Truth:

What is the truth? is a very simple question, however the answer itself is not simple at all. One of many definitions of truth that ‘it conforms to reality, fact or actuality’. But this basic definition is not complete because its definition is open to interpretation and a wide variety of applications.  For example, just from reading that one definition we can start bringing up other questions which are very similar to what is the truth, however carry along with them a heavy answer such as what is reality? what is fact? what is actuality? One main thing to keep in mind when talking about the idea of defining the truth, is that every human being has a different perception of what the truth is; My perception of the truth could be nothing alike what someone else’s perception of the truth is, and actually they my think that my perception is wrong, weird or could be the complete opposite and I could be thinking exactly the same thing. A great example of this is documentary photography. Now, we are all generally told throughout our lives what is true, what could be true and what isn’t true, and documentary photography is something that we often see in places where a lot of people are very influenced by what they see , and one of these places being the tv and the internet. However, when we are looking at these types of photographs and being expose to them, we are actually only looking at what the photographer wants us to look at, in other words we are only looking at the photographer’s perception of the truth, which could be different to ours if we were to photograph the same event / scenario that they were photographing. Generally things that are true are fact to reality or committed to an original standard. The word turret it self conveys the power of honesty and the opposite of fake / false. The truth is very powerful. By telling someone our  truth or someone else’s truth we are exposing ourselves and others to everyone and anyone.The topic of truth is often debated, particularly is areas of philosophy, religion and art. Now, when looking at how some photographers interpret truth, there was a lot of variation between a lot to different topics in which the truth can be told and exposed truth the media of photography , and it was also fascinating to actually look at visuals of someone’s perception and perspective of what the truth about a certain thing is.  Some names that came up that stood out to me when first researching the topic of truth in the media of photography were photographer’s such as; Richard Avedon with the complex truths beneath the beautiful facade; Jill Greenberg with portraying real emotions; Richard Billingham with the truth about some very close to him and their struggles to keep a family together; Nan Golding with looking at the truth  behind different dark sides of life through the consumption of drugs and alcohol; Martin Parr with the obsessive pursuit of a ‘truthful’ representation of British culture; Xuchen which looks at what is someone’s truth about living in two different cultures and societies at the same time.