The Story Deep Inside a Photo
Thoughts on the marriage of image and text
There is a story deep inside this photograph. Strangely, the way I get to it is through the words on the outside. I look at the image, then read the text, then return to the black and white depths to see a new meaning or nuance each time. The back and forth of photo and words unfold a feeling that I am witnessing the photographer’s moment of mystery at the point of creation.
The photographer is Duane Michals, an American artist who is known for his innovative sequences of photos that examine emotions, philosophy, everyday settings, creating and preserving memories. He was perhaps the first photographer to write on his photographs breaking the pristine visual surface in order to say what the picture alone could not convey.
The words on the photo:
THERE IS NO CHINA!
I am walking through the woods going no where. I notice everything. (Everything seems particularly green.) A frog notices me but does not flee. In that green I see an orange beetle walking slowly, and I step lightly to avoid crushing him. He moves on not guessing that I exist. At once I understand that there is just myself watching a beetle in the grass. The president does not exist. Pittsburgh and Paris are only sounds. In the entire universe, there is just myself watching a beetle. There is no China!
The words describe a moment of realization about a perceiving self that is independent of, but not separate from the world and all its manifestations. Without the extension that words give to this photo, its deeper inner life would be obscured or lost to the viewer.
An interview with Michals in the New Yorker questions him about the role of writing and captions in his photographs:
My writing grew out of my frustration with photography. I never believed a photograph is worth a thousand words. If I took a picture of you, it would tell me nothing about your English accent; it would tell me nothing about you as a person. With somebody you know really well, it can be frustrating. 60% of my work is photography and the rest is writing.
Photography serves Duane Michals as an exploration platform. For the non-artist, photos are a platform for extending memory. But we can learn a lot from his work about the added dimension that words bring to pictures.
While personal photos, those that we take of friends and family, are not in the same category as art photography, they also share the same interpretive dilemma. Photos can stand alone, but how much richer they can be when we include their backstory. Social photography has been the first great advance towards that more intricate picture. Even bite-sized captions and comments are enough to give color, fact, mood or meaning for others, as well as provide a gift to our future self.
There is a backstory to every photograph — big or small. For the important ones though, taking a moment to add a caption or title ensures life to the story inside the photos you care about. Together, photos and words extend an invitation to the viewer to stand with you and truly see from your vantage point.
Just think, an orange beetle may just be walking there!
