Reliability of Photographs as a Primary Source of Information
Images in history can definitely be used as a primary source of information but in my opinion, the absence of content can render them open to all kinds of interpretation and this is dangerous. The probability of this misinterpretation increases drastically with the passage of time. Such happens because, unlike a timely photograph where people normally understand the context – with time, this understanding diminishes. Unless there is text associated with a photograph to explain it, it becomes very difficult, even in the first instance to understand a photograph. Let’s take the example of the photograph below: Unless someone actually mentions that the respective photograph is from Auschwitz and the pattern on the wall are from the scratches of victims, who were gassed by the Nazis, it is extremely difficult to understand what the photograph is all about and this is my point. Such is not always the case though, if we take the example of another famous photograph – Kevin Car