The camera certainly has a privileged relationship with us, documenting our lives accompanying us on holidays, trips, events chronicling childhood histories, are an essential piece of equipment ‘An event known through photographs certainly becomes more real than it would have been if one had never seen the photographs’ (Sontag, 1978:20)
Since Joseph Nicéphore Niépce produced the first known photograph of a vague view from the window of his study in 1826, our lives have been dramatically altered. Because of the camera both analog ‘chemical’ and digital, it is now feasible for us to see places, people and objects without even going to the destination of these focuses. We can receive all of the evidence from the photograph as if we were there.
Photographs have consistent strength in comparison to painting and drawings; the clarity of the photographic image can be as good as retinal attributes, art can range from a photographic like detail or creative interpretations. Subsequently the word photography originates from the Greek word, photo (light) and graphein (writing).
Would we be able to clearly be able to recall the events in our life successfully without a camera? Probably not, the brain remembers only what we deemed to be the information so the colour of the villa door in Spain 10 years ago? Or our old houses as an infant child these bit of memory decay. But the camera has the ability piece up the memory providing us with an indisputable trace “writing with light” meant we were only a click away from recording our own piece of embalmed time that we can keep giving more evidential value to our lives
Photographs are ultimately is something we gain pleasure or information from, whether its admiring pictures of our loved one...
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...photography’s association to the real continues to clout how digital and analog images are received. In this regard, digital photography is both distinctive from and rooted in the history of photography. But the development of digital technology should enable us to rethink prior disputes or assumptions about what the camera function really is it is essential in modern culture its what we use to record our lives its what we see on the cover of magazines and illustrating the news online.
Our reality is inconsistent and unpredictable, space and time is fluid, not static photographic techniques will develop over time, something that plays such an complex role in our lives has to keep up with us, maybe we should append suggestions about whether photography is dying or is not truthful enough analogue and digital doesn’t need to always be representative of the real.
For many years the only way to capture an image required one to paint or draw the model or object. This was until 1814 when Joseph Nicephore Niepce a French inventor, took the first picture in history. Even though the picture was a permanent print the image known as “View from the window at Le Guas” took eight hours to expose!
Susan Sontag said photographs sends across the harmlessness and helplessness of the human life steering into their own ruin. Furthermore the bond connecting photography with departure from life tortures the human race. (Sontag 1977:64)
This trend also found roots in the emergence of photographic technology, originally developed in the early 1800’s and advanced continuously until the present. During this time, artists and photographers suddenly found that they could much more easily captur...
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.
According to Paolo Cherchi Usai: “Moving image preservation will be redefined as the science of gradual loss and the art of coping with the consequences, very much like a physician who has accepted the inevitability of death even while he fights for the patient’s life” (Death 24x Second, Laura Mulvey, p17). Furthermore, due to the improving of technology, there is always something been replace by another. Such as analogue camera has been replaced by digital camera, telephone has been replaced by smartphone, and television has been replaced by computer. “… the digital, as an abstract information system, made a break with analogue imagery, finally sweeping away the relation with reality, which had, by and large, dominated the photographic tradition…” (Death 24x a Second, Laura Mulvey, p18). But fortunately, photography didn’t been replace by film, that is maybe due to a reason of photography has always had its own complex engagement with time and movement which is different with film (Lecture note,
Photography allows us to maintain memories and relish them whenever we desire. Although some advocates might argue that people are no longer enjoying experiences instead taking more pictures, in the essay, “Why We Take Pictures”, by Susan Sontag, she conflates that photography can be used as a defense against anxiety and a tool of empowerment. I agree with Sontag on the significance of photographs and how it allows us to store a part of our extended relatives so we are able to hold on the memories of family. Therefore, we must appreciate how photography allows us to manage anxiety, express feelings and remember our loved ones.
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.
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 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...
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.
Looking through a viewfinder and a lens to capture a single moment does not take a lot of expertise; it is really a simple thing to do. However, if a person truly appreciates the art of photography then they take their time and concentrate on the object, person or event they are trying to capture in order to find its true meaning and do the picture justice. “The professional photographer tries, when taking a photograph, to choose an instant which will persuade the public viewer to lend it an appropriate past and future. The photographer’s intelligence or his empathy with the subject defines for him what is appropriate. Yet unlike the story-tell...
when sharing the photos has risen to the new level in a world of photography. It weakens the
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.
The question of how society will function when all checks that a few thousand years of civilization have imposed have disappeared has yet to be answered. Society has been trained to view photographs as representations of Reality, but digital imaging has quickly tossed that mindset aside. The underlying Problem results in questioning of everyday events such as, the ability to look at a Photo and trust that the images we see are truly representative of the situation.
We see photographs everywhere. It is printed on magazines, newspapers, billboards, brochures, packages, bags, and toys, etc. The world wide web is filled with photographs. Flickr alone holds more than 4 billion photographs. Facebook members upload more than 2 billion photographs per month (Stern, 2011).