An investigation on the role of camera and photo on iranian modernity between the White and the Islamic revolutions

As photography was invented in the 1830s at the same time with formation of a new style of life in western countries called the modernity , the close relevance between these two is inevitable. In fact, photography as a means of expression is considered as one of the main conveyors of the western modernist culture. On the other hand, one can perceive a delicate relevance between western and eastern modernity. In fact, the formation of the latter was based upon the first. Moreover, with the increasing role of “ material “ as the essence of the universe, the new role of “ human ” as a mortal existence, and the replacement of “ Intuitionism “ with “ Rationalism “ and “ Eschatology “ with “ historiology “ a new worldview for the westerners was created and it subsequently had deep effects on the way through which eastern new societies followed them. As a result, the inherent paradoxes between the old and established tenets of eastern societies and the newly imported western beliefs caused a new discourse in the second Pahlavi regime called the “ Coming Back To Tenet “. Therefore, considering the bilateral connection between western and eastern modernity, to study the procedure of eastern modernity from the perspective of photography seems to be of paramount importance. In Iran, photography had an important effect on the “ Persian Constitutional Revolution “ and after that, during the first and second Pahlavi regimes, it was used for different purposes, specifically in the press and studios. But as one of the main pillars of each modern society is its “ middle class “, and since its formation in Iran took place in the second half of the second Pahlavi regime at the same time with the entry of photography equipment from the west to Iran, and taking into account the fact that the main producers of photos in its both key genres of the time, namely family and artistic photography were the middle class, the role of this tool in Iranian modernity in a period that modernization was injected into its society’s structure at a rapid pace should be placed under scrutiny. Therefore, according to derivation of western modernity from their four diversions of traditional thought, or what we call the nihilism, and paying attention to the five well-known properties of photography that John Szarkowski pinpointed and named as “ The thing itself “, “ details “, “ frame “, “ Time “ and “ Vantage point “ ,the ontological relevance between camera and these diversions as the four exterminator forces of pre-modern theological system is proved, and in this regard, the role of camera in Iranian modernity in the 40s and 50s have been investigated and efforts have been made to take a quick look at the intersection of the four principles mentioned above and the dominant discourse of the time, “ Coming Back To Tenet “, all with help of family and artistic photography genres.