Amanda Nierman

The act of looking is a choice and one that we can either choose to participate in or avoid depending on the situation. It can influence many things within our own lives and cultures. When talking about imagery the use of representation is apparent always and this is the use of language and images to create meaning about the world around us. Imagery has been used centuries ago to represent imaginary worlds and abstract concepts like many different religions do and mythologies. Photographic truth has become a sort of myth due to the ability to easily change and manipulate imagery, but also the fact that images are capturing a certain moment in time and whether that moment captures the whole truth to that moment is left in the air and there will always be some degree of subjective choice from the person taking the photo. Representing the truth looks different between media forms, for example, the truth might be represented differently between the newspaper and perhaps a movie that you see in a movie theatre and it is important to keep this in mind when considering their relationship to time and their ability to be widely produced. The meaning of an image and our expectations of that image are tied to the technology through which is was produced. The value of images can stem from many different things such as economic factors, cultural factors, and whether it can be reproduced for popular consumption. When we interpret images we also interpret the assumptions that we and others bring to that image which is why the act of looking is not a passive, but an active practice. Looking can influence so much of what we do and say and think within our cultures and we have the power to influence meaning when we look and interpret these signs and images within our cultures.