The Photographic Essay (Mitchell)

“The text of the photo-essay typically discloses a certain reserve or modesty in its claim to “speak for” or interpret the images; like the photograph, it admits its inability to appropriate everything that was there to be taken and tries to let the photographs speak for themselves or “look back” at the viewer”(516). In being told to take a position on this very controversial issue, I didn’t know whether I agreed, disagreed, or both with W.J.T Mitchell’s claim that photographs not accompanied by text speak louder than photographs with text accompaniment. Many photographs are accompanied by text or some type of explanation as to what the photograph is about or the story behind it (e.g. museums and art exhibitions), because of this Mitchell’s claim would often be looked at as wrong and would arouse many controversial and argumentative questions. When you take a closer look and give deeper thought to the claim you will notice that it is very true and I totally agree with...