Building images : objectivity vs subjectivity in architectural photographs

Abstract

The mechanical characteristic of the camera bestows an extreme level of innocence and neutrality upon the images it creates, making them seemingly more accurate in their representation of reality. This characteristic has dubbed photographs as transparent representations of the world, objective depictions that seem to abolish any interpretative distortions, seemingly making the camera the perfect instrument for faithful, architectural illustration. Such a distinctive quality offers the certainty that photographs are just mirror images of reality, making them appear as complete objective documents, with no element of personal assessment. This study seeks to question this objectivity and reveal the ways in which the camera produces imagery that may contain autonomous characteristics, qualities that allow for abstraction of architectural space, not only in its production, but also in its various modes of distribution and consumption. In this study, the camera is not presented as a device for impartial depictions, but is rather adopted as a tool for abstraction and exploration, challenging its very notion. Here, the camera is subjected to a number of empirical tests, in the form of a focus group and a personal contribution, where the complete manipulation and destruction of the sequential processes of analogue photography takes place. The aim of all this is to test whether the camera simply produces objective imagery or whether the possibility of abstraction, within a world of pre existing narratives and perceptions, is conceivable, in order to re-construct possible new meanings and discernments of architectural space.