Emily

Quote and Response

Every image embodies a way of seeing. Even a photograph. For photographs are not, as is often assumed, a mechanical record.

The photographer’s way of seeing is reflected in choice of subject. The painter’s way of seeing is reconstituted by the marks made on the canvas or paper.

            -John Berger, from Ways of Seeing

 

            I decided to pick this quote because of the first couple lines. “Every image embodies a way of seeing…for photographs are not, as is often assumed, a mechanical record.” This part of the quote really has a great deal of meaning behind it, because the photograph that is taken by the photographer was picked and there is meaning and a reason why the photographer took that particular picture. Just like the reason why a painter paints certain images, ever picture that a photographer takes is intentional and has significance behind the photograph. John Peter Berger was born on November 5, 1926 in Highams Park, London, England. Berger made a living by being a painter, novelist, an art critic, as well as a novelist. John Berger wrote this essay Ways of Seeing on art criticism in 1972.