On Chapter 14

The meaning of the photograph can only be told by the photographer. When someone looks at a photo, they get an image of what the photo should be about, and in their mind, they are entirely correct. Every individual sees photographs differently. Because of people's backgrounds and experiences, they see things in different lights. One man might look at a picture of a family sitting down to eat as something he used to do and envision his own family within the picture. Another younger girl might see the same photo as old-style America. In her family, she has TV dinners with her single mother. She won't relate to the photo as well, and therefore only sees what she knows as the stereotypical American meal. So we can analyze photographs all we want, but everyone will see something different within its boarders and therefore we can never really know what the photographer was really trying to capture. We can only assume.