Photography and Its Impact

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Recommended: Role of camera in photography

More than a Face

“To take a photograph is to participate in another person’s (or thing’s) mortality, vulnerability, mutability. Precisely by slicing out this moment and freezing it, all photographs testify to time’s relentless melt.”

- Susan Sontag, On Photography

Photography is documentation, whether it be for purposes of a business, career or purely for fun. Sontag’s statement of the frozen moment is exact, because you invading into someone’s (or something’s) life, momentarily. The purpose of a photograph is to capture an image that can tell a story for itself; photojournalists are overly experienced in this domain and remain focused on the task at hand. Photojournalists can tell a story through an image and successfully affect the viewer with the intended response. A photograph is a moment of invasion and the goal of a photographer is to make that moment as comfortable as possible for the subject so that image is perfect.

This communication is obviously not verbal but the message embedded in any given image as well as the viewers’ responses affects businesses and photographers everywhere. Success in business is greatly impacted for better or worse by the way in which we communicate. Becoming a good communicator takes practice and consistent attention and effort, and it is a necessary skill. In order to please customers, it is important to convey the ideas that the customer is asking for in the images they are paying for. The best way to satisfy the customer’s wishes is to listen closely to them and make sure they are comfortable with the work produced. Although it is best to focus solely on the subject’s comfort, capturing the perfect image sometimes involve taking a risk of recording an event instead of intervenin...

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...: Battle of Gettysburg, July 1-3, 1863." CARL Book Beacon: Battle of Gettysburg, July 1-3, 1863. Blogger, 1 July 2010. Web. 05 May 2014.

Meyer, Michael. “One day in the war of images.” Columbia Journalism Review Mar.- Apr. 2014: 39-45. Print.

National Archives. "Atomic Bomb Cloud over Hiroshima." Atomicarchive.com: Exploring the History, Science, and Consequences of the Atomic Bomb. National Science Foundation, 2013. Web. 04 May 2014.

Rosner, Brian ed. (2008). "Luther on Despair". The Consolations of Theology. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. p. 63.

Sontag, Susan. "Susan Sontag." Susan Sontag. Estate of Susan Sontag, 2010. Web. 04 May 2014.

"The Cultural Studies Reader.” Susan Sontag: On Photography: In Plato's Cave – Summary. Blogger, 27 May 2011. Web. 04 May 2014.

"12 Of The Most Iconic Photographs Ever Taken." Swick. Ya'aburnee, 12 June 2009. Web. 04 May 2014.

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