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)
As stated by Judith Butler, the view of Susan Sontag, visible throughout her texts claiming that the photograph can’t reflect clarification by itself, would be senseless. She indicates that we require captions and written examination to support the diverse imagery in particular. According to her, the image can solely influence us, yet not grant us the comprehension of what we perceive. (Butler 2009: 63)
Globally, different art forms do not necessarily throw their definition in your face. It should be interpreted for subsequent comprehension. (Grundberg 1990: 3) Even though the extra information such as a caption and additional background info can be beneficial to the analysis of a photograph, it is not compulsory to the interpretation and consequent emotional response. (Butler 2009: 66) So, being more dependent on personal perspective, a photograph is widely open to different kinds of interpretation.
Taking into consideration Roger Ballen’s opinion, that when the viewers take a look at a photograph they ought to experience that instant existed in time; that it is genuine. (Amison 2014: http://www.gommamag.com/v6/?p=1922) One can derive that regardless of the pain expressed in the image that it belongs to a life of the subject in the photograph - it is merely a moment within their life and even though it is crammed with narrative, it is only one fragment of the subject’s life. It’s like something occurred or is about to, yet in the particular instance, nothing is taking place; it is captured eter...
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Grundberg, A. 1990. Crisis of the Real. New York: Aperture Foundation , Inc.
Guadagnini. W. 2009. The Visionary and Silent Theatre of Roger Ballen [Online]. Available: http://www.rogerballen.com/articles/the-visionary-and-silent-theatre-of-roger-ballen [2014, Feb. 16]
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Sontag, S. 1977. On Photography. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books
Having such an image before our eyes, often we fail to recognize the message it is trying to display from a certain point of view. Through Clark’s statement, it is evident that a photograph holds a graphic message, which mirrors the representation of our way of thinking with the world sights, which therefore engages other
Susan Sontag once wrote, “To collect photographs is to collect the world.” In her article entitled “On Photography,” she overviews the nature of photography and its relation to people using it. Sontag discusses photography’s ability to realistically capture the past rather than an interpretation of it, acting as mementos that become immortal. Continuing on to argue the authenticity of photography and how its view points have shifted from art into a social rite.With the use of rhetorical devices, Sontag scrutinizes the characteristics of photography and its effects on surrounding affairs; throughout this article Sontag reiterates the social rites, immortality and authenticity of photographs, and the act of photography becoming voyeuristic. With the use of the rhetorical devices pathos, appeal of emotion, ethos, appeal to ethics and credibility, and logos, appeal to logic, Sontag successfully persuades the audience to connect and agree with her views.
People tend to views an image based on how society say it should be they tend to interpret the image on those assumption, but never their own assumptions. Susan Bordo and John Berger writes’ an argumentative essay in relation to how viewing images have an effect on the way we interpret images. Moreover, these arguments come into union to show what society plants into our minds acts itself out when viewing pictures. Both Susan Bordo and John Berger shows that based on assumptions this is what causes us to perceive an image in a certain way. Learning assumption plays into our everyday lives and both authors bring them into reality.
Sontang criticizes Woolf’s way of thinking of how a photograph should speak for itself, and not taking in consideration relatively truth of pain behind every picture. Sontang remarks, “But is true that these photographs, documenting the slaughter of noncombants rather than the clash of armies, could only stimulate the repudiation of war? Surely they could also foster greater militancy on behalf of the Republic. Isn’t this what they were met to do?” (Sontang 8). Sotang demonstrates that these photographs may be misinterpret by others and just viewed as a way of justice. In this quote Sotangs attempts to bring these pictures to others as form of connection between the real and unreal of war and destruction within it. Furthermore, Sontang is trying to make others understand that the pain of others should not be measure on the distance that these pictures come from, but instead to keep their value meaning of awareness in
Sontag, Susan. "Essay | Photography Enhances Our Understanding of the World." BookRags. BookRags. Web. 15 Apr. 2014.
