Photography, By Susan Sontag

Photographs have been circling the world for years now . There are many different types of cameras, but only some have changed and revolutionized the world. The history behind them and the history it has captured throughout the years has impacted the world in numerous ways. It is very important to know how certain things like lighting and angle affect the outcome of photographs. To be able to capture a perfect photograph one will have to understand how lighting , angle , third rule affect a photograph. Not only are there different types of ways to take photographs but different types of photography.

As mankind rapidly evolved recording events became harder. Early history is only able to be pictured with using our imagination. Often times historians often clash about what the world looked like. Ancient civilizations from the Mayans and Aztecs have never been seen while they were in their pristine condition. The world is left with written descriptions and ruins not only of the cities themselves, but also the tools used. After the camera was invented in the early 1800s, events were more frequently recorded and it was clear what tools and cities looked like before modern-day. Photography has undoubtedly altered how we document events, created new job openings, and will give generations to come amazing art and show defining moments from each generation. Photography has helped evolve the world by creating new jobs and revolutionizing how events are documented.

Before photography was invented, the only way to see what someone or something looked like from that time period was a drawing or painting. Before the invention of photography, there was no true way to know what a person looked like as Pey sketches they had could be inaccurate. Photography changed the world not by only showing accurate depictions of objects but also by introducing a new form of art. Anyone can take a photo, but a photographer uses the principles of art and design to capture a moment and astonishing images.

possibility of taking a moment and saving it forever is spectacular. Photography has been invented by many different people and many cultures but the first one to succeed with a photograph was Nicéphore Niépce in the 1820’s. Even though it wasn't like the photography we know today and it took several days of light exposure and the picture wasnt very clear, it was still a photograph. He was the first one to have a successful picture even though many attempted such as Thomas Wedgwood. The difference between his picture and Nicéphore Niépce and Thomas was that Thomas used silver nitrate while Nicephore used silver chloride. The technology of a photograph was

In Freeman Patterson’s Barriers to Seeing, Patterson mentions a quote from Susan Sontag about cameras and experiences. Sontag writes, “‘A way of certifying experience, taking photographs is also a way of refusing it – by limiting the experience to a search for the photogenic, by converting into an image, a souvenir’” (Paragraph 12). Essentially, Sontag is elaborating how people are distracted from their surroundings and experiences to find a photogenic picture or to record what they think to be an experience. While the objective of photography is usually to capture an experience or feeling, many are instead obsessed with finding good lighting, searching for a good background, and are focused on taking the best picture to post on social media. In many cases this is very true, and I myself can see it in people’s photos as well as my own. In Freeman Patterson’s Barriers to Seeing,” he quotes Susan Sontag’s statement that one’s camera can be a barrier to seeing and experiencing a moment. Through other’s picture taking as well

In “Why We Take Pictures,” Susan Sontag discusses the increase use of technology and its ability to impact the daily lives of mankind. Taking pictures is a form of self-evolution that slowly begins to shape past and present experiences into reality. Sontag argues how the use of photography is capable of surpassing our reality by helping us understand the concept of emotion, diversity, and by alleviating anxiety and becoming empowered. Moreover, according to her argument, people are able to construct a bond between the positive or negative moments in life to cognitively release stress through reminiscing. Therefore, Sontag claims that photography itself can help with reshaping individual’s perspectives of reality by being able to empathize with the emotions portrayed through an image. Thus, giving

Alex Kotlowitz met Lafeyette and Pharoah Rivers in 1985 while working as a journalist. He was interviewing them for a photo essay in Chicago magazine on children living in poverty. The violence that occurred every day where the brothers lived in Governor Henry Horner Homes, or Horner, disturbed Kotlowitz. Lafeyette and Pharoah are 12 and 9 years old at the start of the book but have experienced more than many kids their age. The boys did not seem sure of what life held for them. Lafeyette told Kotlowitz, “If I grow up, I’d like to be a bus driver,” Lafeyette was not sure that he would grow up at just 10 years old (x). Kotlowitz wanted to show what it is like for children growing up in urban poverty after seeing the brothers’

The photograph is a very powerful medium. The French painter Paul Delaroche exclaimed upon seeing an early photograph “from now on, painting is dead!” (Sayre, 2000). Many critics did not take photography seriously as a legitimate art form until the 20th century. With the

Our memories often time embellish the memories we once had of such great people, places, times, and etc. We live these times up to standard that makes us reminisce, hurt, contemplate and so much more. The power of a photograph has been described to have worth a thousand words, metaphorically meaning of course, that what an image can capture in one instance, something that may not ever be captured through words. For too many centuries we have been without, what many of us now take for granted, the photograph. What we capture in a picture, has much more value than we often time see in our commercials, people, places, they tell a story to the ignorant, paint a picture for blind, give the deaf something to listen to, and so much more.

Through the development of multiple inventions such as the digital camera and the smartphone camera, photography has been able to become more available to general public. No longer does one have to be extremely wealthy to have a picture taken. The majority of people now carry a smartphone

Gathering photos, Sontag Argues that it is the same as gathering to the world. Photos are ancient rarities, which make and gather the environment that we see to be current. She contends that capturing something is picking up responsibility for and making a sort of information-like connection to the world. Photography makes a smaller than usual representation of parts of the unmistakable world that anybody can get as his or her own. Photos are a kind

The world we live in today has a saying “If you didn’t take pictures, it was like you were never there.” The passage “When We Save Every Memory, We Forget Which Ones Are Special,” by Dara Horn, describes how technology has made it easy for everyone to save any and almost every memory through social media. People might want to capture every memory for the fear of being forgotten or for the fact that they will be able to look back on every memory of their lives. A problem with people saving every memory of their lives is that when you look back at them, it will be hard to distinguish the treasured memories from the trash because of the huge amounts of captured memories. I believe that the idea presented here is that the abuse of modern technology has driven us to try to show ourselves to the world through social media, making the photo of ourselves more like a resume rather than actual memories we cherish.

Sontag claims that “photography is, a social rite, but it can also be a defense against anxiety and a tool of power (page 130).” She backs her claim by stating “photographs give people an imaginary possession of a past that is unreal, they also help people to take possessions of space in which they are insecure.” (Sontag page 131). In other words, having pictures allows people to tell stories that may not be exactly true. I agree with Sontag because I have witnessed and experienced how pictures can hurt someone emotionally while empowering others.

While we think of photography as a fairly modern invention, that is simply not true. In fact, there are documents on the underlying principle behind photography dating back to as early as the Fifth Century, B.C. The first recorded instance of a photographic image was found in 5th Century China. During that time, Chinese philosopher and scholar Mo-Ti described how light passing through a pinhole into a dark room created an inverted, full color image on the opposite wall. Mo-Ti the room he used to produce this

Photographs, are moments forever captured. They are mirrors of reality, ghosts of lives and events told through particles of ink and paper. From photography’s birth in 1839, to its most recent incarnation into selfies, photographs have been telling and retelling the stories of humanity. In On Photography, and Reading American Photographs, both Sontag, and Trachtenberg critically examine the nature of photography, and its impact on the past, present, and future world. Though Sontag, and Trachtenberg diverge stylistically in their exploration of photographs, both authors are united in their ideas of the influence of photographs on our understanding of history, as well as the power that one exercises when looking through a lense.