About Time: Photography and Temporal Realism
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.54103/2039-9251/32277Parole chiave:
new theory of photography, indexical icon, temporal realism, time-restrictionAbstract
Traditional temporal realism, a characterisation I introduce here, is the view that a photographic image is temporally indexed to an event that occurred at the time the image was created. Adherents include Roland Barthes, André Bazin and Kendall Walton. Time-restriction is a sceptical problem for this view: unique among visual arts, photography cannot produce images of scenes in the future or distant past. I reject the traditional view and present a revised account of temporal realism. Using Dawn Wilson’s multi-stage account of photography, I refute the imprinting model of photography that lies behind traditional photographic realism and with it the view that photographic images are temporally indexed icons. Discussing forensic astronomy of a photograph by Ansel Adams and a painting by Claude Monet, I argue that revised temporal realism comes without time-restriction.
Downloads
Riferimenti bibliografici
Abell, C., Out with the Old? The New Theory of Photography, in “Aisthesis. Pratiche, linguaggi e saperi dell’estetico”, 11/2, 2018, pp. 208-216.
Adams, A., Ansel Adams: An Autobiography, Little, Brown and Company, New York-Boston-London 1985.
Atencia-Linares, P., Fiction, Nonfiction, and Deceptive Photographic Representation, in “The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism”, 70/1, 2012, pp. 19-30.
Barthes, R., The Photographic Message, in S. Sontag (ed. by), A Roland Barthes Reader, Vintage, London 1982, pp. 194-210.
Barthes, R., Camera Lucida, Vintage Classics, London 2000.
Batchen, G., Forget Me Not: Photography and Remembrance, Princeton Architectural Press, New York 2004.
Bazin, A., The Ontology of the Photographic Image, transl. by H. Gray, in “Film Quarterly”, 13/4, 1960, pp. 4-9.
Benovsky, J., Photographic Representation and Depiction of Temporal Extension, in “Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy”, 55/2, 2012, pp. 194-213.
Best, D., ‘Gerardo Suter’, in “Black & White Magazine for Collectors of Fine Photography”, Issue 11, February 2001, p. 118.
Cartier-Bresson, H., Europeans (1955), in Id., The Mind’s Eye: Writings on Photography and Photographers, Aperture, New York 1999, p. 53.
Cavedon-Taylor, D., Arrangement and Timing: Photography, Causation and Anti-Empiricist Aesthetics, in “Ergo: An Open Access Journal of Philosophy”, 7, 2021, pp. 877-903.
Clarke, G., The Photograph: A Visual and Cultural History, Oxford University Press, Oxford 1997.
Costello, D., What’s So New about the New Theory of Photography?, in “The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism”, 75/4, 2017, pp. 439-452.
di Cicco, D., Dating Ansel Adams’ Moonrise, in “Sky & Telescope”, 82/5, November 1991, pp. 529-533.
Currie, G., Visible Traces: Documentary and the Contents of Photographs, in “The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism”, 57/3, 1999, pp. 285-297.
Doisneau, R., Three Seconds of Eternity, te Neues Publishing Company, New York 1979.
Dyer, G., See/Saw: Looking at Photographs, Canongate Books, Edinburgh 2021.
Eastlake, E., Photography (1857), in B. Newhall (ed. by), Photography: Essays and Images, Secker and Warburg, London 1980, pp. 81-95.
Friday, J., Aesthetics and Photography, Ashgate, Aldershot 2002.
Hopkins, R., The Real Challenge to Photography (as Communicative Representational Art), in “Journal of the American Philosophical Association”, 1/2, 2015, pp. 329-348.
Kulvicki, J., Timeless Traces of Temporal Patterns, in “The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism”, 74/4, 2016, pp. 335-346.
Marchetti, L., Depicting Motion in a Static Image: Philosophy, Psychology and the Perception of Pictures, in “The British Journal of Aesthetics”, 62/3, 2022, pp. 353-371.
Mulvey, L., Death 24x a Second: Stillness and the Moving Image, Reaktion Books, London 2006.
Olson, D.W., Celestial Sleuth: Using Astronomy to Solve Mysteries in Art, History and Literature, Springer, New York 2014.
Phillips, D. M., Photography and Causation: Responding to Scruton’s Scepticism, in “The British Journal of Aesthetics”, 49/4, 2009, pp. 327-340.
Scruton, R., Photography and Representation, in “Critical Inquiry”, 7/3, 1981, pp. 577-603.
Sontag, S., On Photography, Penguin, London 1977.
Szarkowski, J., The Photographer’s Eye, Museum of Modern Art, New York 2007.
Walton, K. L., Transparent Pictures: On the Nature of Photographic Realism, in “Critical Inquiry”, 11/2, 1984, pp. 246-277.
Walton, K. L., Experiencing Still Photographs: What Do You See and How Long Do You See It?, in Id., Marvelous Images: On Values and the Arts, Oxford University Press, Oxford 2008, pp. 157-192.
Wilson, D. M., Invisible Images and Indeterminacy: Why We Need a Multi-stage Account of Photography, in “The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism”, 79/2, 2021, pp. 161-174.
Wilson, D. M., Reflecting, Registering, Recording and Representing: From Light Image to Photographic Picture, in “Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society”, 122/2, 2022, pp. 141-164.
Wilson, D. M., Against Imprinting: The Photographic Image as a Source of Evidence, in “Social Research: An International Quarterly”, 89/4, 2022, pp. 947-969.
Wilson, D. M., What Is a Photographic Register?, in “The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism”, 81/3, 2023, pp. 408-413.
Dowloads
Pubblicato
Come citare
Fascicolo
Sezione
Licenza
Copyright (c) 2026 Dawn Wilson
Questo lavoro è fornito con la licenza Creative Commons Attribuzione - Condividi allo stesso modo 4.0.
Gli autori che pubblicano su questa rivista accettano le seguenti condizioni:
1. Gli autori mantengono i diritti sulla loro opera e cedono alla rivista il diritto di prima pubblicazione dell'opera, contemporaneamente licenziata sotto una Licenza Creative Commons - Attribuzione - Condividi allo stesso modo 4.0 internazionale che permette ad altri di condividere l'opera indicando la paternità intellettuale e la prima pubblicazione su questa rivista.
2. Gli autori possono aderire ad altri accordi di licenza non esclusiva per la distribuzione della versione dell'opera pubblicata (es. depositarla in un archivio istituzionale o pubblicarla in una monografia), a patto di indicare che la prima pubblicazione è avvenuta su questa rivista.
3. Gli autori possono diffondere la loro opera online (es. in repository istituzionali o nel loro sito web) prima e durante il processo di submission, poiché può portare a scambi produttivi e aumentare le citazioni dell'opera pubblicata (Vedi The Effect of Open Access).
