Super Highway #: Opposite Opinion

This image of a country road in an unnamed bucolic town is problematic in its banality. Part of the photos banality is that it revels in non-specific images and values. The image shows a simple dirt road with a rustic wooden fence on the left side of photo. On either side of the photograph are non-descript trees. Its impossible to determine what type of trees is depicted exactly. Its impossible to determine where exactly the road is in the world. This image can be linked to websites and books all over the nation and internationally as well. Furthermore, theres no way seeing where the road leads to: theres no final destination at the end of the road. This gives a sense that the journey the spectator is on, is largely suspended in time, hanging in the balance with uncertainty. Hence the who and where that connect to the image are obscured and impossible to pinpoint for the purposes of this paper.

While some might argue that there is something sacred in capturing the simple serenity of this country road, there is also something deeply banal about it. This image can be found on Google images, surrounded by identical or almost identical images, used to manipulate the same emotions from the spectator. Wanting the spectator to feel calm, the photograph is captured in warm, almost dusky light. The grass is a vibrant green. The fence does not give an impression of protection or thwarting away potential intruders, instead its just a rustic accessory. The lack of a portrayed final destination means that the spectator can just imagine the most ideal place to him or her that the road leads to, essentially absolving the photographer of having to make any choice at all. In this sense, the photo is no longer a realistic portrayal of nature, but a manipulation. The photo seeks to manipulate the viewer to feel something specific, regardless of whether or not that is natural. In this manner the photograph is akin to certain wildlife photography and the artificial manipulations that occur in that field. For nearly eighty years, filmed images of the natural world conformed to the classic documentary aesthetic: Such images were perceived to be an expansion of human vision, a means of entering into a world that was invisible to the human eye. Today, the impulse to document nature is augmented by the much higher stakes endeavor of preserving animal life in a virtual world. Looking over the precipice of an earth depopulated of its wildlife, the goal of nature filmmakers becomes the capture of animals, at least in images, so that society and science have a record of what was lost (Horak, 459). Hence, in this manic desire to capture a fleeting element of these animals, the captured images start to look forced and an artificiality begins to pervade this type of photography. Rather than get a slice of what existence is like for this animal, the photo in its entirety begins to feel like a snapshot of an empty void. This can occur when the manipulations take over the subjectwhich is exactly what is occurring in this photograph.

Another problem with the photograph is that it doesnt...

…websitesplaces where the most clichd images are found (Neel, 2013). Photo websites hold pictures of sunrises, pretty people, cute animals and non-threatening themes in nature. These places hold images of things that are easy to look at, rather than the more difficult stuff that challenges the viewer. This is because it is essentially a big clich as it makes people happy, shows us the beautiful and creates a sense that all is OK. The clich is a product of what we might all want the world to be like. It makes quiet calm at the doctors office and tends to be purchased for above the couch. It is almost always shallow and unoriginal. In the scheme of the now, it is mostly a fabrication (Neel, 2013). This is not to say that theres a problem with looking at beautiful things. In fact, as humans, there is a need to see photos of beautiful people and creatures in order to appreciate the world. But more than that, the average individual needs to have a more nuanced awareness of everything the world has to offer: that things are worth risking ourselves for and that there is a certain magnificence in the world that is worth fighting for. Making such discoveries can only occur through truth and bravery. An image like this quiet country road isnt going to help anyone achieve such endeavors. By refusing to commune with such manipulative reductive images, the viewer is forced to look at new images, which might provoke greater thought about ones own humanity and inhumanity, and about the startling conundrum of the human experienceand all…