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Role of camera in photography
Essay on the significance of photography
Essay on the significance of photography
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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.
"History of Art: History of Photography." History of Art: History of Photography. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 May 2014. .
Peter Wollen begins his essay “Fire and Ice” by saying that “Photographs appear as devices for stopping time and preserving fragments of the past, like flies in amber.” This is true about the photographs described in Autobiography of Red by Anne Carson. Photography becomes the protagonist, Geryon’s, world once his lover Herakles breaks up with him. The photographs he takes represents
Camera Lucida was Roland Barthes’ last written piece, published posthumously in 1980. This book deals with the topic of photography and the death of Barthes’ mother in 1977. The role of photography is questioned; he asks what about photography makes it a valid media? We read about the operator (the photographer), spectrum (the subject) and spectator (the viewer), also about the studium (what we see in the photograph) and the punctum (the unclassifiable, the thing that makes the photograph important to the viewer). According to Barthes the photograph is an adventure for the viewer, but it is ultimately death, the recording of something that will be dead after the picture is taken. This idea is the main focus of Barthes’ writing, the photograph “that-has-been”, in Latin “interfuit: what I see has been here, in this place which extends between infinity and the subject; it has been here, and yet immediately separated; it has been absolutely, irref...
Gustavon, Todd. Camera: A History of Photography from daguerreotype to Digital. New York, NY: Sterling Publishing, 2009
Battle of Gettysburg This most famous and most important Civil War Battle occurred over three hot summer days, July 1 to July 3, 1863, around the small market town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. It began as a skirmish, but by its end involved 160,000 Americans. Before the battle, major cities in the North such as Philadelphia, Baltimore and even Washington were under threat of attack from General Robert E. Lee's Confederate Army of Northern Virginia which had crossed the Potomac River and marched into Pennsylvania. The Union Army of the Potomac under its very new and untried commander, General George G. Meade, marched to intercept Lee. On Tuesday morning, June 30, an infantry brigade of Confederate soldiers searching for shoes headed toward Gettysburg (population 2,400).
Sontag, Susan. "Essay | Photography Enhances Our Understanding of the World." BookRags. BookRags. Web. 15 Apr. 2014.
Whereas men had a so-called “head-start” with painting and sculpture, photography was pioneered by and equally associated with both genders. Sexualized images of women circulated via mass media. Described as a voyeuristic medium, photography was a powerful tool in deconstructing the male gaze and bringing private moments into the public domain (Bonney 1985: 11).
A picture is more than just a piece of time captured within a light-sensitive emulsion, it is an experience one has whose story is told through an enchanting image. I photograph the world in the ways I see it. Every curious angle, vibrant color, and abnormal subject makes me think, and want to spark someone else’s thought process. The photographs in this work were not chosen by me, but by the reactions each image received when looked at. If a photo was merely glanced at or given a casual compliment, then I didn’t feel it was strong enough a work, but if one was to stop somebody, and be studied in curiosity, or question, then the picture was right to be chosen.
“The advent of photography served as a catalyst in challenging the realist tradition that had predominated since the Ren...
The desire to stop time and preserve the way things were are the primary reasons why the majority of photography in the late nineteenth century focused on documenting dying traditions, practices, and ways of life...
Roland Barthes, Camera Lucida, explores the stream of consciousness Barthes experiences when viewing his Winter Garden photo. The photo depicts his mother as a child and how Barthes decides to handle the understanding of this image. For this essay my Winter Garden photo will be titled The Father. This essay will be an attempt to work through the ideas and vocabulary used by Barthes in understanding his own photo.
“Some photographs are destined to be ruined or forgotten”. Some photographs are destined to be remembered and cherished. Such as his infamous portrait which almost did not make it.” (1946) Life Magazine. I am going to be analysing the historical story behind the photograph of Gandhi at his Spinning Wheel.
When going for a walk, a person takes in the beauty around them. On this particular day, the refulgent sun is extra bright, making the sky a perfect blue. White, puffy clouds fill the sky, slowing moving at their own pace. The wind is peacefully calm, making the trees stand tall and proud. There is no humidity in the air. As this person walks down the road, they see a deer with her two fawns. The moment is absolutely beautiful. Moments like this happen only once in a great while, making us wanting to stay in the particular moment forever. Unfortunately, time moves on, but only if there were some way to capture the day’s magnificence. Thanks to Joseph Niépce, we can now capture these moments and others that take our breath away. The invention of the camera and its many makeovers has changed the art of photography.
Every picture taken is unique and is has its own characteristics given to it by its taker. Much like every individual person, each photo has a story and an attitude. All these distinctive qualities are given to the picture by the photographer with a particular purpose. To set up the desired image, there must be proper steps taken in order to insure perfection. The first...
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.