ABSTRACT

Photography stirs up ambivalent feelings. Its ability to freeze moments and to return them to us is a piece of everyday magic. As photography has become easier and more pervasive, it has become more useful in our mundane pursuits: many people use the camera on their mobile phones as a visual notebook. Yet photography still retains its magical qualities, allowing us to see again, and also to see differently. Photography both preserves and reveals, opening up the moments that it freezes to an inspection that was not possible at the time. In looking again at what was photographed, away from the pressures of the moment, we can see much more than we could at the time. This is photography's magic, and it is a magic that both charms and disturbs. We are happy enough, nowadays, to take photos, but we can also be less than happy when photos are taken of us. The single moment of the photograph can often feel ‘wrong’. It captures an ‘unfortunate’ expression, perhaps, or an unwanted gesture. The lighting can conjure up bags under the eyes or a washed-out skin tone. The framing can produce unhappy coincidences like the lampshade that looks as though it is growing out of the top of a head. Photos can record moments or even relationships that we later want to forget, even to the point of cutting up prints to eliminate the offending person. Photography still carries its risks, despite being universally available for more than a century. Cameras are used every day for everyday purposes, but photography still produces a sense of unease behind all its evident convenience and life-affirming power.