The thing itself

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[30Jan22] See also LPE Eval 1.

[15Sep21] This has kept popping up throughout the degree, first as one of Szarkowski's five key aspects of the photograph (The Thing Itself, The Detail, The Frame, Time and Vantage Point), see here.

Then I learned that Edward Weston said it first. In June, I found through Geoff Dyer's See / Saw (2021) Weston's full quotation. Today (15Sep) in a Brighton bookshop, I found that there were other Weston quotes. I have ordered a (relatively) inexpensive used copy of Weston's Flame of Recognition and will take up the story from that.

There's a paper from Bill Jay on the matter and I also learned today from some cursory research that it all began with Kant's Ding an sich, though I don't think that's relevant to Weston or Szarkowski's usage.

I believe that I'm right in saying that with a grasp of Weston's Thing and Barth's Punctum, the theoretical photographer knows much of what these is to know on the matter:
Weston's Thing applies to the photographer's approach; and
Barth's Punctum the viewer's side.

[17Sep] This has led to a tentative Unified Theory of Photography. By tying up the Elements of Snapping and Itself, a rounded picture is beginning to emerge. I'll carry on with Itself here while working on UTP on its own page. It will have its first outing in the Book of I&P. The physical photograph will have to be added to the Elements.

Dyer - Jay - Weston - Szarkowski - Bull

Dyer

[17Sep] from the blog, 18th June

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Bill Jay

[17Sep] The full text is here. Mike Johnston, on The Online Photographer has picked out four quotes,

...In order to photograph with any degree of continuous passion, you must have a fascination for the subject, otherwise you cannot sustain an interest in the act of creation for a long enough period of time in which to make any insightful or original statement about it. In spite of its seemingly heretical slant (in this day and age) what you photograph is usually more important than how you photograph it.

The photographer is, first and foremost, a selector of subjects. The photographer makes a conscious choice from the myriad of possible subjects in the world and states: I find this interesting, significant, beautiful or of value. The photographer walks through life pointing at people and objects; the aimed camera shouts 'look at that!' The photographer produces pictures in order that his or her interest in a subject can be communicated to others. Each time a viewer looks at a print, the photographer is saying 'I found this subject to be more interesting or significant than thousands of other objects I could have captured; I want you to appreciate it too.'

This immediate emotional or intellectual response to the subject matter is at the core of photography. [...] †

I have stressed the importance of subject matter because it is the fundamental principle of photography—and, paradoxically, the least discussed area of the medium, especially to young photographers. Johnston, M. (2020) quoting Jay, B. (1988)

† and sounds rather like a punctum

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Weston

[22Sep] The Flame of Recognition is a collection of Weston's photographs and writings from his daybooks and letters, edited by Nancy Newhall. Some quotes and images are shown here.

There are two mentions of the thing itself:

March 10th, 1924, Mexico City For what end is the camera best used ? . . . The answer comes always more clearly after seeing a great work of the sculptor or painter …that the camera should be used for a recording of life, for rendering the very substance and quintessence of the thing itself, whether polished steel or palpitating flesh. Weston, The Flame of Recognition , p.12

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The creative force in man recognizes and records these rhythms with the medium most suitable to him, to the object, or the moment, feeling the cause, the life within the outer form. Recording unfelt facts by acquired rule, results in sterile inventory.
To see the Thing Itself is essential: the Quintessence revealed direct without the fog of impressionism – the casual noting of a superficial phase, or transitory mood.
This then: to photograph a rock, have it look like a rock, but be more than a rock. – Significant presentation – not interpretation. Weston, The Flame of Recognition , p.41

Weston, then favours representational photography rather than impressionistic or interpretive. (I'm not sure whether they are the main choices, they just tripped off my fingers.) I believe that others may seek to expand his definition. Note, though, that Weston believes in more than just accurate objective photography, the quintessence and more than a rock suggests something spiritual and reminds me of Avedon on portraits, in the I&P Preamble, I quoted Dawoud Bey paraphrasing Avedon,

Avedon once said, "… you can't get at the thing itself, the real nature of the sitter, by stripping away the surface. The surface is all you've got. You can only get beyond the surface by working with the surface." It was clear from seeing his photographs that the surface contains rich information and could provoke a strong response. Dawoud Bey, 2019, p.15

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Szarkowski

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References

Bey, D. (2019) On photographing people and communities. NY: Aperture.

Bloomfield, R (2017) Expressing your vision [EyV]. Barnsley: Open College of the Arts.

Boothroyd, S. and Roberts, K. (2019) Identity and place [I&P]. Barnsley: Open College of the Arts.

Dyer, G. (2021) See/Saw, looking at photographs. Edinburgh: Canongate Books.

Jay, B (1988) The Thing Itself. The fundamental principle of photography [online]. caaap.org. Available from http://www.caaap.org/billJayTheThingItselfItself.pdf [Accessed 17 September 2021].

Johnstone, M. (2020) Bill Jay on 'The Thing Itself' [online]. typepad.com. Available from https://theonlinephotographer.typepad.com/the_online_photographer/2020/07/bill-jay-on-the-thing-itself.html [Accessed 17 September 2021].

Szarkowski, J. (2007) The photographer's eye. Revised 3rd ed. New York: MoMA.

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