Hello All,
For this post, read Susan Sontag's "The Image World," which you can find on the class Blackboard page. Then find one quote that provides an answer to one of the questions from below. Finally, provide a brief explanation (a couple of sentences) of why you found that quote meaningful.
Note: Do not repeat a quote someone has already posted; you must find a new quote to discuss if "your" quote is taken.
What is Art? What are the qualities that would elevate a given object to the status of "art"?
Why do people create art?
Why do audiences want to experience art?
Does art require context? In other words, does an artwork lose anything out of context? Is a Picasso painting the same in person as it is as an image we might use as the screensaver on our desktop computer?
Can photography be art?
How is photography different from other forms of art (like literature and painting)?
How is it similar?
What qualities would a photograph need to possess to be elevated to the status of art?
Why do people take photographs?
What function/purpose/utility do photographs serve for us as individuals? For us as members of a family or community? For anonymous/unknown audiences?
Finally, if anyone is interested, the Bakersfield Museum of Art is hosting an exhibit titled "Photography in Mexico," with some fantastic photographs, including my all-time favorite: "Mujer Angel" by Graciela Iturbide.
Why do audiences want to experience art?
Does art require context? In other words, does an artwork lose anything out of context? Is a Picasso painting the same in person as it is as an image we might use as the screensaver on our desktop computer?
Can photography be art?
How is photography different from other forms of art (like literature and painting)?
How is it similar?
What qualities would a photograph need to possess to be elevated to the status of art?
Why do people take photographs?
What function/purpose/utility do photographs serve for us as individuals? For us as members of a family or community? For anonymous/unknown audiences?
Finally, if anyone is interested, the Bakersfield Museum of Art is hosting an exhibit titled "Photography in Mexico," with some fantastic photographs, including my all-time favorite: "Mujer Angel" by Graciela Iturbide.
According to Susan Sontag, “In its simples form, we have in a photograph surrogate possession of a cherished person or thing, a possession which gives photographs some of the character of unique objects”; this quotes provides the answer to why people take photographs. I found this quote meaningful because my great grandmother recently passed away, and although I did not have the opportunity to spend much time with her, I have photographs that remind me of the wonderful woman she was. Death is part of the life cycle, but no matter how much time passes a photograph provides an opportunity in which I can go back and view past experiences.
ReplyDeleteNice work, Valeria.
DeleteAs Susan Sontag states, "through photographs, we also have a consumer's relation to events, both events which are part of our experience and'to those which are not", this quote defines one of the multiple purposes that a photograph can serve. In this specific phrase, it is how individuals can relate to similar experiences and for those who have not been through the same. The reason I find it interesting and meaningful is because I like to see other peoples photographs and relate them to my experiences or what I have been through. Photographs help in expressing our thoughts and experiences without words which many can relate in one way or another.
ReplyDeleteNice work, Berenice!
DeleteAccording to Susan Sotag, "to possess the world in the form of images is, precisely, to reexperience the unreality and remoteness of the real." Yes, as individuals, we take pictures to preserve important moments in our lives. The moments may have been long ago and seem unreal, but when we look at photographs we have taken, we return to those moments, places, or events captured with a single click.
ReplyDeleteAccording to Susan Sontag, “But images are not a treasure for which the world must be ransacked; they are precisely what is at hand wherever the eye falls”. This quote provides the answer to if photography can be art. Photography is a way in which an individual can express themselves, and capturing the things they find meaningful is a way of doing just that. Art has the sole purpose of reflecting the creator’s thoughts and emotions which can be done in a variety of ways, photography I feel being one of them. I found this quote to have a lot of meaning regarding why we have so many photographs, and the reason not being too want too quickly rush and capture everything in our world, but it’s the fact that there are so many people in our world expressing themselves all at once, capturing what they feel to be meaningful and worthy of capturing. Photography is a way in which individuals share what they see to be meaningful to them and there is no real limit to the amount of things in our world we see and find significantly important to us. Photography I feel is a reflection of ourselves, and the things we decide to capture have a much deeper meaning than we realize, which is why I feel like photography can be considered art.
ReplyDelete-Maria Zamarripa
According to Susan Sontag, “Such images are indeed able to usurp reality because first of all a photograph is not only an image (as a painting is an image), an interpretation of the real; it is also a trace, some-thing directly stenciled off the real, like a footprint or a death mask” (154). Photographs are an exact copy of the thing that is being captured which makes it difficult to consider it as art because art is created by what the artist has imagined while a photographer has to be there at the right time during an event to capture the moment with a click of a button. To me the only way a photograph can be considered art is if it were modified otherwise it would just be a beautiful scenery or nice picture.
