You, the Viewer, Making Meaning!

In the reading, Viewers Make Meaning, Cartwright and Sturken discuss the important and determining role that viewers play in giving an image its effective meaning. They list three ways, other then the image and the producer, that an image is given meaning:

1. the codes and conventions that structure the image and that cannot be separated from the content of the image
2. the viewers and how they interpret or experience the image
3. the contexts in which an image is exhibited and viewed

All these things listed are produced by the viewer and the environment surrounding the image and the viewer of the image. 

Another concept discussed in the article that I found very interesting was the idea of interpellation. “To be interpellated by an image, then, is to know that the image is meant for me to understand, even if I feel that my understanding is unique or goes against the grain of a meaning that seems to have been intended.” When I read this advertising was a natural thought in my mind. 

Beer commercials are always stand outs for me. I know that they often aren’t marketed towards me because I am a woman, but some of them I find highly entertaining. Beer commercials interpellate me because I know what they are intending to do even if they are not targeting me, and to some degree the effectiveness (or cleverness) of a beer commercial does convince me to buy a brand. One beer commercial that I adore is by Heineken:

BEER CLOSET COMMERCIAL

ENJOY!!!

Different Portrayals of Women in Sports Photography

Photographs play a very important role in the world we live in. If used effectively and properly, photographs can so brilliantly capture the motion, energy, and essence of a moment. In Framed and Mounted: Sport Through the Photographic Eye, the role that photographs can play in sports is discussed.

It is important to note that “...but merely that many techniques are available to photographers that are ethically dubious and, whatever the motives of the photographer, a framed, two-dimensional image can never be ‘the thing itself’”. Photographs are meant to convey what is going on and the motion of the situation. Photographs accompanied by good captions or articles allow the photographs to really shine.

These still shots of sports also allow for a sort of sports social memory to be developed for sports, and answer questions like:

• “Did you see that?”
• “Do you remember when”
• “What a bod?!”

Sports Illustrated was discussed a lot in the article for its highs and lows in sports photography. Sports Illustrated has done a good job at highlighting sports photography with well-written, informative, and credible articles. However, overall, the magazine has not demonstrated the most “gender-friendly” sharing of time. Very rarelely have women been put on the cover of Sports Illustrated, and even less then that is the number of times an African-American woman has appeared on the cover. When women are featured they are often featured in a overly sexualized manner. I think it is completely fine to have some sexualized photos of athletes, because lets be real, what girl would mind seeing some shirtless shots of some men soccer players. However, I think overall there needs to be a balance between the shots of powerful and athletically dominating women, and women provocatively posing for Sports Illustrated.

Non-sexualized sports photograph

Sexualized Sports Photograph

The Power of a Photograph

Quinn and Filak write about the power of an images as journalism in "Digital Still Photography". If used correctly and in an effective manner, a photograph has the ability to do all (and more) then an article or video can do. In many ways, images/still photographs are a universal language. Everyone can understand a visual image and the emotions and events that image captures, not everyone can read man article or understand the language in a video.

At one point, Quinn and Filak write, "use the power of the still image with its seeming permeance, but also harness sound and the energy of motion." When I read this, one photo immediately came to mind:

This still image shows a man standing in front of three encroaching tanks in Tiananmen Square. At this point, the Chinese military had just forcibly removed many Chinese protesters ( many of them students) from the Square the day before. The image fulfills what Quinn and Filak write about in terms of harnessing sound and energy of motion. The viewer can hear the humming if the tanks, can see the forward motion of the four tanks, and the solidarity and perseverance of the singer man. The viewer can also almost feel the tension of the situation surrounding the earlier happenings in Tiananmen.

When camera and editing technology began to flourish in the 1990s, getting to see these images (like the Tiananmen Square photo) became more frequent and accessible to viewers. Advanced equipment and the digitizing of media really opened up many possibilities and opportunities for photojournalists. As much as I appreciate reading a well-written news article, I would prefer the journalism has a well executed piece of photojournalism to accompany it.