In early 1800’s, the spectacular life-capturing photograph was invented, and it established a brand new form of documentation. The photograph has often been considered as an ‘imprint’ of ‘trace’ of reality, due to it’s ability to capture a frame or fragment of an object, person or place during a particular moment of time. This essay will discuss and explore why the photograph has been considered as and ‘imprint’ or ‘trace’ of reality from the perspective that photomedia can also distort and alter the ideas of reality. Various photomedia artists during the 1850’s-1900’s used different techniques and angles, which assisted with manipulation and distortion of their images. Certain aspects of photomedia have also seen to be controversial, as they …show more content…
He experimented vastly with the idea of photography, which ultimately led to the rediscovery of ‘camera-less’ picture, which he called ‘rayographs’ (See Fig 1.). These ‘rayographs’ were a number of three-dimensional objects placed on top of a sheet of photographic paper, which was then exposed, leaving an imprinted shadow of the objects onto the developed photographic paper. The use of these ‘camera-less’ images fascinates the ideas of reality as it alters the original form of the objects into something almost unrecognizable and unidentifiable. The reality of something in an image is often challenged against the credibility and plausibility of the photograph , which is assessed in Ray’s photograms. During the 1920’s-30’s, Man Ray also experimented with a photographic technique and variation called the Sabatier effect, or solarisation. The Sabatier effect adds a silvery, negative, ghostly quality to the image, as seen in Ray’s [Jacqueline Goddard], 1930 (See Fig 2.). In this image, Ray has altered the perception of his subject by reversing and changing the traditional properties of a photograph – black has become white, shadows glow, and gravity is defied. This loss of traditional photographic elements through the alteration and distortion of images challenges idea as to why the photograph has been considered a ‘trace’ or ‘imprint’ of reality, as it creates a new reality and instead of being a moment or memory, it is information . “I do not photograph nature. I photograph my visions” (Man Ray). Again, this notion of the distortion and alteration of images is portrayed through Ray’s photograph, La Marquise Casati (1922). In this photograph, Man Ray has distorted and blurred the image to portray his subject as a foreign, alien-like figure, alluding to the grotesque and unreality of the