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Photography
Made or Taken?
- (is the single photograph dead?)


The history of photography has been less a journey than a growth
John Szarkowski



A Critical Review
by Jan Fairburn



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Photography Made or Taken? (is the single photograph dead?)
Photography has been through many incarnations, from the first Daguerreotype, Henry Fox
Talbots Calotype, the Kodak Brownie to eventually todays digital camera. Not only has the
technology changed but also the way photography is perceived, especially as it begins to
incorporate mixed media and find new ways to disseminate. John Szarkowski in the
introduction to The Photographers Eye comments on the difference between paintings and art
being a basic one: paintings were made but photographs were taken (2003). On the topic of
detail he suggests a photographer shows only a fragment of a scene, but with the frame being
extended by video footage, sound clips, drawings and physical objects is this fragmentation
being lessened? With the current trend for contemporary photographers to create installation
pieces, employ digital manipulation, borrow imagery and use mixed media to create their
work, this argument possibly no longer stands. More and more we are questioning, what is
photography? This essay sets out to examine some of the issues surrounding the use of mixed
media are photographs made or taken, is the single photograph dead?
Controversy has always surrounded photography with regards to reality and truth;
Szarkowski believed photographers learned that photography dealt with the actual (2003, p.
99). Yet manipulation and additions were being carried out as early as the mid 1800s with
two distinct camps arising; those who felt that images should be left untouched and those
who preferred to add an artistic flourish and hand tint photographs (Farkas & Raleigh, 2013).
Then there were surrealists such as Man Ray, Hans Bellmer and Maurice Tabard who used
processes such as double exposure, combination printing, montage, solarization and
techniques such as rotation or distortion to create ethereal imagery (The Metropolitan
Museum of Art, 2013). Therefore, it could be argued that photographers from the outset were
experimenting with reality and exploring beyond that which filled the view-finder. The
photograph Two Ways of Life (1857) by Oscar Rejlander is described as a combination print
which was assembled from thirty individual negatives printed onto one large piece of paper
(National Media Museum, 2012). Much later John Baldessari, (b1931) described as a
conceptual artist rather than photographer, developed his style to incorporate letters, words
and photographs in his works. In the early 1970s he was working in printmaking, film,
video, installation, sculpture and photography (Roark, 2013).