The world has many photographers that anyone can look at. You can call me an amateur or say I don’t really understand the art but when I look at most of the pictures available, and I have looked at thousands lately, I don’t see anything different in the style of photography. I just see pictures. I see pictures of beautiful subjects and pictures of ugly subjects. I never really thought about the difference being the photographer instead of the subject, until I saw Elliott Erwitt.
Sontag says that photography relates to morality and to awakening consciences. By this meaning, that photography can help back up its morality of one person rather than building one from scratch. By awakening consciences, Sontag relates photography as being in an abstract manner. Yet still are able to provide a situation that was considered as being historical. It was like the photographs were less powerful when they were much simpler. In a way, it resembled to be thought as children losing lives, suffering or being harmed by what the children can not control. This of which the photograph was able to catch the attention, while making an
Bringing distressing images and situations the forefront of art isn’t gimmicky, and it isn’t entertaining. It’s indispensable. When punches are held the point is only half-made. Vividly bringing to life the tragedies of the world is the only way in which we can come to understand them with any validity, and understanding these heartrending circumstances is the only means through which we can learn from them.
First, In the book, On Photography, the excerpt “In Plato’s Cave”, renowned novelist Susan Sontag asserts that photographs have falseness too. According to Sontag, “Photographs, which fiddle with the scale of the world, themselves get reduced, blown up, cropped, retouched, doctored, tricked out” (4). People might actually think that the girl with the laptop is actually studying really hard because she has a midterm exam tomorrow. But what others might think is that she’s just checking out her facebook and twitter because she’s bored and has nothing else to do. Even if people believe that the photo is true based on its appearance, it could still be completely wrong. Photographs can manipulate our minds and make us think in another perspective. Just because the girl looks busy with her laptop at GCC, it doesn’t certainly mean that she is studying hard for her test. Second, in “In Plato’s Cave”, Sontag argues that photography can be used in a harmful way to others. According to Sontag, people should be warned about photography because it is “predatory” since a captured image can be photoshopped or altered in a desired way while the victims remain unaware of these, in which they are “violated” and “possessed” by others (14). It is really disturbing for people who want to make fun of others, destroy their reputation or just
Russell Brown, J. 1995. The Oxford Illustrated History of the Theatre. 3rd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
In chapter 1 “On Photography” Susan Sontag explains her point of view on photography and the way people have become dependent on images in various ways in the sense of experiencing the value of someone or something. Society believes that photography makes that experience something tangible, a part of the world that they can call their own. Photographers occasionally infringe their own preferences by choosing different lighting, filters, or angles in their pictures so they end up changing the reality outside of Plato’s cave. At the same time, Sontag expresses her feeling of dislike towards photography as a symbolic rape turning people that have been photographed into property because we have knowledge of them that they can never have back for
Palermo follows in the footsteps of author Walter Benn Michaels in pushing back against this postmodernist critique, for as Michaels points out a photograph can in itself convey meaning by virtue of its "cutting off" or meaningful framing, the act of which distinguishes it from the object it represents in both of the above-mentioned senses. To its detriment what the postmodernist critique essentially ignores is this presence of the frame, which is the indispensable component required in order to be able to consider a photograph as a work of art, or as a kind of "pictorial speech act." The author further argues that the modernist photographer Peter Henry Emerson, though considering two theories of art that would have been defeated by postmodernist critique, ultimately develops a third theory of art that both heads off postmodernism and goes a step further in "emphasi[zing] the function of the
While their motives and style differ, a long series of uninterrupted images of the horrors of war gives someone who was not there an idea of what it was like. For photographs depict merely what happened on the field,
Furthermore, meanings behind or found in photographs can be determined by cultural definition and are manifestations of interest. Looking at the Fukushima disaster, overwhelming sense of loss and anger among those who were affected can view the images differently than those who had not experienced the disaster or weren’t as affected as others. Figueroa looks at Toshiya Watanabe’s photo book, 18 months. Born and raised in the Fukushima Prefecture, residents of the town he was born in had to evacuate and the town was declared off-limits. The images in his photo book presented a before and after of the town, how the town changed three
The temporality when the camera, photographer and person photographed do not have a total control of what the visual outcome’s meaning will be. She parallels the idea of citizenship with photography, and how