The Importance of Context in Photography

Photographs are more syntactical than ever before, meaning they depend on context to convey meaning. Whereas photographers once thought of their pictures as self contained on their own contemporary photographs are often fragmented and partial. Such pictures may seem to have been extracted from a film, but do not make sense on their own. They imply rather than tell a story, leaving gaps to be filled by the viewer. It's very hard for an individual image to lay claim to being an authoritative picture when there's so much else around it.