The Thing Itself
Conceptual Photography
Conceptual Photography
On "The Thing Itself " by John Szarkowsky
More Convincingly than any other kind of picture, a photograph evokes the tangible presence of reality. Its most fundamental use and its broadest acceptance has been as a subtitute for the subject itself - a simpler, more permanent, moe clearly visible version of the plain fact.
Our faith in the truth of a photograph rests on our belief that the lens is impartial, and will draw the subject as it is,neither nobler nor meaner. This faith may be naive and illusory (for though the lens draws the subject, the photographer defines it), but it persists. The photographer's vision convinces us to the degree that the photographer hides his hand.
