Conceptual photography

Learning goal

You will be able to design a photo or a series that starts from an idea. You will explain that in conceptual photography the concept comes first, and the image is a tool that carries that concept. You will reduce an abstract thought to a one-sentence concept statement, draw from that sentence concrete equivalents that can be seen and touched, and test which of them work as visual metaphors. You will tell apart leaving the viewer room to think from saying the idea out loud in every frame. You will accept that the conceptual approach is neither superior nor inferior to documentary or street photography, only another way of working. You will also question what meanings metaphors built on light, color and darkness can unintentionally produce on people of different skin tones.

The question

For a week your friend keeps staring at the first page of their notebook. On the page there are only two words: starting again. They love morning light and know how to photograph it; but they don't know how to photograph an idea. If they photographed the sunrise, the idea feels like it would stay too obvious and ordinary. If they photographed nothing, they would be left with only two words.

They take the camera and walk around the neighborhood, shoot lots of frames, and look at all of them in the evening. Most of the frames show a calm morning, but none of them speaks of starting again. How does a photograph express an idea? How does a thought turn into something that can be seen, and how much should this transformation steer the viewer?

Context

While following the movements in photography, we arrived at an approach in which contemporary photographers design the scene from the start and work with constructed images (Lesson 26.1). While planning a project, too, you learned to begin with a project question, that is, a single sentence saying what you are trying to understand (Lesson 23.4). In the previous lesson your friend's style map revealed that morning light carries a meaning for them (Lesson 26.7).

This lesson reverses the order. In documentary and street photography the photographer usually sees something in the world and records it; the meaning becomes clear after the shoot, in the selection and sequencing. In conceptual photography, on the other hand, the meaning comes first: the photographer sets out with an idea and looks for, finds or builds the image that will carry that idea. Both paths are legitimate, and many photographers use both together.

Simple explanation

What does conceptual photography start with?

Conceptual photography is the approach to photography in which an idea, a thought or a question decided before the shoot steers the image, and the image is chosen or built to carry that idea to the viewer. Here the photo's value doesn't come only from the beauty of the light or the catching of the moment; it also comes from how well the image carries the idea. Technical skill is still needed, because a badly exposed or cluttered frame can drown even the best idea; but here technique is at the service of the idea. The image that will carry the idea can come by two paths: the photographer can find it ready in the world, on a wall, in a shop window, in a shadow; or they can build it themselves by placing objects and adjusting the light. The found image carries the weight of reality, while the built image gives control over every detail. Which is chosen depends on the idea and on the photographer's way of working.

A concept statement is an expression that says, in a single, plain sentence, the thought a conceptual photo or series wants to carry. A project question asks what you are trying to understand; a concept statement says what the images should make the viewer feel or think. Your friend's words "starting again" aren't yet a concept statement, but a title. Turning it into a sentence, for example saying "Every day we start again, without the traces of the previous day being erased," narrows the idea and makes it something that can be shot. The clearer the sentence, the easier it is to choose which image serves it.

How does an abstract idea turn into an image?

A concrete equivalent is an abstract idea finding its counterpart in an object, a place, a movement or a light situation that can be seen, touched or built in the world. After the concept statement is written, a list is drawn from it: for starting again, a board that is wiped and written on again, a market stall packed up in the morning and set up again in the evening, a wall half painted old and half new, a new cup placed next to the ring left by a cup from the night before. The first things that come to mind on the list are usually the most often seen; such as a sunrise or a shoot sprouting from a seed. These aren't wrong, but the viewer has seen them so many times that they look not at the idea, but at a familiar picture.

A visual metaphor is an image that, while showing what it is, at the same time brings another thought to mind through resemblance or association. A half newly painted wall is a wall; but it can also be read as a day written over the old without erasing it. The way to tell whether a metaphor works is to show the frame to someone who doesn't know the concept statement and ask what they think. If the answer is close to the idea, the metaphor is carrying; if it goes somewhere completely unrelated, either the frame is weak or the metaphor lives only in the photographer's head.

How much room is left for the viewer?

Over-explanation is a conceptual photo saying its idea so openly, with so many signs, that no room is left for the viewer to think and add their own meaning. Putting a calendar in front of the wall, a clock on top of the calendar, and next to the clock the words "new day" secures the idea but turns the frame into a poster. On the other hand, a frame that leaves no clues at all also leaves the viewer alone. Where to stop isn't a rule, but a decision the photographer makes; some prefer a clear message, some a wide space. The title and a short text are also part of this balance. A one-word title can open a door for the viewer; a long text explaining the frame from start to finish can close that door. After writing the title, it helps to look at the frame again and ask whether the title adds something to the image, or only repeats what the image already says.

