LSAT 139 | Section 3 | Reading Comprehension: Q13

RC Question 13 Explanation

DISCUSSION: The author mentions Estabrook in two places: the second paragraph, and the fourth paragraph.

I personally reread both sections before answering this question. It didn’t take long to read them, and it let me answer the question with all the information about Estabrook fresh in my mind. So I answered the question much faster.

Estabrook likes the unpredictability of old processes. He also thinks that if he can fool people into believing art is from the past, then they will give it a different meaning.

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1. Estabrook never mentions 19th century photographers. In fact, nowhere in the passage does the author tell us how people selected photo subjects in the 19th century.
2. CORRECT. This is a little vague, but it’s the best answer. Paragraph 4 says that unpredictability attracted Estabrook to old techniques. If something is unpredictable, it’s out of your control. Yet these old techniques produce exactly the results Estabrook wants.
3. This is true of modern photographs. We have no reason to believe that earlier photographers liked unpredictability. The last sentence of paragraph 4 says that old photographs removed errors.
4. The second paragraph says Estabrook wants to fool people into thinking his photos are older than they seem. It’s unlikely he thinks this is ethically questionable.
5. This is a stretch. We have no idea if the errors that occur using old techniques can be controlled after the photo is taken, or if they’re instead produced at the moment the photographer takes the picture. Secondly, even if you can affect errors after the fact, Estabrook might believe that it’s the subject of the photo that has the most aesthetic significance.