Anterograde Transport ATypI Conference Book

Page 86

THE TRAJECTORY OF THE IMAGE ...

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not capture the attitude or relationship of consciousness toward the object. Rather, the photograph instantly reorients the object of the gaze into new aesthetic positionings for consciousness. Bourdieu noted that ‘because of its subordination to a machine, photographic art allows that ∞transfiguration of the object by which we are accustomed to recognizing artistic creation’ (1990: 78). This is only partly true, however, for certainly the photographer has a determining part to play in the setup of the camera, the choices of angles, exposure, depth of field, and so on. The camera image is not subordinated to the machine, but it does int r oduce discour ses a n d i d e a s a s s o c i a t e d w it h t h e m a c h i n e i n t o t h e a e s t h e t i c o f t h e i m a g e .  >>>   Repl icabi l it y , st and ar di zat ion , m ass

pr oduct ion – t hese ch aract er ist ics o f t he m a c h i n e h a d c e r t a i n ly b e e n a p p l i e d t o images before, but the camera altered the process of making images and so the way in which images were to be viewed. The camera is a kind of machine, and once the problems of making photos consistently had been resolved and popularized by George Eastman with the Brownie camera in 1888, ‘choice, freedom, aesthetic evaluation [were] transferred from the process as a whole, where it might take place at any moment, to the initial stage of design’ (Mumford 1952: 82). We do not know if the images were, in fact, ever meant to be seen again at all. Rather, it is possible that the purpose of these paintings lay in the act of creating, the magic of making the r e p r e s e n t a t i o n .  >>>   T h e B r o w n i e P86

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