In interpreting the photo Charleston by Robert Frank, Practices of Looking would likely offer a more comprehensive evaluation than Film Art by deriving meaning(s) not only from the form of the picture itself, but also from the cultural interplay between the identity of the subjects, the historical/social context in which the photograph was taken, and also any social conventions or ideologies that may be inherently present in "the looker." For example, Practices of Looking would surely point out that the image was taken between 1955 and 1957, when Frank was traveling the country and photo documenting all elements of American society in every state. This fact, combined with the history of racism in the South and that the picture was taken in Charleston (as well as the seemingly "arrogant" expression on the white babie's face contrasted with the indifferent, wearied look on the black woman's face) might lead Practices of Looking to suggest that the picture connotates the shameful history and the continuing practice of African-American servitude to whites in the South.
Film Art, on the other hand, espouses a somewhat less-nuanced and more systematic form of aesthetic interpretation that Practices of Looking. Film Art primarily focuses on the four main types of semiotic meaning; referential, explicit, implicit and symptomatic and therefore, would likely propose 4 different possible interpretations of Frank's photograph - rather than a single, cohesive, socially-motivated interpretation that Practices of Looking would be likely to put forward.
