The Emergence of Photography

‘Realism is an aesthetic theory based on similarity or an identity between the photograph and depicted reality.’ - Bate 2009: 36

‘…between representations and reality…’

Humankind lingers unregenerately in Plato’s cave, still reveling, its age-old habit, in mere images of the truth

‘The realism of an image corresponds to a preconception of reality.. any picture is usually tested against preexisting suppositions and knowledge about the world. The reading of any picture will already involve assessing how far that picture is credible or plausible.’ 

‘Digital technology does not subvert normal photography because normal photography never existed.’ 

Paul Graham 

Academic Language 

Academic writing will generally demonstrate the following: 

• An impersonal, rather than personal, style 
• Arguments informed by research 
• An objective viewpoint 
• Use of the passive voice 
• Uncontracted verb forms
• Formal language 

Arguments informed by research 

evidence of research 

• original writing based on the works of others 
• referenecing 
• academic - belonging to the academy