In Plato's Cave By Susan Sontag

Photography provides us with an easy way of capturing the world around us. In our today’s society photographs are taken by almost anyone with access to a cellphone, and are able to turn any moment into a physical object. These still images of our world are passed along almost instantly though the help of social media, messaging, and in person sharing. Our whole culture is in some way or another is affected by the photos we take and what they convey.

Susan Sontag has a very strong and interesting take on modern photography. In her essay, “In Plato’s Cave”, she talks about the power of photographs and what they convey about reality. Sontag states that “Strictly speaking, one never understands anything from a photograph.”(23). Sontag argues

that while photograph’s are in themselves captured pieces of reality, they do not convey anything about the world around us. While it is true that photographs are only a two dimensional saying that photography is incapable of conveying any sort of reality at all seems to be too wide of a claim to have no exceptions. Her argument brings up how the subjectivity of photography will always paint reality in sentimental light, therefore photography itself is too subjective to portray the world as it truly is; but the subjectivity of each individual photograph only adds to the realness portrayed and amount of information taken from it. Each image is a reflection of the person who took it and the purpose it was taken for, if one takes a deeper look at it. The flaws in each photograph are what give us information, and while it is true that photography has a limited perspective, it also has the ability to shine light on new perspective. Photography is it’s own subjectivity is what gives it the ability to convey a perspective and effectively shine light on a new way of seeing reality.