Why did Jeff Wall go through all the fuss if he could just take picture of what is already there?

Question

Thank you.

Answer 1

i would say in order to give more meaning, or imply meaning, or to tell a story,
say for instance, you take a picture of a mother and child standing beside each other, that is what is there, what is happening, in that exact moment
but if you stage the picture, have the child on the mothers lap, with her gazing down with a look of love while the child looks back, you are representing parental love, and also perhaps even the close bond of that mother and child, who very well may of sat that way at other occasions,
so in a way Wall did take pictures of what was there, it might just of not been there at that exact moment