ReplyDeleteSusan Sontag states in her last essay of On Photography, "Photographs are a way of imprisoning reality, understood as recalcitrant, inaccessible; of making it stand still." This quote is the answer to why people take photographs and what function or purpose photographs serve to us. As individuals proceed through life, photography is the best way to capture a moment in time that has a significant meaning to us or to anyone who might have a feeling when seeing a photograph. Photographs are evidence that an event or a moment in time has occurred and was captured. I believe this is vital in human history so we, as a population, can observe certain historical events that have been captured so we can relive those moments. It does not have to just be grand events but rather more personal events are a great purpose for photography. As I read over this quote, I found it immediately to be meaningful because when I think of the meaning of photos, the first thing that comes to mind is capturing a special moment in our lives and Susan Sontag's quote made me feel the same way. Although personally I try to enjoy life's moments with my own eyes and staying off anything that could distract me from it, photographs are a great tool to relive precious moments in the future.
ReplyDeleteAccording to Susan Sontag, " Photographic images are pieces of evidence in an on going biography or history. And one photograph, unlike one painting, implies that there will be others." This quote provides an answer to the questions why do people take photographs, and what use do they provide. People have always used painting, music, dance and other forms of expression to leave images and interpretations for future generations. Photographs in this respect are no different they are used to capture events big and small and preserve them for generations to come. The most amazing part about photographs is that regardless of how much places and people change, a photograph will preserve the image of a certain point of time for as long as it exists. This is why as long as people have the ability to record images there is always the promise that photography will stay alive.
ReplyDeleteIn "The Image World" Susan states, "As the taking of photographs seems almost obligatory to those who travel about, the passionate collecting of them has a special appeal for those confined- either by choice, incapacity, or coercion- to indoor space". I find the quotation above to be one of the many reasons as to why people take photographs. Photographs serve a lot of purposes, more than I can list. In the particular portion of our reading Susan mentions that photographs are taken to capture moments when we're traveling to the known or unknown. I personally find myself taking pictures on my cellphone every time I head out of town and want to show everyone back at home the scenery I had. My parents are not huge fans of trying new things and leaving town, so being able to still show them where I was without having them actually go to those particular places is pretty amazing. For my picture submission I submitted a photograph I took when I was in New York standing on the Rockefeller building along with many other views on my vacation. I took them so I would be able to look back on those moments and remember the amazing experience I had. Collections of pictures from different places can lead to creating a photo album, which can then be kept for many years and passed on for generations . Looking at picture albums allows people to reminisce on special occasions and remarkable moments people have lived through. Anyone can say they went on to Spain and verbally describe how it looked, but a picture is what actually gives the image. Cameras weren’t as focused and had the highest pixels in the past, but as technology grows more and more so do the quality of images. I am grateful for our generation having the opportunity to be able to capture images on our cellphones because I always have my cellphone with me. Having my cellphone with me all time means I can capture any moment in my life I find meaningful and I can have the image with me forever (of course if I print the picture). So I could definitely say that photographs serve a purpose throughout our lifetime.
ReplyDeleteAccording to Susan Sontag, “Photo¬graphs do more than redefine the stuff of ordinary experi¬ence (people, things, events, whatever we see--albeit differ¬ently, often inattentively-with natural vision} and add vast amounts of material that we never see at all”. This quote answers the question to why people take photographs. Soccer has allowed me to travel around the country and every time I experience a new place I always take a picture and keep it in my phone for memories, but when I look at the photograph years later I tend to recognize my emotions and the surrounding, something I wouldn’t have seen at the moment. Photographs are taken not only to show where you are at, it helps define an individual’s emotion and other aspects of that individuals physical characteristics. Individuals have selective attention so when an event is happening they may only attend to one thing going at a time, so when photographs are used they help individuals see what was around their surrounding rather than that one thing they were mainly focusing on at that moment.
ReplyDeleteAccording to Susan Sontag," We make of photography a means by
ReplyDeletewhich, precisely, anything can be said, any purpose served." This quotes provide an answer why people take photographs. We take thousand of photos through out the years of our lives, from childhood to adulthood. Every photo taken has a meaning why is was taken.Many times it's purpose is to remember and cherished what the mind cant store for us. We can look back and see the image captured of something or someone special and go back it time to relive that moment. We look at a photo and without a doubt know what the photo is trying to say without a word being said. We all have heard the phrase" a photo is worth a thousand words" meaning just by looking at the photograph the message can be interpreted. Even though, photographs can either bring happy or sad moments, it's known that the photo will never change,even if the people in them have.
