More handpicked essays just for you.
Importance of photography to society
Importance of photography to society
Theories in susan sontag on photography
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Photography with a twist
The book “On Photography” by Susan Sontag, she expresses several views and ideas about photography to educate us further about her views. In Sontag’s view, “To collect photographs is to collect the world” (Sontag 3). In other words, Sontag believes that the photograph that is taken will always be a photograph within society in his/her own world. I interpret the quote this way because if our life is captured in photographs, that’s our whole world. Even though we are capturing it through the lenses, we are still experiencing it some how, some way.
I believe that in able to see the world we should photograph life at a certain moment in time so we can capture reality, and able to look back at it. Susan Sontag expresses, “Although there is a sense which the camera does indeed capture reality, not just interpret it, photographs are as much an interpretation of the world as paintings and drawings are” (Sontag 6). Interpreting this quote can go a different way such as, that the photographer is capturing the world by the lenses, not the eyes. I believe that if we’re experiencing the world through the lenses, or rather
…show more content…
“Recently, photography has become almost as widely practiced an amusement as sex and dancing, which means that, like every mass art form, photography is not practiced by most people as an art. It is mainly a social rite, a defense against anxiety, and a tool of power” (Sontag 8). After reading this quote in my head multiple times, I started to realize that people use it for different purposes. When I took a photography class in college, it was under the category “art.” Which made me think of it as a form of art, when there are so many other ways to view photography. Sontag changed my opinion about photography after further interpreting her quote because to have a camera in our hand, being able to capture the world through our lens is to have a tool of
After reading about Alfred Stieglitz and photography in form of an art, I believe that photography is indeed a form of art. Also photography is the most raw form of art there is. By using photography and a form of an art, it captures pictures in which are caught in the natural, raw moment of life, which doesn't get more realistic than that. All the details and depictions are in one picture in raw and most of the time, unedited form.
In the essay “Why We Take Pictures” by Susan Sontag, she argues that taking photos can be a tool of power and sometimes even a defense against anxiety(353). Taking pictures can be a great source of power, according to Sontag. The photographer has the power to show what they want and people can choose whether or not to be in the photo. Sontag uses the example of a family photo; as some family photos portray the family being happy, many people cannot see that the family might not actually be as happy as they look. Sontag also uses examples like nuclear families and traveling in order to enforce her claims about picture taking. In a nuclear family, Sontag believes that taking a picture of that family can help relieve some anxiety because people
Susan Sontag discusses the reality of the modern person’s addiction with “needing to have reality confirmed” by photos. Sontag says “we accept it as the camera records it” then goes to say “this is the opposite of understanding.” I agree with her wholeheartedly, as accepting photos as they are limits ones understanding of the world. The trust in photography led to the rise of pictures hoaxes, in which people take pictures out of context and assign it a new background; as well as Photoshop, which becomes increasingly popular as the years go by. Photoshop allows one to manipulate a photo to portray what they desire it to.
Sontag, Susan. "Essay | Photography Enhances Our Understanding of the World." BookRags. BookRags. Web. 15 Apr. 2014.
Bazin gives credit to photography as more acceptable artistic tools that enhance naturalism with regards to technical and spiritual perspective. However, much as cinema and photography are viewed as advanced features in the world of arts, ...
... believe makes photography an art, the individual photo may still be considered close to an ideal photograph in the sense that it is a causal relationship. However the medium as a whole is capable of much more than Scruton is willing to allow. I believe that the clear distinction lays in the fact that Scruton's argument that photography's causal relationship is equivalent to perceiving the object without the photograph. This is not true, because we have found distinctions where photographs and reality can never be the same. There is no doubt that you cannot see some of the intricacies of a fast moving object with the naked eye. This brings the eye new information. It may be a mechanical depiction of how the object actually looks, but it is a unique observation of it complete with its own aesthetic interest. Therefore we must say that photography may be art.
Few crucial elements you need to think about when doing portrait photography: 1. Lighting Pattern • Split lighting • Loop lighting • Rembrandt lighting • Butterfly lighting • Short lighting • Broad lighting 2. Lighting Ratio Ratio Stops Difference Description 1:1 No Difference Flat lighting 2:1 1 Stop General color photography 3:1 1 1/2 Stops General black & white photography 4:1 2 Stops Dramatic lighting, low key 8:1 4 Stops Very dramatic, low key 3.
