work begins to degrade. Degradation is simply the natural process damage and aging that the artwork incurs due to its existence as a physical object. Reproduction and restoration are some social attempts to prolong the lifespan of the artwork, but ultimately the work will die and decompose into its material constituents. Past the initial public presentation, the artist is often limited in her control over the death & memory process. The artist's only power is to give instructions to the owners and conservators of the work, but these can be either heeded or ignored. Social commentary is even harder for the artist to control.

Perception of the artwork at various points in its timeline is a matter of reconstructing a projection of the work's timeline from that perspective.

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