ABSTRACT
In the study of photography it is vital to be aware of the ways in which photographs can be interpreted. Despite appearing to be more about communication outside of verbal language, applying terms and theories to visual media is important in order to analyse how it functions (see Eagleton 2004: 74-79).The main texts on analysing photographs – those that help make up what is often referred to as ‘photography theory’ – sometimes contain useful words and concepts that may at first be unfamiliar and difficult to understand.This chapter explains and debates many of the key terms and theories used to analyse photographs. It is divided into two parts. The first part has five sections and focuses on photographs themselves, while the second part has four sections and takes into account the viewers of photographs.The first two sections introduce and apply semiotics as a way of interpreting the potential meanings of photographs.The third, fourth and fifth sections examine the importance of words, contexts and discourses in fixing these meanings (what is meant
by ‘discourses’ is defined within the fifth section). The sixth section, beginning the part of the chapter focusing on the role of the viewer, provides a brief and accessible introduction to some of the ideas from psychoanalysis that have often been used in the interpretation of photographs.These ideas are applied in the seventh and eighth sections in order to debate the position of the audience: an examination of the process by which viewers may be invited to identify with a particular visual and cultural point-of-view offered by photographs is followed by a section questioning whether such a direct process of identification is possible – and offering alternatives (with an emphasis on gender and the gaze).The final section of this chapter discusses a well-known argument for the importance of personal interpretations of photographs.
