Fotografija kao sredstvo vizuelne komunikacije
Photography as Mean of Visual Communication

Summary/Abstract: In modern world media images are everywhere: we look at them at billboards, newspapers, on TV, Internet... But how do we understand what we have seen? This article tried to explain photography - as a medium and a message by analyzing the relation between photography and presented reality. Barthes’ thoughts about photography are used here to show the creation of meaning in a photographic message. Although perception is usually very brief, message is not simple and literal one but it has two levels of meaning – denotative and connotative. It is a common expression that ‘pictures don’t lie’. Belief in trustworthiness of photographic record (photography as a witness) was supported by state use of photography (for ID, in police and juridical practice). In this text some answers on questions why do we trust photography and what are the changes in period of digitization are given. Light motif in this paper is the idea that the photographic expression is caused by reality, technical possibilities and culture. Its single-meaning and superficial look makes a picture powerful. Covered with the reflection of reality, there is a picture determined by culture. It’s no longer that only art historians, curators or media experts are dealing with pictures. They are part of everyday life and that is why there is a need for common people to understand their meanings, or, to use a term well known in western literature, to gain ‘visual literacy’.

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