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Farkas & Raleigh acknowledged several exhibitions in America where a group of artists
could be identified as photo mixed media artists: Persistence of Vision at the George
Eastman House (Rochester NY) in 1967, Photography into Sculpture at the Museum of
Modern Art (New York City, NY) in 1970 and Photo-media at the Museum of
Contemporary Crafts (New York City NY) in 1971-1972. They separated the works into
three distinct categories, machine reproductions, soft packaged and assemblages (2013, p.
129). They cited several artists who met these criterions, notably photographer Ken
Josephson, a pioneering conceptual photographer who experimented with illusion to explore
and question his chosen medium of photography - known as a printmaker; he has diversified
as a street photographer, professor of photography and filmmaker (Gerstheimer, 2013). His
piece Anissa a childs dress, 1978 is an assemblage (a childs dress on a small hanger, with a
framed cropped image of a little girl wearing the same dress displayed prominently on the
front) which provides a physical, personal link to the subject. It gives the audience an
accurate impression of perspective, colour and the thing itself (Szarkowski, 2003, p. 99).
Unlike Ren Magritte's The Treachery of Images, 1928-29 "Ceci n'est pas une pipe" which
only represents the image of a pipe, the implementation of mixed media assemblage means
that a single piece or whole body of work, no longer has to be a merely an illusion, it
becomes three dimensional and can better express a given narrative. Most recently the
Deutsche Brse Photography Prize, an international award in contemporary photography,
awarded to a contemporary photographer making a significant contribution, either by
exhibition or publication to the medium of photography in Europe, (Deutsche Brse
Group, n.d.) has recognised photographers who employ mixed media, explore beyond the
frame and push the boundaries of what is traditionally accepted as photography.
Photography and creativity go hand in hand, from the initial decision of subject matter, the
process of taking the image, the choices of post-production to means of display, whether that
be in a frame, album or public exhibition. Marcel Duchamp acknowledged the importance of
the audience in conveying the meaning of a piece of work, he stated:
the creative act is not performed by the artist alone; the spectator brings the work
in contact with the external world by deciphering and interpreting its inner
qualification and thus adds his contribution to the creative act. This becomes even
more obvious when posterity gives a final verdict and sometimes rehabilitates
forgotten artists.
(Duchamp 1957, Cited in Brain Pickings, n.d.)
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So therefore it can be considered that the audience helps to make an image, and possibly
more pertinent to the topic of borrowed pictures, appropriation can restore forgotten artists.
Contemporary bodies of work are combining new images with old , constructing elaborate
displays and discovering new outlets for photography; specifically exploring the new age of
digital/electronic reproducibility. These bodies of work open old debates about are
photographs taken or made, is it photography or art? By visiting exhibitions, examining the
work and methods of delivery the opportunity is there to decide if photography is taken, made
or if the distinction matters.
At his retrospective at Londons Tate Modern (November 2012 January 2013) William
Klein had on display several reworked older images. Reworked in ways that are best
described as artfully vandalised; mural sized prints of contact sheets, altered by the liberal
application of enamel paint, using wide brush strokes in bold, mainly primary colours. The
original photographs were taken, the second made. The meaning of the original print is still
there beneath the paint but the creation of a new art object makes the image polysemous. The
audience may see it as a tribute to film photography and contact sheets yet Klein explains that
for him it was a celebration of the physicality of taking the photograph (Klein, 2012).
Jim Goldberg, 2011 Deutsche Brse Photography Prize winner, was nominated for his
exhibition Open See at The Photographers Gallery, London (16 October 2009 31 January
2010). Using Polaroids, video, text and ephemera Goldberg took four years detailing the
experiences of refugee, immigrant and trafficked populations. Feeling that their perceptions
were not being observed and considered (Goldberg, 2011) he allowed them to speak for
themselves, writing on the images to express themselves and tell their stories, explaining that
the photographs were proof of meeting his subjects, of their lives and worth. The exhibition
also included video footage and a free poster which itemized various objects, such as food,
lost wallets and official documentation. This helped provide a much fuller picture than one
fragmented, still image. Once more this particular body of work can be both described as
taken and made. The Open See project has been printed in book form and supporting the
electronic age of communication is partially available online.
When discussing archives Allan Sekula wrote about the meaning of pictures being up for
grabs(and) new interpretations are promised (2011, p. 444). John Stezaker, nominee and
winner of the Deutsche Brse Photography Prize in 2012, for his exhibition at the
Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK (29 January 18 March 2011) espoused a novel approach
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to found images, with the original uses definitely avoided and invisible (Sekula, 2011).
Entertainingly, sometimes creepily, combining appropriated images he confesses to being a
vandal and a thief and likens himself to a foster parent to these adopted images, but one who
inflicts abuse due to the slicing and cutting he employs to create his work (Stezaker, 2011).
Photographs, which package the world, seem to invite packaging (Sontag, 1977, p. 4).
Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin winners of the Deutsche Brse Photography Prize in
2013 certainly seem to have taken this to heart when they packaged or rather completely
repackaged Bertolt Brechts War Primer. Their inspiration was not only taken from Brechts
book and his lesson on the semiology of war photography, hence the titles War Primer and
War Primer 2, but also the Brecht quote Dont start with the good old things but the bad
new ones. This is prominently displayed on the front page of War Primer 2 (Broomberg &
Chanarin, 2011) Taking bad or poor news images from the internet Broomberg and Chanarin
parallel his actions of taking newspaper clippings on the subject of conflict. Originally
published in 1955 Broomberg and Chanarin obtained 100 copies of a 1998 edition (Libris
London) on which they based their own limited edition book War Primer 2. The simple
explanation of how this body of work was created belies the controversy and debate that then
arose with regards to their contribution to photography, the use of appropriated images and
the distribution/availability of the book. Firstly they obtained the copies; secondly they
downloaded a large selection of low- resolution photographs from the Internet dealing with
the War on Terror. Next they whittled down the selection to eighty-five images which
complemented Brechts eighty-five clippings and poetry, and then eight thousand five
hundred screen prints were generated. War Primer 2 was then produced with the help of
unpaid interns applying the resized silkscreen and offset prints (pasted by hand) into the one
hundred copies of War Primer (Evans, 2013).
Once produced the pair picked up and ran with the educational idea. When displayed at the
Photographers Gallery for the Deutsche Brse Photography Prize exhibition their creativity
shone through. A series of vitrines, the proportions of a small school desk were set out in
orderly rows facing in one direction. In each desk a copy of War Primer 2 was open to a
different page with information for these images projected onto a blank wall, suggesting the
Smart Boards used in educational establishments today. Embracing a multiplicity of channels
of communication they explored various means to disseminate their work; War Primer 2 is a
limited edition book, an exhibition and is also available as a free download to mobile devices
via an application.
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There are advantages and disadvantages to all these means of communication; an eBook can
reach a much wider non-specialised audience, a book has the physicality that a mobile device
lacks, whilst the book is limited to the message on the page. However in this instance the
book has the scope to spread beyond the frame, become an installation piece and press home
the play on words of the book being a primer and the educational set up of the exhibition.
With such a range of distribution Broomberg and Chanarin have rehabilitated/introduced
Brecht to more spectators, who when adding their creative act, can be in no doubt that as a
body of work and installation piece War Primer 2 has been both taken and made.
The body of work Very Miscellaneous (1996) by Joachim Schmid also uses acquired images
mixed with newspaper cuttings to great effect. Despite the discomfort of some with regards to
the use of borrowed images, which is a well-established technique in terms of fine art, and the
almost complete appropriation of Brechts book, this is an extremely clever body of work
which tells its narrative well, sets new boundaries for the displaying of photography and has
opened a healthy debate on the direction that some areas of contemporary photography are
headed.
Marcel Duchamp, interviewed by Joan Bakewell, voiced an opinion that the word art should
be done away with, that society created artificial distinctions. (Duchamp 1966, The Late
Show Line Up) Maybe this should be the way forward, concentrating on the narrative rather
than the method of creation or delivery. Barthes (1968) believed the author was dead, and
historically Paul Delaroche (1839), a French portrait painter, allegedly commented on first
sight of a Daguerreotype 'From this day, painting is dead!' This reveals how the concept of
recognising methods to record imagery as innovative yet still valid, is not new. Is the single
photograph dead? It would appear that more and more photographers are creating bodies of
work reliant on being complete visual and audio displays, with the single image not having
the same impact when taken out of context, multidimensional bodies of work are coming to
the fore, experimenting with mixed and multi-media. However it can be argued that some
images can and do stand alone, for example the iconic photograph of Phan Th Kim Phc
taken by Nick Ut in 1972 during the Vietnam War. The arguments about radical photography
have raged from its beginning and will no doubt continue to do so. Does it matter if
photographs are single images or part of a multidimensional body of work, if they are taken
or made? It would appear they can be both. The narrative, the multi-layered view of life is
what is important rather than the distinction.
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References

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Broomberg, A. & Chanarin, O. (2011) War primer 2. London: Mack
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Photographer's Gallery 19 April - 30 June 2013
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