Reading: Source

I now subscribe to Source (Photoworks North, Belfast, seasonal).  The Autumn 2012 issue contained two articles that sold it to me.

Advertising, by Judith Williamson, which was the analysis of a Panasonic Camcorder advertisement showing a girl flying a kite on a beach, comparing the image with a 1970 Kodak ad showing a similar scene, and delving into the targeting of the advertisements, the subtext.  It concludes with this telling paragraph:
"There is something sad about the scenario of this Panasonic ad: the smiling girl turns to a parent who, instead of joining in, is recording her look of joy for future viewing."
This is an oppositional reading: the sense of the advertisement is subverted, conveying a message the advertiser did not intend.  Stuart Hall in his essay Encoding/Decoding, (Hall, 1993) defined three positions or codes, for the reading of a communication: the dominant-hegemonic position, where the intended meaning is read; the negotiated code or position, where the meaning is adapted to suit current or local circumstances; and the oppositional code, where a contrary meaning is inferred.

The Empty Lens: Teaching Photography as a Dead Language, by Greg Lucas and Jane Fletcher.  This raises questions about the fitness for purpose of the teaching of photography (and indeed, any 'art' medium).  The following delightful paragraph exposes one of the perceived conflicts:Professional photographers who ran - angst-ridden - from secure careers towards self-expression (finding their natural home in educational institutions) are now expected to facilitate students whose only aim is to walk blithely into a well-paid job."
The article's conclusion is:
"By removing self-expression from photography education, students will learn to understand how the medium works."
While this doesn't seem to apply to my current OCA course, I do see this tendency in other media teaching, and it was refreshing to see these opinions expressed so forthrightly.

It's the element of subversion in both articles that I find appealing.  One receives such a lot of over-serious, earnest, self-believing stuff, that it's good, occasionally, to see it twisted and torn down.

Hall, Stuart (1993) 'Encoding/Decoding' in S. During (ed) The Cutural Studies Reader, London, Routledge:
http://wxy.seu.edu.cn/humanities/sociology/htmledit/uploadfile/system/20110120/20110120230110412.pdf