What Makes A Photography Gallery Special
Telling a StoryThink about the most memorable photograph you have ever seen - whether in the newspaper, in a book or in photography gallery. What was is that was so special? For a lot of people, great photographs tell entire stories or reveal entire lives in one image. Although these pictures can be taken by accident, often they are taken through the eyes of someone with a story to tell. Walking through a photography gallery is a bit like paging through a short story anthology.
The images selected to hang in a photography gallery aren"t just interesting compositions or shapes. They might be entirely what you think a bad picture would be. Images in Photography galleries can be blurred, unfocused, off-center or poorly lit. But the images in a photography gallery not only show the story of what that image is about and, most tellingly, they tell the story of the photographer behind the lens.
Perception Through the Lens
We all long to express ourselves in some way. Many people choose to express themselves through the use of the arts. Almost all professional photographers develop their own photographs in order to ensure you see what they see. Words can easily be misinterpreted and forgotten. But images, such as the ones in a photography gallery, stay in your mind for a very long time.
We see this all the time in advertising photographs (which sometimes do pop up in a photography gallery or two). You are meant to see only the effects that one product or service brings. The picture doesn"t show you all of the problems the employees might be having or the effect the product or service might have on the environment. We only see the positive, which can be done in surprisingly ingenious and quirky ways.
A photography gallery might blur the line between real life and art, but that is its goal. Despite all of the technology and skill into every image, the ultimate interpreter of each picture is you. Your input is the last sentence in the story.