Pinney/MacDougall Response

Pinney's article, "To Know a Man From His Face" discusses the art of portraiture in photographs, focusing on the work of H.S. Chadha, who "sees photography as a psychological and scientific method to awaken desires" (Pinney 120). The article is a discussion of the film, "Photo Wallahs" which shows the culture of photography in Mussoorie, India. The idea of creating an identity can be seen through photographs, both literally and metaphorically. The example of tourists dressing up as different personalities of people shows the entertainment value of losing oneself and one's real identity in a photograph. H.S. Chadha often photographs tourists, who pose in costumes and "assume the character of that costume" (120). Pinney seems to repeatedly discuss the uses of disguise and costume to conceal one's interior identity, as seen in the film, "Photo Wallahs." The reality and truth of a person is hidden by costumes, props, and even modern technology. Representations of the "truth" of India, and of the natives can be seen in images that relate more to "Peter H. Emerson's heroicization of 1800s East Anglian agriculturalists than the 1940s colonial vision of an authentic village India"(121). Photography in India can be seen as a representation of hierarchies, such as class and society through the modernization of technology.

In the article, "Photo Hierarchicus:Signs and Mirrors in Indian Photography," MacDougall discusses the themes of identity and representation, as well as the way in which visual anthropology serves to present the "least mediated forms of representation" through photography. In terms of the image that represents one's identity and story through photography, MacDougall asks which identity is expressed, internal, eternal, or transient. He revisits the tourism photography of India, which represents one with a completely new identity, as they are photographed in costume. This process of creating a new identity, according to H.S.Chadha, "produces an emotional transformation, one which we might compare to a religious experience "(MacDougall 104).

In terms of representations of social hierarchy, early photographs of the different social classes of India were different depending on whether or not the people were of high or low class. Often photographed with their possessions, the higher class of people have better communications with the photographer in terms of how they wish to appear. However, the lower class of people were photographed in a form similar to scientific specimens, with no possessions and "pictured uncomfortably in the trappings of the bourgeoisie" (MacDougall 105). The objectification of the lower class can be seen in "The People of India" which was published between the years of 1851 and 1875 (105). Overall, the focus on tourists in India willingly dressing up in costume (one of three categories of personalities) can be seen as the wish to be represented, however this says something about capturing the 'truth' and 'reality' of life when one is disguising their true self.