Strokes of Light/靈光之書

The word “photography”, meaning “writing (graphé) with light (phōs)” in its Greek root, speaks to the essential role of “light” in photography. “Light” is at once the imprint left on the rolling film as it loads into a camera, and the very first trace of the outside world captured by the instrument. The “light”, recorded by such swift yet incomplete process, reflects the ambiguous dynamics of camera’s presence/absence in photography. In addition, the chemical reaction involved adds a temporal dimension to the process to give visual variations that unfold like literature. The writing of light is made visible, inspiring a discussion on the traditional photographic medium in the context of new technology.

「光」是攝影的本源,在希臘語中,攝影(Photography)是「以光來書寫」,然而照相機的存在卻是不必要。「靈光之書」是「光」在菲林捲入照相機時留下的痕跡,同時亦是當機背蓋好後,經由相機引進的第一道外在世界的反照。「靈光」就這樣被一個不完整的攝影過程強行的留下印記,其卻呈現了「照相機存在與否」的一種攝影本質的曖昧,亦表現出攝影過程中「光」是如何被書寫下來,同時間,更引起了一場有關傳統媒介在新科技的語境下的一場對話。
相比後起的數碼影像科技,傳統的影像媒介(銀鹽及其他類同的影像技術)省卻了器材介入,更著重「以光來書寫」的直接性。而且,化學作用過程或多或少的因應時間長短,使影像變得跳躍而具閱讀延展性,有如文學一樣先後有序。如果要指出傳統攝影媒介的當代價值,大概就只有這是唯一的。

 

 

Copyright 2022 © SiuWaiHang