"Opening a Gate" My interpretation of the text

Opening a gate – John Berger



In the Text of John Berger, the author talks about the fotographer Pentti Sammallahti’s and his fotos.
In Bergers opinion Pentti’s fotos are aberrant (verwirrend) .
“In each of these pictures there is at least one dog” offering a key for opening a gate. Evrything pictured in the foto is outside and beyond.
He also talks about the special light which is determined by the daytime and the season of the year. In his opinion the light always figures hunt. “hunt for animals, forgotten names, a path leading home , a new day, the next lorry or spring. The light nothing longer then a glimpse is for him a symbolic key to opening a gate too.
For him the wide-section is also important. Berger says that a narrower focus could not show what the wide-section shows on the photo. Together with the special light “the half- light of glimpse” we can catch of another visible order. You can see things in the photo which would be invisible in another light or another section. This order coexists with other orders. Berger says that hunters and children are aware of it. They can read signs we do not see. For him dogs are the experts of these holes. For that reason it could be the dog which found the special places the photographer shows on the photos.
The result of this is that the photos show more pain and solitude.