WHAT IS “THE PHOTOGRAPHIC IMAGE” EXACTLY?

 Simply stated, the image is the product or confluence of three components as captured within a frame. The three components can be described as subject, form, and content (Ocvirketal., 2002, pp. 12–15). In fact, every work of art, including images, sculpture, music, literature, and dance, is comprised of these three components. Although the naming conventions used to describe them vary, it is understood that these three primary components combine to create a complete image or work of art. The subject can be defined as what the image is about; it is the essence or meaning of the image, and may or may not be visibly present in the image. In literature, the subject is often referred to as the theme of the work. An interest in the subject is often the reason photographers make images to begin with; as Magnum photographer David Hurn explains, “… photography is only a tool, a vehicle, for expressing or transmitting a passion in something else” (1997, pp. 29–30). As good novels or poems operate for writers, good photographs are generally a means for an artist to convey some specific meaning (a point or message, a theme … the reason behind the work’s existence). The subject of a photograph may range from literal to abstract; however, an abstract subject such as “hope” or “transcendence” (or anything else which is not a noun) can only be conveyed through skillful consideration of the other two components: content and form. While the term “subject” refers to what the image is about, the term “content” refers literally to the image’s contents. Image content (also referred to as subject matter) can be defined as those persons, places, or things that are visibly present and/or identify able in the image. When the subject (or theme) and content (or subject matter) are understood as separate yet interdependent image components, photographers can combine them more accurately to convey meaning. The best photographers closely consider all image content as it relates to their chosen subject, and they do so for several reasons. First, all content, like all words, carries meaning that operates on connotative and denotative, subjective or objective, psychological, intellectual, spiritual, cultural, political, and many other levels. Therefore, the inclusion of content which is widely recognized to have specific c meaning on one or more levels is more likely to communicate successfully to a wide audience. Second, each discrete piece of content in an image is like individual words in a sentence; each has the potential to either clarify or obscure meaning when juxtaposed. Additionally, like the subject of a work of art or literature, content can be abstract or non-representational; in these cases the remaining component of the image—form itself—might literally be the subject, or might afford the viewer a great deal of insight about it. To illustrate the difference between subject and content, I often ask students if they are familiar with the novel or film The Shawshank Redemption. Most of them are. Then I ask, “What is the subject of the work?” Invariably students reply that the subject is “an innocent man who is sent to prison and escapes through ‘a river of shit.’” This interpretation by students proves that they confuse subject with content, and are thereby missing the real meaning of the work. I am familiar with the novel and the fi lm, and I suggest to students that the subject of the work is hope or perhaps the nature of redemption itself. The innocent man imprisoned, all of his experiences, the experiences of all those around him, the “river of shit” and his unlikely path to freedom, all fall under the category of content—the concrete, identifiable aspects of the work that carry its subject or theme across. In order to use content to communicate about a subject, an artist needs to provide an organizational structure, and that organizational structure is called form. The third component of the photographic image, its form, refers to all the means through which the subject and content are unified and presented. Form can be defined as the design elements that the artist combines to arrange a work compositionally, or the formal organization of elements that dictate the appearance of an image. Form, also called composition, in a photograph includes the traditional design elements (line, shape, value, texture, and color), to which I would add quality of light and framing. Mary Price, in her critical text The Photograph: A Strange, Confined Space suggests that what sets the work of more successful photographers above others is the photographer’s “Visual recognition of meaning in form,” and that it is precisely this recognition which “entails the ability to see a three-dimensional objective world in two-dimensional fl at form . . . in instantaneous appreciation of what that segment about to become a separate whole will signify” (1994, p. 84). It is the interrelationship between subject, form, and content that creates meaning in an image. Since form is the means through which an artist’s chosen subject and content are linked together, it is important to understand the technical elements behind it for a given medium. Form, specific c to photography, is in large part dictated by the four technical elements which comprise all photographic imagery. When constructing images, photographers who consciously manipulate the formal arrangement of carefully selected content are able to accurately communicate their ideas about a subject. Th e manipulation of a photograph’s formal arrangement is in large part a direct result of the technical elements that create camera-made images