Susan Sontag explains in The Image World that, “The urge to have new experiences is translated into the urge to take photo-¬graphs: experience seeking a crisis-proof form” (p.162). Many people enjoy taking photos because it is a moment in time that captures someone’s emotion. As people experience new adventures in life they will also take photos, so in the future they can look back on that memory. A photograph can trigger many emotions and memories in an individual. It is important to have those memories or adventures because it had some part in forming that person’s view or personality. Photographs whether on the wall or on Instagram, it demonstrates to others the challenges, success, goals, or ideas the individual is pursuing. It gives others a little aspect of our lives in a photograph.
ReplyDeletePhotography is a form of art because it expresses the photographer’s emotions, thoughts, views, or ideas. It is a form of art that does not require specific skills to paint, draw, or carve. In this type of art anyone can demonstrate their views or ideas with just a simply photo. It is a great hobby for individuals who love to express their emotions or ideas through photos. People can become vary passionate in photography that they will choose to make a living from it.
Christina Orozco
Susan Sontag wrote that photographs can "enlarge a reality that is felt to be shrunk, hollowed out, perishable, remote. One can't possess reality, one can possess (and be possessed by) images," (page 163). This quote answers the question of why people take photographs and their function/purpose for us as individuals. When things occur in people's lives, whether someone we know or to people around the world, photographs are taken to show the events unfolding. A few years ago, I went to the Holocaust Museum in L.A. and just seeing the pictures and documents there of everything that happened really did possess me and everyone else seeing them. For a brief moment, the reality of what happened, the weight of emotion that consumed me staring at the photographs was so real and overwhelming, I could not help but be thankful I did not live through that horrible time as well as feel sad for the those who did. That horrific event may be over but the photographs of it will last forever and continue to make what we read about in history books a reality.
ReplyDeleteThe Image World, Susan Sontag states, “Often something disturbs us more in photographed form than it does when we actually experience it.” Seeing something with one’s own eyes may not match the response to seeing a photograph of what was experienced. Many would question of one’s experience in seeing a tragedy first hand is not as horrible as viewing it in a picture. When we see something out of the ordinary, for example, a beating of a person in the streets; we may predict the wounds do not turn out as unpleasant as seeing a picture of the person beaten up. It is seen ten times more real. The outcome is much worse than one expects. I find this quote interesting because I’ve noticed people tend to make a face looking at pictures with individuals who are bruised up and bloody as to seeing an actual fight/ beating. The close-up of a wound is much more disturbing, one gets to see the details to a bloody and bruised up individual. Having to see the actual beating pulls away attention to the wounds one may acquire; the experience puts attention on how a person is being beaten up.
ReplyDelete-Andreina Rendon
Susan Sontag states: "A capitalist society requires a culture based on images. It needs to furnish vast amounts of entertainment in order to stimulate buying and anesthetize the injuries of class, race, and sex. And it needs to gather unlimited amounts of information, the better to exploit natural resources, increase productivity, make war, give jobs to bureaucrats. The camera's twin capacities, to subjectivize reality and to objectify it, ideally serve these needs and strengthen them."
ReplyDeleteAs Sontag's quote suggest, photographs can be used for a variety of reasons. In this case, Sontag explains how much of a cultural impact photography can have. Photographs and videos provide entertainment and stimulation for most of the common people. TVs are in nearly every home, camera phones in almost every hand. The movie industry grosses billions, if not trillions, of dollars each year. Over the years, photographs and videos have displayed the perils of war, the fight for equal rights, the joy of family. Photography continues to have a huge impact on today's culture. Entire apps and websites are designed for the sole purpose of exchanging images and videos: Tumblr, Instagram, Imgur, Vine, Flickr, etc. Whether we realize it or not, our culture, our society and much of our economy is dependent on the taking and exchanging of live and still photography.
Susan Sontag states "Cameras implement the instrumental view of beauty of reality by gathering information that enables us to make a more accurate and much quicker response to whatever is going on" (176). This shows that photography can be art. Photography to most people may mean something to them, others it may not mean anything at all. People must understand that there is a story behind the photograph. It is easy taking a photo, but its difficult when someone criticizes it in the wrong way. It is better to understand that there could be a significant story that could be life changing to the photographer. A photograph is different from a painting, it takes time and dedication for a paining. However, a painting is similar to a photograph. A person can capture an image, and then paint the image, there is just more thought and effort put into a painting. I feel like art and photography are the same, there is just a lot more effort put into art.
ReplyDelete-Jasmin Vega
In “The Image World”, by Susan Sontage , she states, “Through image-making and image duplicating machines, we can acquire something as information(rather than experience)”(pg 156).
ReplyDeleteIn the newspaper we see images of events that are going on around the world and through photography we are being informed of these events. As we look through these photographs we are not necessarily experiencing what the photograph is portraying, but rather gaining knowledge.
