In this case, Russians usually say something like this: "Everyone thinks according to his own wickedness!" (Каждый думает в меру своей испорченности) 😉
“We often talk about photographs as if they were clear containers of intention. The photographer sees something, frames it, shares it, and the viewer receives it. But that is not really how photographs work. A photograph may begin with the photographer’s intention, but it never ends there. It travels. It lands in other minds.”
This is true for words/writing as well. The reader interprets.
I am American. I am a northerner who lived in the rural South a decade ago. I met the actual KKK the first time the Saturday morning after the Dylann Roof shooting, when I went for my morning jog and found two guys firing guns in a dump after a rally there the night before. I met the actual KKK a second time at a night time traffic stop in rural North Carolina, when the cops (i.e., the klan) were pulling everyone over, checking their 'registration' (i.e., shining a flashlight on our faces for skin colour), and they let me go. I am white. It has been approx 60 years since the Klan wore the costume, but my first thought was also klan.
Thank you, Anna. That gives the association a much heavier reality, and I really appreciate you sharing it. It reminds me again that a photograph never arrives in an empty mind.
Thank you for your kind remarks. In the interest of trying to keep the forces of light connected across the Atlantic in this day and age: two excellent news photographers you should know about are Mark DiOrio and Tina Russell. They were my contemporaries at a very crazy, bad newspaper in that crazy, bad, Klanny part of Florida.
Our memories of experiences, shapes, sounds and smells can impact us for life. We do become conditioned as our brains try to correlate familiar things that we have experienced.
I see this photo as no different. I am often reminded of my own specific photographs when I see others’ images. Others images frequently remind me of some of my own photographs, not necessarily by subject materials, but by the shapes in them.
This maybe or may not be a bit unfortunate in this instance because it does bring back the memories of the hateful trauma of what the Ku Klux Clan represents and the images that we in America have been exposed to.
That is not to say that this photos is not a good photo. In fact, it is a great photo. Aside from the subject, composition, texture, lighting and framing, it does something that successful images do, it irks an emotion from a memory.
Do not apologize for this photo.
Not that this photo was created to remind us or represent the KKK, the KKK exists and is a horribly dark side of a real part of the American culture and needs to stand as a lesson of our past errors, so we can learn to never allow those things to happen again. You are not celebrating the KKK or what it represents, you are providing the vehicle that allows each viewer to bring their own association.
Photos that intentionally or unintentionally spark emotions from associations are what we strive for
Thank you, Robert. This is such a thoughtful way of putting it. I especially appreciate your reminder that photographs can carry unintended associations without endorsing them.
We give life to a moment in time, and barring a specific title (which I for one would ignore anyway), we set free something for others to play with in their own way. That is a successful photograph…. Excellent post!
I did not see the KKK connection but did assume there was a person holding up the cloth until looking further. Thinking "what were they covering from view"?
Powerful observation, on multiple levels. I saw Klan instantly. Obvious reasons. Thank you for this post and for recognizing the connectivity of imagery. "It is seen through a life," indeed.
True .... "photographs are never innocent objects floating above history." If they are 'unsettling' lets not be afraid of that but celebrate what Barthes has termed the 'perfect illusion' ... intentional or not, the joy of photography for me is that any meaning or associations attributed to a photograph is totally malleable .... thanks Mr. T for reminding us of this fluid nature of the medium (I guess it helps that all your photos seem to be high contrast B&W 'removes' the image from 'reality'
Thank you — I really appreciate that. Yes, the unsettling part can be part of the photograph’s life too, and I’m glad the fluidity of meaning came through.
A very interesting reflection about lecture and interpretation of a photography and how our life background can determinate how we look at it and what we feel when watching the picture.
Apart of that, i have noticed something: your photos are almost always in the horizontally format. Why is that? Why do you prefer, shot or show only (or mostly) in this format? I want to thank for your work and your thoughts and reflections about the photography through your experiences.
Thank you so much, German. And yes — I think I naturally see more in horizontal frames. It feels closer to how I experience space, relationships, and the flow of a scene. I do use vertical sometimes, but horizontal has always felt more instinctive to me.
The KKK iconography is what hit me first as well. With a moment, it faded into the rest of the image. A good reminder on the power of our subjective perception.
The observation about photographs being unstable by nature really stays with you. What makes this piece work so well is that you use a specific, grounded moment (the Marsaxlokk image) to arrive at something genuinely universal: that a photograph doesn't end with the person who made it. The idea that images travel into other histories and other memories, and that the viewer's reading can be just as real as the photographer's intention, is worth sitting with. The final line in particular lands quietly but with real weight.
This personal Sunday thought makes me stop and think about the real energy of a photograph, Tomasz. Thank you for your insights. Keep them coming!
Thank you so much, Sonya. I’m really glad it resonated with you.
I am not American, but my first thought was "It's lile a Ku Klux Klan..."
Thank you, Alexander. That thought never crossed my mind, but it shows how differently we can read the same image.
