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Essay On Photography Analysis

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Throughout my life, I have seen some of the most interesting things through a camera. It may seem odd that some of my most interesting experiences have been through an artificial lens, but a camera is in the same family of both the magnifying glass and the microscope. It is not only the ability to see things in more detail that demands our attention; it is something else, something about the art of photography that forces us to examine the world as we don't normally do. Normally we don't see things as they are. Have you ever found something unusual about something familiar that seems very out of place? For instance, if you find some mole or freckle on your body that you never noticed before, do you wonder if it was always there? How could …show more content…

Percy claims that instead of coming upon this great thing and admiring it for what it is, sightseers come upon it and compare it to their already formulated expectations. Percy claims that the situation is worsen when the tourist has a camera. In this situation, the tourist comes upon the thing to behold, takes a photograph, and leaves without ever really seeing the thing. He or she "waives [his or her] right of seeing and knowing," as Percy puts it, "and records symbols for the next forty years"(Percy 589). I was victim to a very similar situation when I visited Snoqualmie Falls with my father eight years ago. I remembered being very bored on the trip. I thought the waterfall was interesting at first, but soon I lost that interest. Sure, I told my friends and family later how wonderful it was, how it was "better than the pictures." But truthfully I couldn't have cared less about it. To be honest, bragging about it was more interesting than seeing the waterfall itself. I am sure everybody has the similar experience as I did: the marvelous thing you did that did not really live up to expectations at the time but that everybody knows is wonderful, so you say how great it was later. The thing that interests me now, however, is not my boredom, but

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