Faviola Gurrola
According to Susan Sontag, “Photographic images are pieces of evidence in an ongoing biography or history. And one photograph, unlike one painting, implies that there will be others.” (p.166). This quote provides an answer as to why people take photographs. Through photos people have the opportunity to keep record of past events, good or bad memories. The photos from the past bring all those memories to the present. It is like reading a biography or exploring a piece of history, a history that might be about others or us. We take pictures in important events or important occasions. When we see all the pictures from the past, it’s like bringing all the past memories to the present; it’s like going back to the past. Also, it helps us see how people are changing throughout time. Keeping old photos is an important documentation for the future generation because through pictures they will be able to explore the past events. Also, this biography is written with photographs of events, memories, important people in our lives because there will be many photos representing our life.
ReplyDeleteDiana Montoya
According to Susan Sontag, "The urge to have new experiences is translated into the urge to take photographs". This quote answers the question why people take pictures. When experiencing something new, people take pictures to commit it to memory and to share with others. Whenever I go on a vacation, I feel the need to capture the moment and to share my adventure with people I care about. I found this quote meaningful because I enjoy taking adventures and documenting them with photographs.
ReplyDelete“Reality as such is redefined—as an item for exhibition, as a record for scrutiny, as a target for surveillance.” Susan Sontag states that photographs can change the scope of normality through observation and a photo can sustain different emotions upon viewers. This answers the question of what utility do photographs serve for us as individuals. The moment I read this quote by Susan Sontag, I envisioned Arnold Schwarzenegger and a memo graphical body-building picture. I remember the first time I saw a picture of Schwarzenegger. I was surprised of the limits an individual can take to build muscle mass upon the human body. Like Sontag states, “…reality as such is redefined…” by a picture. Around the society I grew up in, I would rarely witness any bodybuilders. The moment I came across Schwarzenegger’s picture, I was amazed because he looked like a superhero compared to the average adults I would see in society. My idealism that I took upon adults changed that moment. The picture became “…an item for exhibition, as a record for scrutiny, as a target for surveillance.” In other words, my mind automatically displayed the picture as great achievement, success by mental discipline, and a motivational role model. As individuals, perception of a photo may differ differently upon the audience regardless of a negative or positive impact, it alters the way we objectify things in life; in this quote, my perception of a human was altered and my mind reorganized the mental process up to what limits can a human change the way they look.
ReplyDeleteAccording to Susan Sontag, she states “…technology has made photography an incomparable tool for deciphering behavior, predicting it, and interfering with it”. Sontag demonstrates how a picture can capture a person’s behavior. This answers the question of what function do photographs serve for us as individuals. When a picture is taken by a technological device, it captures an instant image of behavior. When the viewer sees the image, the viewer is capable of judging emotion based upon behavior. For example, a picture of a person smiling indicates that the individual was happy at that given time. On the contrary, a picture of a person crying indicates that the individual may be in pain. Family photography is a perfect example of making discretion upon behavior. Behavior demonstrates emotion at that given time.
ReplyDeleteSusan Sontag states, “…the copy to the original, the representation to the reality…” this quote answers the question to why people take photographs. I found this quote meaningful because I agree with it. A picture is a copy of something real, which can represent some peoples personalities. For instance, a person who constantly takes pictures with their family, in different places, can say that they like to travel together. The picture in this can be for memories of the different places they’ve traveled to.
ReplyDeleteRuby Montes
Susan Sontag states, "...cameras gave us the
ReplyDeletemeans to 'fix' the fleeting moment.'' This is a perfect answer as to why we take pictures. Cameras and photography allow us to capture a moment, but the moment as we wish for everyone, ourselves included, to remember. We can crop, edit, and fix a photo all we want and it will forever remain that perfect image. In life, we cannot press pause and we cannot control what is in the foreground or background. We take pictures to gain some form of control in our lives and share with others the clean, controlled image we captured.
Taylor Dunn
Susan Sontag states, “…some trace of the magic remains: for example, in our reluctance to tear up or throw away the photograph of a loved one, especially of someone dead or far away” (161). This quote helps to explain the reason people value the photographs they have of those they love. In this case, a photograph serves its purpose as a reminder of a loved one. The mere thought of throwing the photograph away brings about guilt and a feeling of rejection towards that person. I have personally felt this to be true. I would much rather place photograph of a loved one in a drawer or a box in my home than to throw it away. There is a special feeling about the photograph that keeps me from getting rid of it. It may not be the person in the flesh, but it holds just as much value to have it accessible and secured so that I can look at it again some other time, or come across it as an unexpected, yet wonderful surprise when I am cleaning.
ReplyDeleteIsabel Mireles