Visual culture [photography and visual culture]

About visual culture, people generally understand it as an image-centered cultural form, such as film, television, photography, painting, sculpture, architecture, advertising, design, animation, games, multimedia and so on. This paper will discuss the role of photography in the formation of visual culture, the change of photographic attributes and the change of photographer's concept in the era of visual culture.

Looking back at history, the invention of photography is only 170 years. But this 170 year is the change of human viewing mode, the expansion of visual threshold and the generation of visual culture. This change is not limited to the field of art, but involves any field that the human eye can see.

First of all, photography can decompose the motion forms and details of objects that the human eye can't distinguish. For example, continuous photography allows us to see the continuous movement of four hooves when a horse runs, the power of bullets passing through apples, and the state in which smoke and debris are wrapped around each other at the moment of explosion. In short, the moment of photography can freeze the fast-moving material, so that we can see the details clearly; Microphotography enables us to see the structure and solemn order of small objects, while aerial photography enables us to observe the composition of the earth's color blocks and the abstract formal meaning of natural lines.

Secondly, photography has witnessed many major human events, whether natural disasters or man-made disasters, which remain in the camera lens. The past history is in words, between the lines, in paintings and in archaeological objects. These are the history of interpretation and imagination, and the direct audio-visual viewing of historical scenes and details cannot be restored. After the invention of photography, human beings have another kind of history: the history in images. This historical image is the witness of the photographer. It vividly and truly reproduces the human social life in history, which is both a witness and a heritage. This way of mutual reference and reflection between pictures and texts can better help future generations to perceive and understand history. Like American Airlines 9? 1 1 events and 5? 12 Wenchuan earthquake gave birth to a large number of dynamic and static images. These images are not only rich in information, but also contain emotional factors. It is these images that connect all people's hearts directly and quickly. Not only that, the representative photos in these images will certainly enter the historical documents and become the statement and bearing of historical content. In the last century, many photographers from magnum photos and American Life Magazine did excellent work in this field. In China, since 1930s, there have been many photographers with the same mission, such as Fang Daceng, Wang Xiaoting, Sha Fei, Wu Yinxian and Zheng Jingkang. It also left a rare historical image for future generations.

Third, photography makes us alert to the phenomenon of turning a blind eye to ordinary things, and consciously stare at the daily life around us, paying more attention to people and things, "helping us find the blind spot of society" (in Zhu). Because in this world, although the media is very developed and spreads rapidly, there are still a large group of people who are blocked from the mainstream discourse. People living in the upper class seldom talk about it or are unwilling to talk about it. In a specific time and space, they appear too few times for us to remember; In another time and space, it is so common that we turn a blind eye. Everyone does. They think it's normal. The phenomenon that the real situation of lower-class workers is shielded may be a common phenomenon in all countries in human history. A measure of social progress is how this silent group is treated. Since photography was used for news and recording real life, it has become an important way of social investigation. Around the world, not only silent social groups are re-examined by mainstream society in the form of collective images, such as 1936 "Mother and Child on the Run" shot by photographer dorothea Langer during the agricultural catastrophe in the United States, and 1990 "rural out-of-school children shot by Jie Hailong. Inspired by the photos,

From the point of view of human family, photography has made us discover that many other nationalities have different lifestyles and cultures, which makes human geography and anthropology have empirical significance. For example, many explorers, travelers and missionaries in western countries have completed their work in the past 100 years. Although their immediate goal at that time was to colonize, they watched ethnic lifestyles and cultural relics in a specific environment, which objectively and indirectly deepened the exchanges and understanding between different nationalities and cultures and promoted the arrival of the era of globalization.

