The Development of a Photographic Aesthetic

The development of an indigenous photographic aesthetic was the result of four factors: our changing assumptions about the nature or range of subjects that could (or should) be photographed, advances in camera technology and the light-sensitivity of emulsions which expanded the range of scenes and events it was possible to record in photographs, changes in our ideas about the desirable arrangement of elements (composition) – and the interaction of these three. This brief essay will suggest that these factors eventually led to the idea that a successful photograph depends on the active (act of) contribution by the medium.