I was reading Photography: A Critical Introduction, by Liz Wells and the topic of Semiotics was presented in the context of photography:
“American semiotician C.S. Peirce further distinguished between iconic, indexical and symbolic codes. Iconic codes are based on resemblance, for instance a picture of someone or something; indexical codes are effects with specific causes, for example, footprints indicate human presence; symbolic codes are arbitrary, for instance, there is no necessary link between the sound of a word and that to which it means”
— Photography: A Critical Introduction (36)
It made me think my focus on symbolic references in the photography may be too limiting and that expanding to include iconic and indexical references might provide additional flexibility.
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