Fourth, the camera is pointed at the natural scenery, which improves the level of human understanding of nature. Whether you are present or not, you can enjoy the natural atmosphere in the photo. Since the invention of photography, we can't calculate how many photos of human beings are about natural and human landscapes. Although scientists invented photography, painters first used it to shoot landscapes. Since then, photography and landscape have formed an indissoluble bond. Up to now, countless people are shooting landscapes, including many professional landscape photographers. Although landscape photography, which is usually called landscape photography, is often sweet and greasy in China photography, we still find that cameras help us remember the magic of mountains and rivers with changing light and shadow between heaven and earth in a larger scope. Worldwide, I don't know how many scenic spots and national geological parks are named after the discovery of landscape photography. Ansel adams is engaged in pure photography, which reflects the richness and solemnity of nature. Lang Jingshan is engaged in intensive photography, and his works reflect the change of brush and ink landscape and China's view of nature. For a large number of landscape photographers, line thinking photography is a way of life, and the three are inseparable. "I think therefore I do, I shoot therefore I am." They collected the most magnificent and moving moments in the long river of time, trudged to Wan Li, waited for a long time, and stayed up at night, in order to "bear" the feeling of being in full swing and clear as water in front of the audience, so that more people could enjoy the natural scenery again. As a unique visual text, landscape works have become a substitute for primitive nature in the artificial environment, which can be flexibly used in various occasions and embedded in the reinforced concrete jungle. It is not only a confirmation of human industrial achievements, but also a beautification of human life, and it is also a mediator between primitive nature and artificial environment. In modern society, due to the fine social division of labor and alienated labor, people become a small part of the social production and life process and become "one-dimensional people". Reading landscape photography can review how far human beings are from the hometown of nature; The depth of "visual" alienation. The contents of these works echo our memories of hometown, our longing for home and our arguments about the soul, which can alleviate our mental anxiety and constantly correct our vacant mental state.

Fifth, with the enhancement of environmental awareness, consciously tracking and observing wild animals has become an important branch of photography. This is the attention and tracking of human beings to other life forms on the earth. On the one hand, this kind of photography urges us to understand and understand the living habits of wild creatures, protect their living environment and maintain the richness and balance of life types on the earth, on the other hand, it also makes us human beings reflect on ourselves in the sense of life equality. In such works, we often find humanity in animals, and we also see the animality in people more clearly. This kind of visual cognition is undoubtedly an important part of visual culture. In dynamic photography, a large number of wildlife programs are broadcast in cinemas and TV, which fully illustrates this point.

Sixth, in the long course of artistic photography development, the visual image comes from the treatment of reality or from the heart, and finally points to the object of our eyes-works, explorations handed down from generation to generation and many classic works, which enhance our observation ability and expression ability in the visual imagination world, which is the professional promotion of human beings in the visual direction. In recent years, the film "blockbuster", although the story is mostly mediocre, can simulate the shocking force of volcanic eruption, flood impact and hurricane sweeping by using digital photography and post-production technology, and can simulate the tragic degree of human wars and social movements on a scale. It can be said that it is very sensual, satisfying the audience's stimulating demand for audio-visual experience, thus creating a box office miracle.

Seventh, the rapid development of photographic equipment and technology provides material support for the emergence of visual culture. The camera body (cassette and shutter) is gradually miniaturized and the lenses are diversified, which lays the foundation for photography to enter all walks of life and daily life. On the basis of static photography, there is dynamic photography, film and television, and even DV. All these mechanical objects have profoundly changed our visual habits, such as the distance and angle of viewing, the choice of focus and the control of depth of field. The most important thing is that in the process of amazing contact with photos, movies and TV, we can't help but develop unconscious habitual eye movements of what to look at and how to look at things. We should know that more and more brands and specifications of lenses are all kinds of primary school students. Except for the 50 mm lens (or other types of corresponding lenses) of 135 camera, all kinds of lenses from fisheye to 1000 mm focal length and from 1.2 to 64 aperture are disguised human eyes. Xi Zhi can change human vision for a long time.

Photography plays a role in many ways. During 170, people dream of watching activities and their finished products from different perspectives-witnessing visual information (photos, videos, etc.). ) has been widely spread, which has changed people's understanding of the world, greatly promoted mutual understanding among different classes and nationalities, and profoundly changed our visual psychological habits. Entering the 2 1 century, the digital technology revolution has brought drastic and profound changes to photography, especially after 2003. The film market has shrunk dramatically. The original long film counter has been curled up in a corner, and people with digital cameras and mobile phones can be seen everywhere in the market. The widespread use of 3G communication mode is a technological revolution. It is difficult to predict what photography will bring us in ten or twenty years.

At present, great changes have taken place in the photography industry in China: First, photography has gone out of the professional field and achieved popularization. The current photography team is no longer a relatively fixed crowd, but covers all social groups. For photographers, you can distinguish between professional and non-professional, and it is difficult to distinguish between professional and non-professional, because some amateurs have a high professional level. Second, photography has been liberated from a special profession and has become an arbitrary behavior in daily life. Taking a camera is like taking a pen. Many news photos were taken by residents and tourists in the place where the incident happened, not journalists, and many beautiful photos were taken by amateurs, not photographers. Thirdly, photography activities are everywhere, from the international photography art festival organized by national professional photography institutions to the theme photography competition organized by the community, with a large number of participants and complicated organizers. Fourth, the traditional concept of photography is being shaken, and the basic concept of photography authenticity is being impacted, and issues such as portrait rights and copyright are emerging one after another. Fifth, photography communication is becoming more and more convenient, and the network has become the largest photo library and the fastest communication channel. Sixth, the lack of photography market and the intervention of contemporary art have blurred the boundaries between photography as a recording tool and art form, and some new media have been born, which has catalyzed more variations of photography.

