W.J.T. Mitchell: What Do Pictures Want? Filter Size_105mm A nine-blade rounded diaphragm opening

A nine-blade rounded diaphragm opening gives out-of-focus elements a more natural appearance

Robert Altman

Mollison photographs children at play in their school playgrounds

This mount adapter allows a lens with a 67mm filter thread to be mounted backwards onto a Nikon AI mount camera body

W.J.T. Mitchell: What Do Pictures Want? Filter Size_105mm A nine-blade rounded diaphragm openingWhy do we have such extraordinarily powerful responses toward the images and pictures we see in everyday life? Why do we behave as if pictures were alive, possessing the power to influence us, to demand things from us, to persuade us, seduce us, or even lead us astray? According to W. J. T. Mitchell, we need to reckon with images not just as inert objects that convey meaning but as animated beings with desires, needs, appetites, demands, and drives of