Theoretical Positions Response

I liked the idea of doing this through bullet points rather than a paragraph. Consider it artistic liberty.

The following are theoretical positions within photography:

• Realism and conventionalism
• "Does photography get closer to the truth than do painting and other forms of representation?" Two answers: realism and conventionalism.
• Realism: Include Dominique François Arago, Daguerre, Edgar Allan Poe, etc. Photography is the best medium through which to portray reality. Photography gave credibility to writings (e.g. Life magazine). What is portrayed in a photo was really there at one point in time - it cannot be fantasy because it actually existed. Uniquely transparent.
• "Few people realize that the meaning of a photograph can be changed completely by the accompanying caption, by its juxtaposition with other photographs, or by the manner in which people and events are photographed." - Gisèle Freund
• Conventionalism: Include Joel Snyder, Ernst Gombrich, Nelson Goodman, etc. Photography is no more better than any other medium because of "our ignorance of the historical developments in the invention and refinement of photography" (Joel Snyder). The methods seem natural to us now, but each way of taking a picture has been invented. Viewers are unaware of the representational system within their own culture. In addition, nowadays pictures are constantly being edited and tweaked, then completely transformed with programs like Photoshop.
• When I first read the argument of realism, I was in full support. After all, a photograph is a photograph. It really WAS there. But then I read the conventionalism point of view, and it reminded me of all the things we do to alter photos. Even if they are small, insignificant tweaks - the fact is, they are still tweaks. More so than the invention of photography or refinement of it, I think it is the manipulation that I've seen and done myself that convinces me that photography is not as "real" as we may think.
• Modernism and postmodernism
• "Early modernity is characterized intellectually by a belief that science could save the world and that, through reason, a foundation of universal truths could be established." Includes: democracy, capitalism, industrialization, science, urbanization
• Postmodernity rejects modernism. Seeks a just and egalitarian society. Emancipation from poverty, despotism, and ignorance. It is much less positive than modernism. Deconstruction guards against modernism.
• Michael Foucault: "knowledge is power that is too often used by a powerful few to impose their ideas of what they consider to be right and true on the majority"
• Modernism: 'work'. Individual at the center of the universe. Postmodernism: 'text'. Self is merely an effort of language, social relations, and the unconscious.
• Not really sure which one I prefer, except I really do prefer to be more optimistic, thankyouverymuch.

• More specifically in photography
• Modern: fashion photography < art photography. Desire to keep photography pure. Symbolist over narrative, realism over instrumentalism.
• Postmodern: exemplifies the political, cultural, and psychological experience of a society. content over form. Possibilities for mass-produced image with the knowledge of mechanical reproduction. Readily adaptable.
• Marxist theory
• critical social documentary, ordinary cultural artifact. words are needed to go beyond what the photograph itself offers.
• "Photography deals with surface appearances, and surfaces obscure rather than reveal the actual complex social relations that underlie appearances."
• So, Marxist theory is all about exposing corruption, and Marxism believes that photography hides rather than exposes. Though why, I'm still a little unsure.
• Feminist theory
• "Instead of changing the system, get women access." 
• "Sex is different than gender." Sex is what you are biologically ascribed. Gender is a sociocultural (political according to the article) construct that is used to define what a man or woman should be. The article says this is because of a hierarchical model: it is always better to be one thing over another. This gender construct is commonly one of the obstacles for those with gender dysphoria.
• "Feminism is instrumental." The article says to be feminist is a political choice - to resist and change the status quo.
• Photography and politics can not be divorced from each other. I can't help but agree. What influences a person's thought is going to influence his or her art, because art is a representation, even abstractly, of ourselves. Barbara DeGenevieve points out that art shows what was important in that time. By leaving out women, we insinuate that women were not important in society. When they are portrayed, it is from what men desire women to be, and what place in society, culture, and ethics men have ascribed to them.

Why would you give us such a long reading right before break? For shame....