Metaphors built on light and darkness need extra care. The familiar association that pairs brightness with hope and darkness with evil can, in a frame with people of different skin tones, unintentionally load a meaning onto these people: showing someone with dark skin in shadow and someone with light skin in the light can be read by the viewer as an opposition, even if that isn't the photographer's intention. When building a metaphor, asking whose face the light falls on and whether every skin tone is read in its own tone keeps the idea from forming an unwanted sentence. The same question applies to color: giving the whole frame a warm, light tone to express hope can push dark skin toward a faded brown and light skin toward a bloodless white; the metaphor's color shouldn't erase the color of the people.

Visual evidence

From their list your friend chooses the half newly painted wall. In front of a shop in the neighborhood, a new coat of white has begun to go on over the old blue paint in the morning. They shoot the frame in low side light; the cracks of the old paint deepen in shadow, the new paint flat and smooth. In the frame there is only the wall and the border left by the brush.

They show the frame to two friends who don't know the concept statement. One says "renovation" and moves on. The other looks for a while, then says the old still shows from under the new paint. Your friend thinks the first viewer's answer shows the frame has stayed too dry, and adds a second frame: in front of the same wall, the hand of the dark-skinned craftsperson applying the paint, in the first light of morning.

When the two frames come side by side, the wall is no longer only a renovation; it is a job in which a person starts again every morning. While exposing the craftsperson's hand, they meter not the surface but the skin itself, and don't leave the hand in shadow; the skin is as detailed as the paint. For the title they write only "Coat" and leave the text at two sentences.

Common mistakes

Summary

In conceptual photography the idea comes first, and the image is chosen or built to carry that idea; the photographer reduces the abstract thought to a concept statement, draws concrete equivalents from it, and tests which of them works as a visual metaphor on viewers who don't know the idea. Over-explanation leaves the viewer no room, while leaving no clue at all leaves them alone; the photographer chooses this balance, and when building light and darkness metaphors also looks separately at whose face the light falls on and whether every skin tone is read in its own tone.

Mini assignment

In this assignment you will prepare a small three-frame series that starts from an idea.

1. Choose an abstract idea that interests you and reduce it to a single, plain concept statement.
2. Write at least fifteen concrete equivalents from the concept statement; mark the first five as the familiar ones and try to avoid them.
3. Choose three equivalents from the list and shoot them; if there is a person in at least one frame, expose their skin in its own tone and check whether the light or darkness metaphor unintentionally loads a meaning onto them.
4. Show the three frames to two people who don't know the concept statement, note what they think, and write the title and the two-sentence text accordingly.

Check yourself

• Can you say your idea in a single sentence?
• Among the concrete equivalents, were you able to go beyond the familiar ones?
• How close did the viewers' answers come to your idea, and how much room did you leave in the frame?

Glossary

Mini quiz

1. What is the order in conceptual photography?

• A) First the shoot, then an idea is looked for
• B) The idea comes first, and the image is chosen or built to carry it
• C) The idea and the image meet by chance
• D) First the print size is decided

2. What is the difference between a concept statement and a project question?

• A) There is no difference
• B) A concept statement is only a title
• C) A project question asks what you are trying to understand, a concept statement says what the images should make the viewer think
• D) A project question is used only in documentary

3. How is it tested whether a visual metaphor works?

• A) By showing the frame to someone who doesn't know the concept statement and asking what they think
• B) By adding more signs to the frame
• C) By printing the frame larger
• D) By writing the idea openly in the title

4. What problem does a frame full of a calendar, a clock and the words "new day" have?

• A) Underexposure
• B) Motion blur
• C) Color shift
• D) Over-explanation

Answers

1. B — In conceptual photography the concept comes first, and the image is a tool that carries that concept.
2. C — The project question asks what is being understood, the concept statement says the thought you want to awaken in the viewer.
3. A — The answer of a viewer who doesn't know the idea shows whether the metaphor comes from the frame or only from the photographer's head.
4. D — The idea has been said with so many signs that no room is left for the viewer to think.

Summary card

• First the idea, then the image.
• Reduce the idea to a single sentence.
• Write fifteen concrete equivalents, go beyond the familiar.
• Test the metaphor on someone who doesn't know the idea.
• In a light and darkness metaphor, show every skin tone in its own tone.

Bridge to the next lesson

The series' three frames are ready, but your friend has more than sixty photos they took that week. When they look at each one, they remember a separate morning, a separate walk in every one, and can't bear to throw any of them away. The morning they photographed the craftsperson's hand was cold, they had waited a long time in front of the wall; leaving out even a weak sibling of that frame feels unfair to them. Why can't I choose my best photos? The next lesson takes up making a selection, which tells how to look at the photograph and not the memory, and to take out what doesn't serve the series.