Is it possible that our familiarity with the photographic image has bred our current contempt for the intricacies and subtle methods that characterise the mediums ability to transmit its vivid impressions of reality Photography is regarded quite naturally as offering such convincing forms of pictorial evidence that this process of communication often seems to render the medium totally transparent blurring the distinction between our perception of the environment and its photographic representations It is the most natural thing in the world for someone to open their wallet and produce a photograph saying this is my grandson