The Reconfigured Eye: Visual Truth in the Post-Photographic Era

The Reconfigured Eye: Visual Truth in the Post-Photographic Era by William J. Mitchell is an excellent resource for understanding photographic truth in the digital age. In this book, Mitchell presents a discussion on the idea that photographic reality, or authenticity, is being challenged by the emerging technology of digital image manipulation. In Chapter 1: "Beginnings," Mitchell discusses the ideas of photographer Edward Weston. According to Mitchell, Weston "valued the fragile integrity of a photograph's surface and argued that it inherently resists reworking or manipulation" (6). In other words, Weston valued the truth of the photograph. Another photographer, Paul Strand, took this idea even further, claiming that photographic manipulation was "unphotographic and fundamentally undesirable" (7). Here Strand is claiming that, by its very nature, photography should represent reality as it truly exists.

So, we can see that the combination print photography of Henry Peach Robinson, Oscar Reijlander and Jerry Uelsmann is in direct contrast to the accepted belief that photography is a medium of truth. In fact, despite the darkroom manipulation of combination printing, Mitchell claims that "when we look at photographs we presume, unless we have some clear indications to the contrary, that they have not been reworked. Here photography and digital imaging diverge strikingly, for the stored array of integers has none of the fragility and recalcitrance of the photograph's emulsion-coated surface...Digital images are, in fact, much more susceptible to alteration than photographs, drawings, paintings, or any other kinds of images. So the art of digital image cannot adequately be understood as primarily a matter of capture and printing..." (7). Here, Mitchell is clearly differentiating between darkroom manipulation and digital manipulation.

William Mitchell's book will continue to be a valuable resource in my exploration of photographic truth in the digtal age.