Photography And The Art Of Chance By Robin Kelsey

Imagine friends sightseeing. The group stops to capture a fun moment by taking a photograph. Is the angle, the pose, or the amount of the background to capture in the frame considered first? Is the scene intentionally captured to portray a certain message or feel? Was the photograph altered to make the subjects look better or to change the meaning of the photo? The subject of my thesis is the remarkable influence photography has on modern culture. In this paper I prove that photography influences modern culture by guiding public opinion. The first proof of this argument is discussed by Robin Kelsey in her book, Photography and the Art of Chance. Kelsey conveys that photography, early in the invention of the camera, changed the concept of modern art thus influencing modern culture. A great photograph was considered an accident, and captured only because of the right, unintentional circumstances. People saw photographers as lacking talent. However, this idea shifted as photographers captured seemingly, boring, uninviting scenes, and turned them into beautiful, artistic, and compelling images.

For example, this argument is discussed by Susan Sontag in her book, On Photography. Sontag describes how advancement of cameras, specifically the camera phone, have allowed for uncensored information to be conveyed. Photographs furnish evidence. Something heard about, but doubted, seems proven when shown in a photograph. While words carry an ability to sway opinions, seeing an image gives a sense of ethos. A photograph passes for undeniable proof that a given occurrence happened. The picture may distort, but there is always a presumption that something exists, or did exist, which is like what is in the