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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. As technology advances, more and more images spread throughout the world quicker than ever before. A single search on Google presents millions of pictures at our fingertips. However, these easily accessible images do not enhance our understanding of the world. Rather, they limit our understanding while fooling us into thinking we are learning. Images “makes us feel like the world is more available than it really is.”
Today, our society has access to mankind’s collective knowledge with the internet. Constantly updated, the internet keeps everyone in the loop. If there is a traffic jam, Google Maps will notify you. If there is a new movie release, Fandango will ask to reserve tickets for you. If there is a limited-time sale, Amazon will email you. Information constantly bombards us. The internet moves fast, and we must try to keep up to stay in
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Pictures save time, improve efficiency and provide convenience. In order to keep up with the internet’s fast pace, pictures must possess simplicity. This simplicity allows us to quickly absorb information then move onto the newest meme on the internet. The more pictures we move through, the more internet we surf. The more we internet we surf, the more information we receive. With saving time, pictures also grant us convenience. Instead of buying a ticket to see the northern lights, we can google the different colors in the sky. Instead of visiting our friend, we see a picture on their Facebook wall and know that they are alive. Between running late and juggling responsibilities, pictures provides a rapid glimpse into a constantly updating
Practiced by thousands who shared no common tradition or training from the earliest days of taking photos, the first photographers were disciplined and united by no academy or guild, who considered their medium variously as a trade, a science, an art, or an entertainment, and who often were unaware of each other’s work. Exactly as it sounds photography means photo-graphing. The word photography comes from two Greek words, photo, or “light”, and graphos, or drawing and from the start of photography; the history of the aforementioned has been debated. The idea of taking pictures started some thirty-one thousand years ago when strikingly sophisticated images of bears, rhinoceroses, bison, horses and many other types of creators were painted on the walls of caves found in southern France. Former director of photography at New Yorks museum of modern art says that “The progress of photography has been more like the history of farming, with a continual stream of small discoveries leading to bigger ones, and in turn triggering more experiments, inventions, and applications while the daily work goes along uninterrupted.” ˡ
If we stay so wrapped up in technology we can miss very important things that are happening around us.In the article “Can the Selfie Generation Unplug and Get into Parks?” Jonathan Jarvis says that “young people are more separated from the natural world than perhaps any generation before
Sontag, Susan. "Essay | Photography Enhances Our Understanding of the World." BookRags. BookRags. Web. 15 Apr. 2014.
“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
#1. The title of this photograph is called The Open Door. It was created by William Henry Fox Talbot between April and May 1844. The medium that was used in creating this picture is salted paper print from paper negative.
Susan Sontag was an American writer that was mostly active in writing about areas of conflict such as the Vietnam War. Sontag later wrote “On Photography,” a series of essay that changed how people viewed photography. Sontag changed the views of many people about the use of cameras. Instead of using cameras mindlessly, people now think about the impact cameras have. Sontag made people question the believability of photography and not to just accept every photo people see as reality. Sontag predicted the way photography will expand and how it will shape the future.
Novelist and essayist Susan Sontag draws a particularly interesting parallel between the Allegory of the Cave and photography in her essay In Plato’s Cave. “This very insatiability of the photographing eye,” writes Sontag, “changes the terms of confinement in the cave, our world. In teaching us a new visual code, photographs alter and enlarge our notions of what is worth looking at and what we have a right to observe,” (3). The camera, Sontag argues, makes what one is experiencing at any given point in time real, impervious to the decay of time yet nonetheless stands as a testament to its passage. Much like Plato’s Allegory of the Cave divided existence into the visible world and the knowable world, the act of taking a picture draws a line between the subject and the photographer, the image-world and the real
Sontag feels that photography endears itself to voyeurism, exploitation, and an imperceptible aggression. Sontag expresses this when she writes, “Still there's something predatory the act of taking a picture. To photograph people is to violate them, by seeing them as they never see themselves, by taking knowledge of them they can never have, it turns people into objects that can be symbolically possessed.”, here Sontag shines a light on the often invasive nature of photography. Capturing an image is a way of symbolically capturing a part of that person, which is forever frozen in that moment recorded on film. Sontag also argues that photographing an individual is a way of participating in that person's eventuality (death). She writes “To take a photograph is to participate in another person's or things mortality, vulnerability, mutability. Precisely by slicing out this moment and freezing it all photographs testify to time’s relentless melt.”, so essentially Sontag argues photographs serve as a physical reminder of the inevitable corrosion that time visits upon all things. To photograph a loved one, a pet, a cherished place or thing is an inadvertent reminder that, that person, place or thing will inevitably age, decay and cease to be. This appropriation is often done unintentionally but is appropriation nonetheless and aids in altering our outlook and
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.
Clifford discusses the attachment of authors in their texts as intangible (1986:17). Whereas, MacDougall analyses limitations in ethnographic film as: ‘the camera can never be everywhere at once,’ and that visual anthropology can: ‘leave a significant gap in our understanding,’ (1978:12). Therefore, although socialisation into a certain society can limit the validity of anthropological practices it does not mean they aren’t valuable. If there was no editing or restraints to fieldwork, it could continue to be endless and no conclusions would ever be made. However as argued earlier, photography does give a good medium for the viewer to make their own assumptions about the piece and Sontag describe it as: ‘movies and television programs light up walls, flicker, and then go out; but with still photographs the image is also the object,’
Have you ever seen a painting or picture that captivates you and directly stirs up emotion within you? More than likely, you have. Usually, viewers merely observe the picture and enjoy the way it looks and how it makes them feel. But, have you ever asked yourself, “why?” What about the picture makes it pleasing to the viewer? With each strategy the photographer uses creates their own touch and passion that floods all over the picture. The emotional connection nearly goes unnoticed for when the picture is well photographed, the viewers experience the sensation in their subconscious. This is one of the most powerful tools that a photographer holds in their hands. If one can become a master of manipulating how the photo affects its viewers, the said photographer can potentially maneuver people’s minds and thoughts with one click of a button. The time spent with my mentor has opened up the door for me to tap into that power though the use of background, focus, shutter speed, angles, and most importantly, lighting. Even with all these techniques, the person behind the camera must remember that creativity must be at the forefront of all operations. Caleno (2014), when writing about the basics of capturing a beautiful moment in a picture commented, “If we want to be creative we must drop these pre-conceptions and start looking at things from a small child’s innocence.”
The Internet’s influence on our lives has spread throughout. According a 2009 US Census survey 74% of Americans use the internet and have access within their household.A number that has increased every year since 1990 and will sure grow in the future. In this survey they relieved that they did various activities on the internet including social media, (Facebook and Twitter) researching and reading news articles, watching YouTube videos, shopping and so much more all can be done with a computer or Internet enabled phone. With this ease of use and convenience it casts a shadow upon the future of printed and broadcast information. The Web’s instant and vast knowledge bank has changed ...
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.
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.
Digital camera is a very important tool nowadays. People would always want to save their memories in the shape of pictures that will last forever. People were amazed when the first ever camera introduced back in hundreds of years ago. At that time camera consisted of large and impractical components and it was very hard to use. In fact, it even took quite some time to develop the pictures on the paper. But now there are some products of digital camera that are very easy to use and with its pocket-sized feature, one can carry it everywhere. There are several advantages of using digital camera: very easy to use, easy to carry on, instant feedback; which means one can immediately review the captured pictures and erase any pictures that they don’t like. One real advantage of digital camera is that one can share the pictures with other people easily thanks to the high speed internet connection. Before digital camera one has to print pictures, paying for postage, and waiting for the pictures to be delivered. Gone were that days since it is possible now to share the pictures online within minutes.