ABSTRACT
Deconstruction is a process of critical analysis originally popularised by the French philosopher Jacques Derrida in the late 1960s. The chosen technical approach may have some bearing on how the image is intended to be read. Arnold Gassan, a photographic educator, states that: 'Often, neither the viewer nor the photographer realises what is communicated by the photograph and what is brought to it by the individual viewer.' The original social and historical setting is important. Although no person appears in the photograph, it gives a clearer portrait than any that would have been obtained by sitting the rancher down and photographing him straight-on or in a profile. The photograph on this spread was taken by Esther Bubley. It is a perfect choice to show how deconstruction proceeds and was first presented by Arnold Gassan, a photography professor from Ohio University.
