Beholder

The beholder is the target of customer communication.
His attention is the precious good.

The reception of a photo is a mysterious process, the details of which will remain a secret for a long time to come. Light, eye, retina and optic nerve lead to the activation of nerve cells, whose signals are further processed in specialized brain regions. For example, two small clumps of cells in one turn of the temporal lobe are intended to enable facial recognition.

An essential part of the processing is the recognition of known things – and these are culturally shaped and individually different. Therefore, the aesthetic sensations and emotions produced by a photo are also individually different.

The effect a photograph has on the beholder is not a thing of exact science, still it is necessary to know the target audience of a photo to assess its impact.

Continue to Semiotics of Photography.