I’ve been reading a bit about the concept of visual metaphor in landscape photography this month. In particular I’m enjoying Jesse Alexander’s thoughts in his book Perspectives on Place.
A metaphor is where you say one thing is something else;
"All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players."
(A simile uses a similar technique but includes a direct comparison, eg. "Life is like a box of chocolates".)
By using a metaphor you can imply characteristics from one to the other succinctly. Instead of saying,
"The last year has been a journey with highs and lows. Sometimes I was racing along, other times I was crawling up hills. It was invigorating and exciting, also terrifying, but it was always moving forwards."
I can just say, "My year has been a rollercoaster."
Visual metaphors are used for the same reason; to imply characteristics from one thing into another neatly or quickly. There is also an unspoken connection between photographer and viewer; if the viewer "gets" the metaphor they will immediately feel closer to the image and the photographer, like they are in on the message.
Looking for metaphors to use in photography allows the photographer to go beyond simply trying to create a pretty picture, something that is articulated by Fay Godwin in her fascinating interview shown here:
Now that I’m aware of the concept I can go back and see why some images I have taken previously “work”. For example I have a subset of images emerging in my Little England borders project that use elements of the landscape to reflect a metaphorical border:
