Statement on Photography

A single photograph is a static two-dimensional representation of a single instance of historical time, from only one single viewpoint; that of the camera. A subjective individual is in control of the camera.

The photographic medium is incapable of representing even a fragment of a person, let alone an intricate totality. Any attempt is futile.

Digital photography will remove the mystery of light, of photography; a computer will take the perfect photograph – every time – of whatever subject in it’s view. Digital photography will allow anyone and everyone to be a photographer; in such a state photographers cease to exist. Photography will become ubiquitous: instantaneous, passive and of no value.

Martin John Callanan
January 2001

Barthes, 1964, p.33
Barthes, 1980, p.353
Benjamin 1936, p.73
Flusser, 2000, p.41
Green, 1985, p.128
Slater, 1991, p.54
Tagg, 1977, p.67. p.70