Nothing in this world seems to be a single entity. When I think of single entity, I mean something unidimensional. I am a man, a son, a brother, an uncle, a friend and maybe an enemy or rival to some, and so much more. I am not just a man or a son. When I look at photography from afar, it seems to be an activity, but on a deeper look, it has a character, much like any person in our society.
Photography is a language where every word portrays a personality. A color photograph, speaks on a different frequency than a black and white one. Similarly landscapes and portraits use different gestures, to convey the message. The same image might interact with the viewer in one way, but when text or words are introduced in the conversation, the behavior of the image, changes. It seems so much like human to human interactions.
In such circumstances, often we hear people debating about the status of photography. Is it art? Is it real? Or, is it a physical evidence of truth? To me it seems like classifying a person as only a son, or only a carpenter. Of course, the same person can be a son and a carpenter at the same time. But, what we perceive of him or her depends upon, from which stand point we interact with that person.
And, when I think of photography like this, I begin to believe that photography is art, truth and a lie, and so much more at the same time. All that matters is how we interact with it. As I am a specimen of homo-sapiens specie, a photograph is impression of photons on a censor, or a film or glass plate. Every other identity is result of our interactions, and intentions with different kind of people. How we approach them, or the way they approach us, changes our status from artist to journalist or from a son to a rival, and from art to truth or a fictional story.
But, eventually we both are something more. Or not?