‘The imaginary and the real’, ‘the manufactured and the natural’, ‘the personal and the social’ and ‘the photographic mirror and the photographic window are terms that despite the fact that they show two opposing views of the photograph cannot be separated in Art photography and they themselves cannot explain their differences. In every photograph the real and the imaginary, the artificial and the natural are contained together in one piece. From this point of view the only thing that can be seen in the photographic work is the intention of the photographer to reject the one or the other. In the history of photography this intention was being presented according to the current times, sometimes as a rejection of the staging, construction or manipulation of the picture and/or sometimes as a rejection of the real, the natural or the straightness of the photographic act. These views, in complete opposition, became characterised by a particular conflict which ultimately weakened the photographic work itself οn the contrary, the most important works belong to those photographers who manage to reconcile the eye with the thought, the personal with the general and the picture as object with the picture as subject. Photography registers, translates or re-presents reality and photography invents or constructs reality. These points of view cover almost the entire range of modern photographic work. There are no longer two opposing directions dividing photographic expression but the putting forward of two creative points of view where one is reflected in the other. It is a suggestion, a proposition, for one to see the natural as the fabricated and (vice versa) the invented as the real.
Yiorgos Depollas