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An Investigation of the Formation of the Visuality of the Photographer's Profession in Qajar Iran
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Hasan Bolkhari Ghahi *   , Mohammad Sattari , Parisa Hakim Javadi |
| University of Tehran |
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Abstract: (1 Views) |
This study investigates the representation of the photographer’s profession in paintings and photographs from Qajar Iran, tracing the evolution of this representation with regard to the new profession becoming cultural. The theoretical concept of visuality serves to frame the analysis of how the visual representation of the profession of photography emerged and was sustained and established. This study is part of a broader investigation into the transformation of the scopic regime in Qajar Iran prompted by the advent of photography. The main objective of this essay is to explore and trace the formation and establishment of the visuality pertaining to the photographer’s profession. To this end, a descriptive-analytical methodology is implemented, engaging in qualitative analysis based on archival sources, digital collections, and the theoretical discourse on visuality. The hypothesis is that the advent and adoption of photography provoked transformation in the scopic regime—a comprehensive whole composed of multiple visualities—of the Qajar era. Focusing on the visuality of the photographer’s profession, this research seeks to find and trace the way it emerged, developed and evolved (in view of the viewer’s imagination and written inscriptions around the image as other factors in visuality). The findings reveal that the process in which the photographer’s profession in Qajar Iran took shape unfolded in two successive stages: first, the interplay between painting and photography in displaying the photographer while working with the camera, through which the profession’s visuality was loosely conceived; and second, the establishment of this visuality (mainly through a reflexive engagement of the profession with the act of capturing the photograph), wherein the profession became integrated into a more extensive network of visual culture. |
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| Keywords: Visuality, Scopic regime, Qajar, Photographer's profession, Visual culture, Painting, Photography |
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Full-Text [PDF 1431 kb]
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Type of Study: Research |
Subject:
Special
Received: 2025/04/9 | Accepted: 2025/08/3
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