Beyond the single picture: Aesthetic experiences with photography series in an exhibition context.

Abstract

Photography is everywhere in our current society, yet we still do not have a good scientific grasp on our aesthetic responses to photography. High quality contemporary artistic photographs have been underrepresented in the scientific literature of empirical aesthetics, despite their obvious relevance to the topic. Furthermore, photography is a medium that often works in coherent series of photographs with a specific visual, documentary, or artistic message, whereas previous studies mainly focused on single photographs. We examined visitors' aesthetic experiences with artistic photography series in an exhibition context. In general, visitors responded positively to the photography series in the exhibition and felt moved by them. There were differences between series in whether visitors felt the need to read additional context information and to which photograph(s) the majority of visitors' attention went. Visual inspection of the differences in average beauty and interest ratings between different series showed that aesthetic experiences could not be explained by straightforward photographic visual features but rather depended on other aesthetic qualities. Both beauty and interest related to feeling moved by the series, but for beauty the quality of the photographs seemed to matter, whereas for interest originality, meaningfulness, and coherence played a larger role. Experts and novices differed slightly in the specific evaluations that led to beauty versus interest ratings. Overall, the study highlights that our aesthetic experiences with photographs can be much more interesting, beautiful, moving, and meaningful than how it is currently reflected in the empirical aesthetics literature.

Photographs that repulse or entice: Sense-making and emotional experiencing of artistic photographs.

“…Third, experts and nonexperts may have preferences for different types of photographs and photographic qualities. Previous studies showed that experts preferred more uncertain and unfamiliar photographs (Axelsson, 2007a) and that originality weighed more, but concept weighed less, for experts' interest ratings for photography series compared with nonexperts (Vissers & Wagemans, 2021). Finally, expert judges may not have selected these photographs based on their personal preference, or even aesthetic pleasantness, but rather, because these photographs were able to trigger a variety of responses in the viewer (not limited to positive responses).…”

“…Photography is a complex medium consisting of different layers (e.g., context, medium, form, and subject matter, in one of the Principles for Interpreting Photographs by art educator Barrett, 2010), and all their interactions make it difficult to get clear-cut answers when only taking into account a certain layer. For example, fluency (Vissers & Wagemans, 2021) or complexity (Vissers et al, 2020) of photographs can be confounded with the subject matter (even in semi-abstract photographs). Furthermore, quantifiable characteristics, such as visual complexity (Vissers et al, 2020), fluency (Vissers & Wagemans, 2021), or the ROT (Amirshahi et al, 2014), do not always align with their perceived counterparts, and their impact may depend on the reading/ writing direction of the viewer (Chahboun et al, 2017); or whether a positively perceived or negatively perceived element was placed on the key ROT location (Svobodova et al, 2014).…”

“…For example, fluency (Vissers & Wagemans, 2021) or complexity (Vissers et al, 2020) of photographs can be confounded with the subject matter (even in semi-abstract photographs). Furthermore, quantifiable characteristics, such as visual complexity (Vissers et al, 2020), fluency (Vissers & Wagemans, 2021), or the ROT (Amirshahi et al, 2014), do not always align with their perceived counterparts, and their impact may depend on the reading/ writing direction of the viewer (Chahboun et al, 2017); or whether a positively perceived or negatively perceived element was placed on the key ROT location (Svobodova et al, 2014). Finally, by integrating all of these layers, a photograph is usually made with the intent to communicate something, to bring an overarching visual or aesthetic message, which is difficult to translate into a numerical formula.…”

“…came up as a mediating factor in a three-dimensional solution for the aesthetic appeal of photograph, where it related to the familiarity and conventionality of the photograph (Axelsson, 2007b). In a recent exhibition study, feeling moved was a stronger predictor of beauty and interest for photography series, compared with other aesthetic elements (coherence, concept, meaningful, originality, and photo quality), and feeling moved related to viewer's emotional experiences (mainly to having mixed or positive feelings; Vissers & Wagemans, 2021).…”

What ugly and beautiful photographs reveal about COVID‐19 lockdown experiences, everyday aesthetics and photography aesthetics

“…Finally, more empirical insights about our perceptual and aesthetic experiences with photography are welcome, because our scientific knowledge is still surprisingly limited (Jacobsen & Beudt, 2017; McManus & Stöver, 2014). Recently, studies within empirical aesthetics focusing specifically on our aesthetic responses to photography (Thömmes & Hübner, 2020; Vissers et al, 2020; Vissers & Wagemans, 2021a, 2021b, in press), as well as computational approaches that mine large depositories with available photographs (e.g. Datta et al, 2006) are increasing.…”