7/2/94
I observe the spread and proliferation of photography with feelings more of concern than happiness. Our era, instead of benefiting from the beneficial and complementary function of opposites, prefers their dramatic contrast and their competitively advertising nature. Thus, we hear about the culture of the image, in contrast to that of the word, about the power of the image as opposed to the weakness of the word, and other exaggerations that do not serve the value of photography. Culture has been and will always be the resultant of many trends, not the absolute dominance of just one. The aim is for the function of each trend to be justified by utilizing its unique characteristics that constitute its essence.
The press often harasses and betrays language and speech, so much so that it is now considered natural to do the same to the photographic image. However, the role of photography, unknown to most, even to many photographers, combined with its short history, makes it particularly vulnerable to all kinds of abuse.
Leafing through any Greek newspaper will convince us that the use of photographs is most often unnecessary. Either because it persistently shows us something already well-known, like the prime minister's portrait for the thousandth time, or because it visually repeats what the text says, as with the image of a street flooded from the previous day's downpour. In the first case, the banality would have its journalistic counterpart in the news "the prime minister went to his office again yesterday," and in the second, "yesterday it rained."
On the contrary, the strict selection of photos (few and choice) that would provide us with essential information, for example, new faces in the political scene, changes in our daily environment, or specific phases of a sports event, could be combined with photographs suggesting atmospheres difficult to convey with succinct journalistic language. Fewer photos with a substantial (and not aggressively defining) role would enhance our interest in photography and demand our respect for it.
And of course, the photographer should stay away from any thought of artistic creation and the accompanying personal form. The newspaper transmits news and opinions. And the composition of the image, while certainly obeying personal choices of the creator, should not stray far from its content, which in the case of illustration in a newspaper cannot be the expression of the photographer's personal world.
Plato Rivellis