Photography and Visual Perception

Abstract

My introduction to the work of Rudolf Arnheim came about indirectly. I began teaching photography years ago under the naive assumption that if one knew the subject matter, then one could teach it. After a year of meticulously preparing lesson plans and presenting material in class, I realized that there was more to teaching than being competent in subject matter. Questioning my role and responsibility as a teacher as well as those of the student led me to begin a graduate program in educational psychology at the University of Rochester. One of the required courses was particularly useful, a cognitive psychology course that introduced a variety of learning theories. The one that most impressed me was gestalt theory.1 I found it easier to understand and relate to than most of the other learning theories. The validity and practicality of the Gestalt laws set me on a search for more information. led me to the monumental writings of Professor Arheim. His book Art and Visual Perception provided an understanding of the relationship between the Gestalt laws and their application to works of art. My eyes were opened to the possibility of applying these same laws to photography. Rudolf Arnheim's writings have greatly influenced me, not only in my teaching photography and my style of teaching, but also in my entire way of thinking and seeing. Gestalt has become a way of life, and I think the early Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius may have been expressing a similar sentiment: This thou must always bear in mind, what is the nature of the whole, and what is thy nature, and how this is related to that, and what kind of a part it is of what kind of a whole; and that there is no one who hinders thee from always doing and saying the things which are according to the nature of which thou art a part.