To begin with, photography appeared to me as something entertaining a simple step in which one took a camera and simply shot a photograph of oneself or a friend. When I was handed my schedule for Mrs. Jones’s class, I felt as if this class had in store a special reward for me. As the days went by, Instead of being anxious of getting out of class I had a craving for additional time in the class. The class kept my eyes glued to the screen ...
I remember when I was younger it never cross my mind to be a photographer, I always had this crazy idea about being a Mafia leader, cause they seem interesting to me. As I grew up, I realized that Mafia leaders have money, cars and everything they could possibly dream off but they did not get that legally. Then I started to lean towards a more positive goal in life Along the way I kept changing my mind about what I wanted to be Since photography is my new hobby, it has affected my life, therefore it became my new passion, and my family got involved, and helped me plan my future.
In an era where analog cameras, negative film, and darkrooms were the highest forms of photographic technology available to men, American filmmaker and writer Susan Sontag made a thorough analysis of the culture of personal photographic practices, coming to a conclusion that photographs are "experiences captured" and the camera "the ideal arm of consciousness in its acquisitive mood" (Sontag, 165) .
Photojournalism plays a critical role in the way we capture and understand the reality of a particular moment in time. As a way of documenting history, the ability to create meaning through images contributes to a transparent media through exacting the truth of a moment. By capturing the surreal world and presenting it in a narrative that is relatable to its audience, allows the image to create a fair and accurate representation of reality.
What do you consider art? Paintings, sculptures, drawings, or maybe something else. I know, when I think of art, I think of photography. Photography Is used for business, science, manufacturing, art, recreational purposes, mass communication, and more. Photography is using light to do amazing things, and some people think of photography as a story that just needs to be told. Ansel Adams probably believed this. He said, “You don’t take a photograph, you make it.” Photography has a long interesting history, like the fact that the word photography is made up of two greek words, photos meaning ‘light’ and graphein which is ‘to draw’ ! Photography also has some complicated techniques to get a hang of taking good photos. Have you heard of the rule of thirds? Or do you know how a camera works? Well, that will all be explained. Maybe, by the end you will take up photography too. This essay will explore the history and types of cameras and the basic rules for taking photographs.
When I considered at first to discuss the role of photography and frame as evidence and their limitations, keeping in mind Butler’s argument regarding the visual modes of regulation of reality, the first problem that came up before me was: would it be something futile and an imposition of meaning on something which is by nature to be seen? But Butler’s claim regarding the way suffering is presented to us through the framing of reality in a certain way – for example, “embedded reporting” and our ethical response to it – prompted me to address certain questions involving the frame and its role in establishing or not establishing legal, political and ethical responsibility.
In Sontag’s On Photography, she claims photography limits our understanding of the world. Though Sontag acknowledges “photographs fill in blanks in our mental pictures”, she believes “the camera’s rendering of reality must always hide more than it discloses.” She argues photographs offer merely “a semblance of knowledge” on the real world.
Photography has created an outlet for the masses to story tell. It has a way of speaking without words like most art forms and is a manner of expression in itself. To eradicate photography from humans would be equivalent to taking away a limb from humankind. Our society has grown an immense amount of dependency on it. Photography has become almost a daily menial task such as brushing your teeth; where we must take pictures of the things we deem important or equally unimportant, even more so with the invention of social media outlets such as Instagram and Snapchat, where photography is the main source of communication between people who use them. Susan Sontag offers the basis of what taking pictures can undertake in both our daily lives and moments that are not part of our daily lives, such as travel. Traveling to places where one is not accustomed can flare pent up anxiety. A way to subdue that anxiety could be through taking pictures, since it’s the only factor that we have total control over in a space where we don’t have much, or, any control of our surrounding environment. On the other hand, taking photos can also be a tool of power in the same sense as it allows for it to be a defense against anxiety. With the camera in our hands, we have the power to decide who, what, where, when, and why we take a picture. This in turn also gives the person who took the picture power over those who later analyze the photos, letting them decide the meaning of the photo individually, despite the intended or true meaning.