From another point of view, from printed publications to electronic media, from outdoor advertisements to daily records, the way of images has become a universal way to perceive and understand things, and has entered family and personal life, which is related to personal spiritual life. In our time, the visual way is more prominent, and people perceive and understand the world more through "seeing" (accompanied by listening). Dependence on "seeing" is one of the characteristics of this era.

The way of image is the way of visual image. Horizontally, it has broken the barriers of different national languages. Vertically, in the same country and society, the monopoly of writing has been broken, and society has entered an unprecedented era of mass culture. The global economy and the form of visual cultural communication without language and writing have linked human beings more closely and effectively. The more we trace back to history, the more blurred the difference between images and real things. In primitive society, things and their images are just two different phenomena of the same power or spirit, but their physical properties are different, so there is an imaginative effect of images in worshiping and driving away powerful elves and ghosts. This is the era of primitive totem culture.

Traditional cultural activities are mainly carried out through language, writing and performance. In traditional cultural activities, listening to storytelling, reading novels, reciting poems and performing must rely on a text composed of phonetic or literal chains, and indirectly understand the outside world through imagination, so that readers can gain experience and understanding. In the image age, cultural activities are directly presented in the vision with the help of realistic image imprint, which causes novel (unfamiliar) feelings for readers and viewers, and guides consumption by using herd mentality. At that time, images were also used in artistic activities, production and life, but their application was narrow and there was no connection between them. It's different now. Image application is manifested in all fields and levels of social life and production. In addition to artistic photography, photography tools and images can be found in news, propaganda, industry, agriculture, military, geography, ocean, aviation, medicine, legal system and other fields. Daily life is inseparable from photography. In the eyes of a social natural person, images are a way to acquire knowledge, understand the situation and master the rules. In the photographer's view, photography is a way, everything can be said exactly in this way, and any purpose can be achieved in this way. The isolated phenomenon in reality can be combined with images. The reason why photographers shoot everything lies in the logic of consumption. We make images and consume them, so we need more images. In order to arouse desire and satisfy desire, the camera seems to be a disease-causing medicine. The more you eat, the more you have to eat. Eat fast. In a sense, images also consume reality.

We humans use cameras and DV to record our production and life at the same time, just like there are two human beings: one is the real world and the other is the shadow world. This change is not very common. This change not only profoundly changed the world, but also profoundly changed ourselves. Image is not only a product, but also an idea; It is not only a document, but also a work of art; Not only belongs to us, but also affects us; Not only the current reality, but also the illustrated human history textbooks.

Photography has changed from a luxury behavior-a tool for powerful people to play or a tool for professional photographers to make a living-into such a freewheeling toy today, which is a great progress of human society. Now photography presents a kind of "national carnival" scene, and everyone shoots, keeps shooting and shoots everywhere; Everyone can make images, download them and spread them online day and night! Immersed in the ocean of images, we look at the world without going out, and perceive and know the world through images. The network stores, enjoys and endlessly produces images in an undifferentiated way. Especially after 80s and 90s, teenagers are engaged in internet roaming and computer games all day, and their world is split: there is a real world and a virtual world, and the "virtual world" intervenes in the real space to interpret, copy or distort the reality. The contrast, tension and anxiety between real space and virtual space make the post-80s generation a "new and new human". The first thing they do every morning is to spend their energy to distinguish the real world from the virtual world, and sometimes they can't tell the difference between them.

The above facts indicate the arrival of a visual culture era. Everyone can and can use cameras-traditional and digital-to capture one moment after another of world scenes in infinite space and endless time, and edit these images into a story, a landscape, a mood and even other things. It doesn't matter what it is, what matters is that visual culture is being generated. This is one of the characteristics of our times.

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The era of visual culture is the third era of human history development after the primitive totem era and the writing era. For photographers, they must deeply understand the objective process of social and historical development, understand the changes of our times, and actively change their concepts in order to maintain their initiative in the changes. Specifically, it is necessary to change several concepts:

First, we should change the vague concept of category boundaries, further clarify the purpose of creation, and find our own position in borderless photography.

