I used to be struggling by Caesar in tenth grade Latin class after I first heard the time period “synecdoche” (though the time period is from the Greek) — it’s a determine of speech the place part of one thing is used to characterize the entire. At this time, acquainted synecdoche embody “threads” to imply clothes, as in “dig these new threads I’m carrying.” Or “boots on the bottom” when speaking about troopers. Or “she acquired a cool set of wheels” to imply a brand new automotive.
Round that very same time, I used to be falling deeply into images, and it at all times appeared to me {that a} {photograph} was a synecdoche too. And understanding that rhetorical gadget helped me evolve in the best way I captured topics in pictures. So whereas a synecdoche is actually a literary type, I’ve at all times felt its utility was broader.
Visible Synecdoche
The world is throughout us, in 360 levels, on a regular basis, wealthy in visible information, and {a photograph} is a tiny little rectangle we use to clip out a small little bit of visible house. We don’t present the whole lot, we present this body. And we count on that small body to characterize extra than simply that slice.
However much more than that, the best way the photograph slices up visible house to characterize issues will be considerably poetic. Once we shift from “apparent” to “obscure” typically we’re shifting from a headshot to one thing indirect.
Right here’s a photograph of Adam Savage holding his superb reproduction of the Maltese Falcon. It’s a good iPhone snapshot, an ordinary form of documenting portrait. However to create a extra fascinating portrait of him I didn’t want his face shot, absolutely lit, clearly representing the whole lot happening — that might really feel like too a lot, too typical, too apparent; I may take a photograph of his arms, only a little bit of the statue peeking out. That’s a synecdoche. Or a profile. Or a shadow. It doesn’t must be an enormous full doc, it may be only a half, and I exploit that to characterize the entire.
It wasn’t an enormous cognitive leap, after all. I used to be accustomed to basic pictures like Alma Lavenson’s self-portrait (simply her arms round her digicam), and even Kertesz’s portrait of Piet Mondrian, simply his pipe and glasses (which I would argue is extra metonymy*, however we’re splitting hairs.)
Listed here are different of my portraits which are extra poetic as visible synecdoche.
Pictures can characterize our meant topics straight, however they can be synecdoche, and characterize them extra obliquely.
Temporal Synecdoche
Pictures additionally slice a teeny fraction of a second from the infinite continuum that’s time. I take this one hundred and twenty fifth of a second and put it aside, and use it to characterize all these seconds, all these moments — of the social gathering, of the holiday, of my afternoon. That is additionally a form of synecdoche — a cut up second representing an occasion.
It really works on a bigger scale too. I’m on trip, and I don’t have to {photograph} the whole lot I see, day by day of the holiday. I’m not a journalist masking the occasion. This isn’t my job. I’m in my life. I don’t must dwell behind the digicam and expertise the whole lot by that filter. My pictures pattern the time I’m away.
I may take a couple of pictures sooner or later, they usually may characterize the complete trip — a couple of fractions of a second they usually signify two weeks in Paris. Whenever you need to see my pictures from the journey, I don’t present you all 3000 photographs I took; I cull that set down to twenty… or 3… and these get posted to Instagram or pasted in a scrapbook. They characterize.
That is how pictures develop into iconic. Consider all the nice information pictures that will have began as a snapshot of one thing — just like the flag being raised on Iwo Jima by Joe Rosenthal — the picture of that second has come to characterize one thing quintessentially patriotic, a form of synecdoche.
I used to imagine that the enhancing course of concerned trying to find the quintessential photograph shot of one thing, the long-lasting photograph. I’ve come to imagine that any variety of photographs could be a very good illustration of an individual or occasion, and the actual fact is that the choice course of is what makes one picture iconic. Like being on the quilt of Life journal or being proven in a museum. There are a lot of proper solutions, however you choose one, and that highlight raises a photograph to a brand new stage.
Synecdoche is the essence of images; image-makers are always choosing bits of house and time to explain their experiences. It’s the defining attribute of the artwork type. And when you absolutely grasp this idea, it liberates your picture-taking to be extra ingenious and poetic. Strive it.
*Metonymy is comparable, however it’s not a half of the factor representing the entire thing, however another related object — like saying “The Crown” to imply the queen. In images, this could imply the portrait didn’t actually have any of the individual in it, however simply their stuff. We do that on a regular basis in visible storytelling — it’s a cut-away shot that provides texture and taste.
P.S. For those who take pleasure in this fashion of approaching images I encourage you to take one among my workshops by the Santa Fe Photographic Workshops. There are periodic 3-week on-line packages (6 classes), and this summer time there may be an in-person 1-week intensive that must be enjoyable for any inventive novice, perhaps in case you’ve plateaued, really feel such as you’re good at image taking, however need to push your self. Anyway, Thanks for listening.
In regards to the creator: Michael Rubin, previously of Lucasfilm, Netflix and Adobe, is a photographer and host of the podcast “On a regular basis Pictures, Each Day.” The opinions expressed on this article are solely these of the creator. To see extra from Rubin, go to Neomodern or give him a comply with on Instagram. This text was additionally printed right here.
Picture credit: Header photograph from Depositphotos. All different pictures copyright © 2021 MH Rubin.
