Read the following passage taken from the book The Photographer’s Eye by John Szarkowski and answer the questions below.
‘To quote out of context is the essence of the photographer’s craft. His central problem is a simple one: what shall he include, what shall he reject? The line of decision between in and out is the picture’s edge. While the draughtsman starts with the middle of the sheet, the photographer starts with the frame. The photograph’s edge defines content. It isolates unexpected juxtapositions. By surrounding two facts, it creates a relationship. The edge of the photograph dissects familiar forms, and shows their unfamiliar fragment. It creates the shapes that surround objects. The photographer edits the meanings and the patterns of the world through an imaginary frame. This frame is the beginning of his picture’s geometry. It is to the photograph as the cushion is to the billiard table.’
Q. What does John Szarkowski mean when he says that photographers are quoting ‘out of context’ when they make photographic pictures?
Q. The frame often ‘dissects familiar forms’. At the end of the last century photography was having a major impact on Art. Impressionist artists such as Degas were influenced by what they saw. Look at these examples of Degas work, which clearly shows the influence of Photography, and explain why the public might have been shocked to see such paintings.
A. John Szarkowski means that photographers have to focus on the frame of the photograph , trying to decide what angle to take a picture what to include, and what not to include. And that photos don't have to be of something that knows its going to be taken a picture of, but a moment in time, a random moment that a photograph makes still.
A. With photography becoming a major impact in art, I think that painters suddenly noticed the beauty of photographs and how they take a random moment in time and make it art, they sort of copied this technique and for that century it must have been a little different to see paintings of random scenes. That there isn't a main focus really in this painting, just a random moment in time.
