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What and how do we see when we see ‘something’?

This question touches upon the deepest layers of any theory of visual perception and can serve as a conceptual anchor in our engagement with the senses.

On an ontological level, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz formulated an even more fundamental question in his „Principles“ (1714):

“Why is there something rather than nothing?”
(“Pourquoi y a-t-il plutôt quelque chose que rien?”)

In this question, a profound sense of wonder is expressed at the mere existence of our world – or of anything at all. Few other questions are so simple in their wording and yet so radical in their implications. It is so fundamental that it resists any definitive answer – and yet, to borrow the words of Martin Heidegger, it can mark the beginning of foundational thinking.

If we preserve this sense of wonder and turn our attention to the foundations of visual perception we arrive at the initial question:

What and how do we see when we see “something”?

It points to the most seemingly obvious and everyday act of our perception – and dares to question it.

This is precisely what lends the question its force. It compels us to ask under what conditions something can be considered visible and intelligible in the first place.

Once we have clarified what constitutes our view we can begin to address further challenges – such as what makes an image and what eludes representation.

The epistemic authority of visibility and the question of the medium.
Why photography?

“Our concepts, too, are often like optical lenses that distort or refract the image of truth.”

(„Auch unsere Begriffe sind oft wie optische Linsen, die das Bild der Wahrheit brechen oder verziehen.“)

Johann Heinrich Lambert, Neues Organon (1764), Teil IV: Phänomenologie oder Lehre vom Schein, § 823.

Photography is a threshold medium. Its multilayered nature makes it particularly apt for exploring fundamental questions about our perception and construction of our world, image theory and visual culture.

The message of photography does not lie in what is shown. Photography oscillates between surface and depth, between evidence and interpretation. Does this mean that the medium has a special epistemological or aesthetic position within the visual arts?

Photographs often carry an aura of authenticity - sometimes also mystery. As such, the medium is often attributed exceptional qualities on a rational level, which, however, rarely support fundamental questions (such as apparent objectivity, capturing the moment, etc.).

Yet photographic images also move us emotionally and in a particularly ‘inner’ way. There is a suspicion that photography tends to depict pictorial phenomena more vividly than other media.

The following qestions can illustrate this idea:
What are the trigger qualities of a sujet that prompt us to ‚take’ a picture?
How can the experience of evidence when viewing a photograph be explained?

At this point, good explanations tend to remain provisional in nature:

The trigger qualities of a sujet are those aspects that spark the photographic impulse – usually a combination of visual, emotional, and narrative factors.

The experience of evidence when viewing a photograph is what makes us believe we are seeing ‘truth’: we experience a moment of coherence, a feeling of certainty – not just an image.

Phenomenologically considered, both responses reveal a kind of inner, meaningful event: even before any evaluation, something is taken as 'true' - an event of 'taking-for-true' (Für-wahr-Nehmung) occurs.

Photography holds the potential to engage with philosophy, both on a preliminary and a deeper level. However, it holds no inherent qualitative advantage over other media or art forms.

The discourse surrounding photography offers rhetorical frameworks that readily lead us to questions of perception, aesthetics and epistemology. The medium can challenge us to reflect on how perception is constructed and how knowledge is formed. The following questions can be informative:

What and how do we see when we see ‘something’?
What makes an image – and what eludes representation?
What is a medium, and what does it show?
How are narratives formed?

Christian Martin Colmer
Bremen, 13 July 2025

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