“One should not assume that the “error” of the apparatus is simply a program waiting to occur”

Flusser, in his “Gesture of Photography” speaks about the “Artificial Forest” or the “Cultural Object-hood” of intentional production when evaluating a photograph. He surmises that the scene or subject in front of the camera and the resulting photograph are referenced through the symbols within and their relevancy to the culture in which it is produced.

Within the syntax of error in the photographic object, one can assume that the cultural evaluation of meaning within the “act” of photography and the resulting photograph may be re-evaluated within the context of failure by operator or Apparatus which exerts control over the value of the scene in front of his or her camera. One should not assume that the “error” of the apparatus is simply a program waiting to occur. Flusser outlines that the categories are the controlling mechanisms for which a photographer operates under the dictation of the apparatus. So, what happens when a camera cannot be set to the “mode” of error and the product itself is of a non-reproducible experience unless dictated as such?

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Brad Feuerhelm

Camera Traps Symposium, FOMU Photography Museum, Antwerp. May 17, 2016