Relation Between Human Perception and the Photographic Mediation of Reality (Essay Sample)

RELATION BETWEEN HUMAN PERCEPTION AND THE PHOTOGRAPHIC MEDIATION OF REALITY
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Introduction
In many ways, technological devices such as televisions, cameras, spectacles, and car windows mediate how people perceive reality. Technology helps people to relate with the world in a way that transcends the natural. In other words, it bridges the gap between humans and their world. It is true that technological mediations have made it possible for people to adopt post-human vision. Photography radically changes the way in which humanity perceives and interact with the surrounding world.
Behind our experiences, photographic mediation plays a role of creating a context for our perception. In process of presenting reality, cameras have been seen to bypass the subjective human interventions. In his essay, “Work of Art in the age of Mechanical reproduction”, Walter Benjamin (2001) observes that new media, like photography and film, has altered the traditional concepts of aesthetics with regard to creativity, contemplation, eternal value, genius, and mystery (11). For instance, in pictorial art photography brings in demystification of the work of art. It is very hard for the human to capture the finer details of a fast moving object such as an athlete on the race. Photography uses its slow motion and enlargement devices to capture it successfully and relays it to the observer. According to Benjamin (2001), photography aids in discovering the ability to frame, enlarge and select details that are hidden to the naked eye. It is, therefore, not fallacy to argue that the invention of camera changes the way men see or perceive reality (13).
Through the use of light and light sensitive surface, photography has adjusted the human perception of the modern world. The observer is exposed to heightened sensory experiences, which alters the habitual and modes of perceiving the changing world. Sree Devi (2015, p.13) observes that photographic mediation teaches people new ways of seeing by extending their optical capacity. The expanded optical consciousness provides extra psychological meaning to reality. The invisible aspects of an object is revealed and also transformed. Therefore, camera brings in new a perspective that differs with human vision. The dynamic effects of the light allow interaction of forms and space, which promotes a better understanding of the world. The essence of lighting is not only focused on the object itself but also on revealing new ways of observing and celebrating the variability of the object’s appearance. It is delightful to learn how to see everything a new and more intensely.
According to Sree Devi (2015), the visual documents presented in form of photograph reveal more about the subjects than could have been possible without the document. The inclusion of other contextual information alters our perception and understanding of the photograph. According to Benjamin, photographic mediation produces new relationships between the known and the unknown thus renewing humanity’s perception of the modern world (Benjamin, 2001, p. 15). Through the new vision, photographic mediation exemplifies various ways of perceiving the familiar. On the basis of images, we are capable of making connections between things....