I think that the most important theme that we talked about in class this week was the idea that photography functions as an ethical form of art. It is my philosophy that photography is the process of capturing actuality; as photographers we, (or, in this case, I) try to present life as it is, or as it was at one time. What we are trying to “get” is reality as it happens. However, the topics we covered this week dealt with the malleability of photography and the manipulation of actuality. I think that the Highsmith story and Rear Window were trying to emphasize the complications of photographing subjects which aren’t prepared or don’t know that they’re being photographed.
What I wanted to do this week was try and photograph unsuspecting subjects. Most of my photographs were taken at a hospital near my home in New Brunswick (it was pretty convenient, because the bus would drop me off right across the street from the kid’s wing). I ended up taking pictures of the rooms, and the people who stood around outside waiting.
The first image I took was the one of what looks like a nurse in the front office of the children’s wing. I have to admit that I was really uncomfortable taking the first couple of pictures this week, as I was really afraid of confrontation. Luckily, no one really approached me. I would stand across the street and take pictures with my zoom, because I thought that might be more inconspicuous than going right up to the window. The second image is of a Valentine’s balloon in one of the Hospital’s windows. Each night I took pictures, I tried to look for people in windows to photograph, but I never really saw anyone anywhere outside of that main office in the first photograph. I really like the image of the balloon, because it suggests that human presence that I was trying to capture. The third image is of one of the statues outside of the hospital. I ended up posting that photo because it portrayed action, and because the image of humanity it imitates through the photograph was much more intriguing and questionable than the pictures of real people that I took (they were mostly just smoking and standing around quietly. Also, I was afraid someone would find out about this blog and come after me. Does fear count as ethics?)
What these pictures helped me to understand was the way anonymous subjects functioned in the realm of photographic art. Photographing strangers is a complicated facet of this art not because of permission, but because of perspective. That is, while pictures of strangers are indeed images reality, the narrative of the photo is marginalized. Strangers are an ethical gray area because we don’t know how this moment of their reality fits into the grand scheme of existence. Who are they? Where are they going? What do they want? All of these questions go unanswered, and the audience leaves the photo unsatisfied. I guess that leaves me wondering why we, as an audience, want to feel this kind of isolation. Is it even our choice?