At present, in photography creation, every photographer is involved, and every time the shutter is pressed, it is a question of "what to shoot". In the current photography creation, most photographers follow the double standards of truth and art, the purpose of photography is unclear, and the scope of choosing subjects is greatly restricted. Whether light and color have artistic characteristics is not considered in documentaries, which deviates from the goal of recording history and entering image documents, and many things that should be photographed cannot enter the field of vision; However, in artistic creation, people dare not use various means boldly. As an artistic creation, the form is not innovative enough to enter the artistic classics. Judging from the natural generation of photography history, photography can be divided into two categories according to its shooting function: art and recording. Documentary photography is a kind of narrative photography, which records the present life and provides reference for the future. Its cognitive value comes first and its aesthetic value comes second. To judge the value of a documentary photographic work, the first is what to shoot, the second is how to shoot, and the third is how to use it. Artistic photography is emotional expressive photography, with aesthetic value first and cognitive value second, and the judgment standard is based on the innovation of visual language. Only by distinguishing the shooting purpose can we find our place in the flooded image world.

The second is to change the concept that photography is equivalent to shooting, and regard photography as a dynamic process that comes from life and returns to social life.

The photography industry has been active all the time, with one competition after another and exhibitions enjoying each other, forming an atmosphere of shooting for winning prizes, and a large number of photos are disposed of as waste after participating in the competition. In fact, photography begins with the shaping of a photographer by life, and then goes to the field to shoot, then to enlarge or print production, then to exhibition or publication, and then to return to social life. This is a complete process, and it is by no means over after the shooting is completed. Shooting just completes the collection of images of what you want. From the perspective of reception aesthetics, only the production of works is complete, and if it is not accepted by readers, production will lose its meaning. Moreover, the reader's acceptance of the work is a kind of participation in the author's creation and a second creation. Only in the process of cultural communication can readers watch the works, judge and appreciate the works and accept the influence with their own personal experience, thus completing the photography process. In the era of visual culture, traditional practices need to be changed. Photographers should establish the concept of shooting for readers, learn to plan and edit their own photos, and make their photos become cultural and artistic products, return to society and play their due role.

The third is to change the concept of blaming fraud on digital technology and use digital technology boldly and appropriately.

Photography is the product of the close combination of technology and culture, and we cannot and should not resist new technology. We always hear people say that with the advent of digital technology, the authenticity of photography can not be guaranteed, and according to the phenomenon that some computer-processed synthetic works pretend to be one-time shooting works to participate in or publish, the crime of fraud has been increased in digital technology; Others say that digital synthesis modification technology subverts the authenticity of photography. The impact of digital images on the traditional silver salt process is obvious, which makes counterfeiting more convenient. In recent years, allusions to "pigeons", "antelopes" and "dragons killing tigers" illustrate the seriousness of the situation. However, from the perspective of photography history, the traditional silver salt process and darkroom treatment are also fraudulent and often used in special periods; Digital cameras can also be real. Nowadays, many journalists use numbers, and there is still authenticity. Therefore, it is illogical to blame the number for fraud. Fraud is not a technical problem, but a human problem. With the progress of technology, our heads and hands have gained more liberation, but the social demand for truth still exists, and the authenticity of news photography will not be subverted. Fake photos are exposed because there are many real photos. Documentary photographers should strengthen their professional ethics. Since it is a record, it can't be faked and can't be empty. At the same time, it is an ideal state for photographers in the era of visual culture to boldly use digital technology, enrich creative means and open up new space.

Fourth, change the concept that photography is only art, release various functions of cameras, and establish a new view of photography culture.

Why is the road of photography getting narrower and narrower? Looking back on the works that have won prizes in various competitions and exhibitions in the past 60 years, how many works have entered the historical documents of * * * and China? If we go to statistics, we will find that the proportion is not large. The more winners can't enter, but many photos that don't care much when they are taken can enter. What does this mean? It means that the photographer's mind is bound. Everyone agrees that the basic function of a camera is recording. In the era of visual culture, photography should further promote the development of art on the one hand, and release the recording function on the other. When a person takes a picture of himself, he will have a personal video history; When a family photographs itself, it establishes its own family image development history; If a country photographs itself, it can establish its own image history. This large-scale recorded and photographed landscape from the country to the society and from the individual to the family is the condition and requirement provided by this era. Visual culture is a way of cognition, experience and communication based on the image library of individuals, families and the whole society.

Li Shufeng: Director of Institute of Photography Art, China Academy of Fine Arts.

Editor in charge: Tang Hongfeng