In this case, Russians usually say something like this: "Everyone thinks according to his own wickedness!" (Каждый думает в меру своей испорченности) 😉
“We often talk about photographs as if they were clear containers of intention. The photographer sees something, frames it, shares it, and the viewer receives it. But that is not really how photographs work. A photograph may begin with the photographer’s intention, but it never ends there. It travels. It lands in other minds.”
This is true for words/writing as well. The reader interprets.
Absolutely, Baird. Writing works the same way — once it leaves us, it begins a second life in someone else’s mind.
I am American. I am a northerner who lived in the rural South a decade ago. I met the actual KKK the first time the Saturday morning after the Dylann Roof shooting, when I went for my morning jog and found two guys firing guns in a dump after a rally there the night before. I met the actual KKK a second time at a night time traffic stop in rural North Carolina, when the cops (i.e., the klan) were pulling everyone over, checking their 'registration' (i.e., shining a flashlight on our faces for skin colour), and they let me go. I am white. It has been approx 60 years since the Klan wore the costume, but my first thought was also klan.
Thank you, Anna. That gives the association a much heavier reality, and I really appreciate you sharing it. It reminds me again that a photograph never arrives in an empty mind.
Thank you for your kind remarks. In the interest of trying to keep the forces of light connected across the Atlantic in this day and age: two excellent news photographers you should know about are Mark DiOrio and Tina Russell. They were my contemporaries at a very crazy, bad newspaper in that crazy, bad, Klanny part of Florida.
Our memories of experiences, shapes, sounds and smells can impact us for life. We do become conditioned as our brains try to correlate familiar things that we have experienced.
I see this photo as no different. I am often reminded of my own specific photographs when I see others’ images. Others images frequently remind me of some of my own photographs, not necessarily by subject materials, but by the shapes in them.
This maybe or may not be a bit unfortunate in this instance because it does bring back the memories of the hateful trauma of what the Ku Klux Clan represents and the images that we in America have been exposed to.
That is not to say that this photos is not a good photo. In fact, it is a great photo. Aside from the subject, composition, texture, lighting and framing, it does something that successful images do, it irks an emotion from a memory.
Do not apologize for this photo.
Not that this photo was created to remind us or represent the KKK, the KKK exists and is a horribly dark side of a real part of the American culture and needs to stand as a lesson of our past errors, so we can learn to never allow those things to happen again. You are not celebrating the KKK or what it represents, you are providing the vehicle that allows each viewer to bring their own association.
Photos that intentionally or unintentionally spark emotions from associations are what we strive for
RL
Thank you, Robert. This is such a thoughtful way of putting it. I especially appreciate your reminder that photographs can carry unintended associations without endorsing them.
We give life to a moment in time, and barring a specific title (which I for one would ignore anyway), we set free something for others to play with in their own way. That is a successful photograph…. Excellent post!
Thank you, Søren. I love that way of putting it — we set it free, and others complete it in their own way.
Insightful commentary!
I did not see the KKK connection but did assume there was a person holding up the cloth until looking further. Thinking "what were they covering from view"?
Thank you, Sally. That’s fascinating too — how the image first suggests one thing, then slowly becomes something else as we stay with it longer.
Powerful observation, on multiple levels. I saw Klan instantly. Obvious reasons. Thank you for this post and for recognizing the connectivity of imagery. "It is seen through a life," indeed.
Thank you, Juan. I’m glad that line resonated with you — and thank you for bringing your own way of seeing to it so clearly.
True .... "photographs are never innocent objects floating above history." If they are 'unsettling' lets not be afraid of that but celebrate what Barthes has termed the 'perfect illusion' ... intentional or not, the joy of photography for me is that any meaning or associations attributed to a photograph is totally malleable .... thanks Mr. T for reminding us of this fluid nature of the medium (I guess it helps that all your photos seem to be high contrast B&W 'removes' the image from 'reality'
Thank you — I really appreciate that. Yes, the unsettling part can be part of the photograph’s life too, and I’m glad the fluidity of meaning came through.
A very interesting reflection about lecture and interpretation of a photography and how our life background can determinate how we look at it and what we feel when watching the picture.
Apart of that, i have noticed something: your photos are almost always in the horizontally format. Why is that? Why do you prefer, shot or show only (or mostly) in this format? I want to thank for your work and your thoughts and reflections about the photography through your experiences.
Thank you so much, German. And yes — I think I naturally see more in horizontal frames. It feels closer to how I experience space, relationships, and the flow of a scene. I do use vertical sometimes, but horizontal has always felt more instinctive to me.
I agree - but I sometimes forget about it... Good post (and good picture)!
Indeed, I too at first associated the image with the KKK, but quickly dismissed the thought as
co-incidence..
The KKK iconography is what hit me first as well. With a moment, it faded into the rest of the image. A good reminder on the power of our subjective perception.
The observation about photographs being unstable by nature really stays with you. What makes this piece work so well is that you use a specific, grounded moment (the Marsaxlokk image) to arrive at something genuinely universal: that a photograph doesn't end with the person who made it. The idea that images travel into other histories and other memories, and that the viewer's reading can be just as real as the photographer's intention, is worth sitting with. The final line in particular lands quietly but with real weight.