Images are primary sources and need to be interpreted carefully. Images present a visual record of a moment in time. They can provide valuable information about what happened, what things looked like and how people experienced and recorded everyday life. They can also showed us what people imagined. However, images can be manipulated either by technical means such as altering or cropping, or by presenting images out of context.The following advice is from The American Library Association:
‘Once you have identified primary sources, it is necessary to read and examine them with a critical eye. It is important to consider both the source itself and the time in which it was created. Remember, too, that sources exist in different formats. Below are some of the questions you may ask about the nature of a source:
• What is the source and what is it telling you?
• Who is the author or creator?
• What biases or assumptions may have influenced the author or creator?
• Who was the intended audience?
• What was the significance of the source at the time it was created?
• Has the source been edited or translated, thus potentially altering the original intent or purpose?
• What questions could be answered using this source?
• What, if any, are the limitations of the source?
• Does your understanding of the source fit with other scholars’ interpretations, or does it challenge their argument?
Consideration of these questions will help you analyse and interpret your sources without overusing and relying on too many direct quotations.’
You should consider the "rhetorical situation" which is used to describe the way in which verbal or visual communication takes place. This consists of several components:
• Purpose: Why was the image created? For example, is decorative, is it to educate or explain, or is it make fun of something?
• Authorship: Who created the image?
• Audience: Who was the intended audience? Would the original audience understand the image in a different way form people today.
• Content/message: What does the image contain
• Context: What was going on culturally and politically and economically when the image was created. Why and how has it been shared or, if it is a historic image, how and why has it survived?
Look at the picture of a sleeping swan below and ask yourself the following questions:
Who took the photograph?
Why is it here?
How does it make you feel? What is happening - if anything?
What does it mean - if anything?
How is your attention directed across the image?
There isn't really a 'correct' answer to this exercise, it is just to encourage you to look at the image and reflect critically on it and on your responses to it.
David Pulford (2019) Sleeping Swan on the Thames near Marlow. Photograph taken on mobile phone April 14 2019
The image was taken by the author of this guide and chosen at random for you, the reader of the guide, to practice looking at an image. Can you spot the plastic waste floating in the water?