Penetrating Perception From it’s inception, photography has been viewed as a medium that can capture life as it is, as it is seen with the realism of the human eye. This perception has created a misconception that a photograph is reality. Although those who study and theorize within the medium have long discussed and negated this belief, among the populous, it persists. “Seeing is believing,” is still a truth embraced by the masses. Long before the invention of digital photography and software that has allowed for the manipulation of final images, photographers have utilized an arsenal of tools to shape the way these images are presented. From Ansel Adams and his vast skills of printing in the darkroom, to Jerry Uelsmann’s surrealist creations, all manipulated by hand to create works that both inspire and present human perception in very personal ways that reach out to the viewer. ​​These obvious forms of the artist’s hand render photography a medium of communication just like other art forms. The photo becomes, a sketch, a painting in light, but what of the more subtle manipulations? The cropping, the slight change in color to affect mood, contrast to enhance and saturation to convey a different, though slight variation of reality. These tools are used to exact what the image maker wants the viewer to see, in essence, the eye of the beholder. It is within these subtleties that the modern image maker can create and utilize the mirage of reality to convey complex ideas and new norms. A slight warmth creates a feeling of intimacy, a palette of pastels removes the explicit nature of a subject. An imagemaker well versed in the slight distinctions one can use renders their subject as a painter might, carefully calculating the scene, the light, the details, all composing an image that appears natural, immediate and unedited. A document of a moment in time, that in reality has been carefully planned and executed to communicate a very specific emotion or idea. As an educator, one feels the need to enlighten the student to these manipulations. To instruct young artists and viewers to be able to seek the subtleties and the context within the images. Helping them to identify and distrust first impressions, and yet the artist relies on those first impressions to create the impact that such an image can cause when human perception embraces the realism of a photograph. As our brains quickly take in the signifiers and signified within an image, those fleeting seconds where the visual is unburdened by context, titles or statements are critical. The moments where the eyes simply see, and the primitive brain responds. That reaction, the punctum as described by Roland Barthes in Camera Lucida, is what as image makers we should strive for. It is beauty, it is truth, it is emotion and it is fleeting as the brain begins to pull in all we know, each personal experience and all the perceptions that shape what is seen. Yet, that initial response, be it tenderness, grief, horror or an other immediate response is what is sought, and by calculating, utilizing the vast arsenal of tools, and experimenting we can create work that engages, penetrates and helps to communicate those moments that make up the human collective experience.p>