A Picture You Already Know

“What appears to be reality is in fact only a reflection of a forgotten past.” (pg. 2.)

The sum of our past sometimes repeats itself in the future. It is heard that history repeats itself. It is no surprise then that the same ideologies and subject matter come in to focus if they were present in our past.

Repetition is a subject that Leong explains is particularly apparent in the realm of photography.

“Photography is the easiest medium in which to be competent and the hardest medium in which to have a personal vision because there’s no touch, there’s no hand, there’s no physicality, there’s no interface.”

Leong explains that through photography we are often less likely to generate a unique response to a subject matter because we do not have the same artistic space to create. We use a subject matter that may have already been captured, but there are only so many technical ways to produce an image. Leong explains that uniqueness, however, can only be comprehended in the context of repetitiveness and similarity. We can only say an image is unique by not being able to compare it to anything else. Therefore we look to repetition in order to maintain and generate uniqueness.

Leong challenges that photographers have added value in creating a series of images because it is more likely that the collection of images will be more unique than an image alone would be. A series by photographers is according to Leong more likely to create a more focused particular view.