After reading the Introduction and the How to Read Photographs sections of “Reading and Researching Photographs” (by Helena Zinkham) compile a list of steps one might take to close read a photograph. Type up your list (for your blog post), then apply that reading process to one of the photographs from the “Browsing the Stacks” article. In your blog, share your list of steps, your close reading process and findings. Be sure to tell your readers which photograph you close read.

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When trying to read photography, it can be difficult to see where the photographer wants you to look or get out of his or her photo. There are a few steps to try and help someone trying to read a photograph. The steps consist of trying to find and understand the setting, what was going on in the photo, what was the time period, what photography techniques we’re using in the photo, and what is the bigger picture and meaning behind the photo. Using these steps will help the reader get a better understanding of a photograph instead of just looking at a picture and not seeing the work or meaning behind it.

Trying to find and understand the setting is the first step in reading a photo, this could be difficult because it can relate to a specific time period or social issue. For example, looking at a picture of the Old Library in Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland. You can see that the ceiling are incredibly high and the room is very long rather than wide. The caption tells us that the photo was taken very recently, in 2018. The room itself is very dark with that seems to be natural light. Also, the picture could have been taken while on a tour or the Library. Doing this and understand the circumstances for the photograph makes it easier to understand and relate it to the other steps in this reading process. The second step was, what was going on in the photo. Going back to my example with the Old Library photography, the photographer could have been on a tour of the library and saw the opportunity to take this picture. You can see how the person in the photo was also taking a picture of the library which makes it seem like there was a group of people with them.

The third step, like I stated before shows that the photo was taken recently so here the context of a time period or social issue do not play a huge role in understanding the picture. Also, you can look at the history of the Old Library why it is so famous. This plays a massive role in understanding and close reading this photo for example. The next part of reading a picture is finding out what techniques the photographer using in taking the photo itself. An example of this would be the rule of thirds where the subject would be on one of the two sides of the image and not the middle or leading lines to the subject, here the leading lines show all the bookcases and leaving you to the brighter middle right section by the women’s hands. Finally, the last step in reading a photo and understanding would be after you go through this list and check off everything, then you can make the conclusion of a more significant meaning behind it or is the picture the way it is presented. Some photos mean precisely what you see in the image; however, most of the time you can find a more profound and more significant meaning behind what the picture shows. Again, going back to this image of the Old Library, after using these steps you can see how the history of this Library plays a role in a deeper meaning of the picture.

Overall there are many ways to close read a photograph, but this list gives you the basis you need to understand what the author wants to tell you and what it means to them. It also gives you a great appreciation for photography because even though this photo only shows you bookcase with the sunlight on them and a women taking another photograph, it means so much more and is a terrific way of showing this Library to the public and what it means to the photographer.

Works Cited

A Tourist Takes Pictures in the the Long Room of the Old Library in Trinity College . Dublin, Irland,

14 Sept. 2018.

One thought on “After reading the Introduction and the How to Read Photographs sections of “Reading and Researching Photographs” (by Helena Zinkham) compile a list of steps one might take to close read a photograph. Type up your list (for your blog post), then apply that reading process to one of the photographs from the “Browsing the Stacks” article. In your blog, share your list of steps, your close reading process and findings. Be sure to tell your readers which photograph you close read.”

  1. For this blog post, I also chose the photograph of Trinity College’s Old Library. I liked the way that you interpreted the photo on the basis of the time period. I had not thought of the time period of being much significance other than that the photo was taken digitally. I think that it would be interesting to reevaluate this photograph while keeping the “specific time period or social issue” in mind. Something that I also liked was that you looked at the techniques that the photographer chose to use and apply while taking the photograph. In this picture specifically, I wondered if the photo had any significant meaning due to the bright light shining behind the staircase, which seemed very staged. I think that it is interesting how our steps were very similar, but in different orders. I chose to make connections with the photograph in the earlier steps, whereas you chose to make those connections towards the end of your analysis. I wonder if that has any impact on the meaning that we get from the photographs.

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