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September 3, 2012
Bernd Stigler explores photographic realism in his Reflection post on FotoMuseum's Still Searching blog.
Reflection is a particularly loaded term in relation to photography, what with all those mirror metaphors. Documentary photography is one of the most important forms of a “photographic realism”. One kind of reflection---naive realism---appears to deny a self-reflexive stance i.e. one capable of, or designed to reflect upon its own conventions and conditions.
In his post Stigler says that:
Photography constitutes the real and constitutes it as a medium. Photographs lay claim to being not merely an interpretation but a medial representation of the real—or at least they are perceived as such. Photography is the technical medium of realism. This legacy is unique to photography and still continues to shape our notion of photography. Even now it has not managed to free itself of this idea.
He adds that the meaning of photography in a dual sense of the word: the meaning that is culturally, historically, epistemologically and also aesthetically assigned to photography and the meaning these images have
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