A proposal to study photohistory: iconographic method

Abstract

The impact, past and present, of photography is nowadays an indisputable fact for each and all of us. Despite the fact that we are living in the “Age of Image”, the analysis of the meaning of static pictures is an almost new field worldwide and even newer at national level: in fact it was introduced as a subject in Spanish Universities scarcely ten years ago. The problem arises from huge amounts of photographs, lack or inadequacy of theories and study methods, and disagreement among theoreticians caused by insufficient national or international conferences. All of this hinders the development of a “photo-history” which is universally accepted. In this work a methodology for study is proposed which is called “iconographic methodology”. It attempts to rigorously approach the problem of selection and subsequent in-depth analysis of the images that are constituents of photo- history. It does so by starting with the different specific elements of photographic language and those differences in treatment required by the various photographic genres.