Read Chapter 4, ‘​Something and Nothing’ ​in Cotton, C. (2014) The Photograph as Contemporary Art (3rd edition) London: Thames & Hudson. You will find this on the student website.

• To what extent do you think the strategy of using objects or environments as metaphor is a useful tool in photography?
• When might it fall down?

Write some reflective notes on these points in your learning log.

Using objects or environments as a metaphor in photography can be extremely powerful and can give the viewer a very unique, intimate, and emotional response. It allows for interpretation and contemplation.

with this type of work, the practitioner fosters our visual curiosity by subtly and imaginatively encouraging us to contemplate the stuff of the world around us in our daily lives in new ways.(Cotton, 2009)

I sometimes find it hard to determine what some images are trying to say, unless there is some form of explained to hand. I wonder sometimes if  a reflection on me or the image. I guess it can be a bit pf both at times. I do think that sometimes  I am looking for a “rhyme or reason” where perhaps there is none. The photographer had their reasons but those reasons may not be something that the viewer sees or is even expected to see. All images have a reason (of sorts) behind them. I still find some images a bit pointless,  and have to admit sometimes that I “just don’t get it” I am happy for the time being to wait to see if this evolves into a deeper understanding.