I have been caught; captured, set in glass by light, forever. Well, my legs have…These reflected lower limbs have had me meditating on what in fact reflection is. Here is one definition: reflection is an effect produced by an influence.
You see in photography, we capture light – the influence is light; the effect is image-making. A wonderful photograph extends what the eyes capture into many different realms: imagination and realism.
Simple reflections double the amount of color, form and interest within your picture. They can reveal abstract shapes by breaking up the form into patterns of color and molds…
The Farm, Al Barari, Dubai
We can go further by defining photography as a “reflective medium.” As its absolute, reflection is an interpretation of all things real: 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. That is, photography is the technical medium of realism. Photographs make visible what is respectively understood to be reality.
This referential and reflective character of photography – it’s reality principle – is perfectly captured in the above, which was merrily taken by a friend who was capturing me capturing an image, and thus rendering my legs captured in double, in glass, for ever.
1 Response to Photography as Reflection