In a post called objects of desire I mentioned that some people view skyscrapers not just as  symbols of big business but also as symbols of control - the control that big business supposedly has over our lives.
This is a pretty unfavorable view, and it’s also a pretty imbalanced view. For example, another view might be that skyscrapers are a symbol of national prosperity - prosperity for everyone, not just big business. This is obviously a more favorable view.
If you write about your work - describe it, either for a college photography course or for your portfolio of photographs, it would enhance your description if you presented these two different viewpoints.
So if you take a picture of a skyscraper you might write about it like this: `some people view skyscrapers as symbols of the control that big business supposedly has over our lives, while others view them as symbols of national prosperity.’
Your description would be even more balanced if you presented a third point of view, ie. `some view them as both symbols of control and of national prosperity - they view them with a mixture of resentment and pride.’
As a tutor in media studies I encourage my students to to present as many varying points of view as possible when they are describing their work. This doesn’t mean that they can’t present their own point of view - their own interpretation of their work, it means that they can do this and present other points of views, other interpretations.

In any case it’s useful to be aware of the issues that are involved with some subjects (subjects in a photography sense) even if you’re only interested in taking pictures for your own personal pleasure.
It can help you to interpret these subjects in several ways, you have more interpretations to choose from.
For example, armed with the knowledge that skyscrapers are viewed either with resentment or pride, or sometimes with both, you might consider taking a picture of someone looking at a skyscraper with resentment and a picture of someone looking at a skyscraper with pride. You might even be able to create an image that captures both of these emotions.
In future posts I’ll be taking a look at different subjects and the different ways in which they can be interpreted.