The Idea of Pure Image

After watching the documentary on Shelby Lee Adam’s photographs of the Appalachian people, I was really compelled on the differencing of opinions. One said that adding too much style takes away from the purity of image while the other professed that an image no matter how you look at is true, stylized or not. For class we also had to read Bryson’s article “The Natural Attitude”, which offered a very interesting idea of what an image can and should represent. Personally, I tend to side with the ideal that no matter what an image is, it will always carry some kind of connotation or style behind it so therefore it will never be completely pure but it does bare some truth.
As a student, I’ve heard the phrase “A picture is worth a thousand words” multiple times from teachers. This phrase plays perfectly into the idea that an image/picture will never be completely true; it will always have some sort of meaning. An artist or photographer cannot realistically hold back someone else’s or even their own interpretation of an image or painting. Bryson comments on this in his article “The struggle towards perfection is recognized as long and arduous: the Essential Copy, if it were ever achieved, would possess no stylistic features, since the simulacrum would at last have purged away all traces of the productive process” (pg 27). This struggle for perfection that Bryson’s discussed prevents an image from being without objectivity, actually in his vision an image becomes more subject as it is created.
In regards to the documentary, Shelby Adam’s images portrayed the truth even though they were stylized to a point. Adam’s views of his photos were respectful and elegant to a way while his opposition viewed it as a way to further the negative stereotypes. I believe that Adam did nothing wrong in his photographs, the Appalachian people were portrayed how they are. It was not Adam’s intention to portray them in a negative way but to portray a truth to a sense of who they were. The negative connotations were not of Adam’s own mindset but more so dependent on the audience.
Finally, going back to the phrase “A picture is worth a thousand words”, there is no way to think of every different meaning of a picture. No matter how a picture/ image are created there will always be some difference of interpretation. We don’t question an image of Martin Luther King Jr. professing his need of freedom for African Americans as powerful and inspirational but, we question the authenticity of an image that pictures the Appalachian people being proud and humble people? Both of these images carry meaning and should be considered truthful to a point. The key phrase in this sentence is “ To a point” an image will never be a perfect copy or replication of the subject but still should be accepted.