| Maybe OP didn't describe the intricacies of photography well enough, but I had to take photography in an art college... but I have a better story to tell. So, my father is a somewhat famous persona in the world of animation. When I was little, he used to take me to the festivals. And that being the time when movies were distributed on film, in anti-tank mine shaped containers... the editing was done with glue and scissors. We were friends with the editor who usually worked with him on his films. I remember leaving the screening with her once, and she was talking to my dad, and in excitement she said: "Oh, had you seen the cuts? Such an amazing job!" And by that she meant the few frames between shots that the editors used to leave for their own navigation and other conveniences in the film they edited. Like, you may remember random letters and geometric shapes flashing for a split second on the screen? -- She was super excited to see that! Not the movie itself. When it comes to photographs: you need to speak the language. Same things done deliberately or accidentally will mean different things. Overexposure? -- perhaps done deliberately for dramatic effect, or perhaps just an accident. Choosing a more grainy film over a finer one? -- Maybe just a lens with not enough light, or maybe the author was going for a special feeling of an older photographs. The main character in the portrait not in focus? -- you cannot tell if that's intentional or not, unless you can tell why. There was a fashion movement in fashion where high-end clothes were photographed with extremely bright flash mounted on the camera (as opposed to more typical studio setting with diffused light from multiple sources). An artistic adaptation of amateur style. Go figure! It was hip like 20 years ago. But, to read it, you need to know the history. You need to know that it was the style at the time, and through that lens you can look at it and find other things the author had to tell you (whereas w/o the background you might just dismiss it as poorly lit picture). |