What is the purpose of a photograph....? What is it supposed to do...? Why should someone look at a photograph in the first place...? Perhaps because it really is "worth a thousand words"...?
There are "rules" of composition...and color... Yes, Yes...but they do not always make for a good photograph...some rules are made to be broken...(once learned)...
Every Photograph is essentially a lie... It is a moment in time...some captured light...a few degrees of visual arc...selected for preservation... Every photograph has a technical side...as well as a technique aspect... There is the execution of the image by the equipment...the skill or lack of skill of the photographer...
A photograph works, or does not work, for various reason... Is there a universal viewer...or are all viewers different... Such that a photograph "works" for one person...but is a total failure for another...?
My sense is that a photograph needs to "evoke something"...a memory or a feeling...a sensation... It needs to carry a subconscious "meaning" to the viewer... But what of advertising...or pornography...? The "snap shot"...or the vacation photo : "Here's me standing in front of ____."
How do they help define the meaning of photography...? What is the meaning of "what works"...?
Some photographs merely record an event...others enhance an event in a way that is beyond what the real event was like... What of the current fad for "enhanced" photographs that are "photoshopped" to the point of no return to reality...?
There are many good photographs...
But every photograph is essentially a lie...
Sometimes we like to be lied to...
