The Photo-as-thing

Abstract

Taking its cue from the recent expansion of critical focus towards the very materiality of the photographic picture (in contrast to a traditional privileging of image content), this essay proposes a theoretical investigation into the topic by applying Bill Brown's ‘thing theory’ to the ‘thingness’ of photography. A ‘photo-as-thing-theory’ is developed here, which introduces the photographic picture as prime example of Brown's thing theory, oscillating as it does between incommensurable thingness and docile objecthood. This ‘photo-as-thing-theory’ is then applied to the more recent development of digital imaging technologies, which are often quoted for their immateriality and lack of thingness in more than one respect: concerning their material volatility, and, more crucially so, regarding photography's mythical relation with the Real.