"In Plato's Cave" is one of Susan Sontag's most famous works of photography criticism in which she makes many philosophical assertions about our relationship between photography and our understanding of the world. For this post, find one interesting quote, post it, and explain why it is interesting. Try to provide an example from "real-life" in your discussion.
The one catch is that you cannot repeat a quote that someone else has already taken, so be sure to read the previous posts.
For example, (and now you can't take this quote)...
Sontag's assertion that "Photographed images do not seem to be statements about the world so much as pieces of it, miniatures of reality that anyone can make or acquire" (4) finds clearest expression in the use of photography in advertising. These advertisements use photographs to promise a version of reality that can be ours but only if we buy the specified product; we can jump like Michael Jordan is jumping in this photograph but only if we buy the same brand of Nikes. On a more personal level, we make these "miniatures of reality" when we use Instagram to document our meals ("See what I ate today!) or --again-- our newest shoe purchase ("Check out my new Chacos! Now I'm ready be a hiker!)
Sontag states, "To collect photographs is to collect the world". Depending on the interpretation of this statement or pictures in particular we have our minds set into an objective view. We see what we want to see. The world is too big to collect photographs.Those photos that are collected are only symbolic to the world at that moment, location, and of that time, limiting to what we are able to see in that particular world. This is an interesting claim because the way i have interpreted Sontag statement is that this is rather a vague and redundant claim to make. Where as there can be some who completely agree with her.
ReplyDeleteSontag mentions, "Travel becomes a strategy for accumulating photographs" (9)expresses a common characteristic we all do when traveling. As humans, we travel and snap a shot of everything that crosses our eyes. One might use an excuse of traveling to capture moments which in form of a photograph. We use these photographs as a reflection of the travel. From a personal viewpoint, it is like a bandwagon we all jump on when traveling. While we are traveling, we see others photograph a scene, and we begin to do the same thing.
ReplyDeleteSontag states, "Cameras go with family life" (8) and goes on to discuss how cameras go hand in hand with families. Not many people realize how many moments are captured through photographs on a daily basis especially of their family. Sontag makes a great point in discussing a study in France that found that cameras are most found in households and twice as much in homes with children (8). From a personal perspective photographs mediate on who and what is important to each person. Reflecting back on the many photographs in my phone, I see the relationship between family and cameras because most of my shots are of family. I find this interesting in the sense that not many people selectively choose moments to capture, rather the behavior happens spontaneously.
ReplyDeleteSontag states that, " the photograph is a thin slice of space as well as time" (22). Pictures are not just objects, they are pieces of time. Each picture that is taken represents something and has a purpose. For example, a picture can contain a memory which allows the holder to remember that particular moment in time; it can bring about feeling of joy and love or sadness. Pictures taken over years become memories of someones life and a part of who they are; which is why pictures are considered to be slices of time.
ReplyDeleteSontag states, "Photographs furnish evidence" (15). A single picture can be taken as evidence to prove when someone is in doubt. In other words, a camera will capture a photograph that will pass for proof that a given thing happened. For example, the use of photographs were used in American trials around the time of civil war as legal evidence. Also, a photograph captures what we and our loved ones looked in the past. This shows that a picture will always have a visible reality to life.
ReplyDeleteSontag writes, "to photograph people is to violate them, by seeing them as they never see themselves, by having knowledge of them they can never have; it turns people into objects that can be symbolically possessed" (14). Although her essays were penned in the mid-to-late 70's, I thought much of this particular essay is relevant to more modern topics. Specifically, for me, this quote summarizes the dynamics between celebrities and the paparazzi. In reality, it also extends to members of the public who view those images and help sensationalize them. When we kill time browsing celebrity gossip blogs like Perez Hilton, aren't we in some manner temporarily possessing the subject of a photograph? Often whomever that subject is has been captured in an unflattering light, and therefore "violated." In the literal sense of the quote I do wonder what it must be like to be faced with a barrage of images of yourself. That inability of people to ever see themselves that Sontag mentions; do people like the Kardashians ever lose that sense?
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ReplyDeleteThe quote above is from part 9 of the essay please.
ReplyDeleteSontag says, "Eventually, people might learn to act out more of their aggression with cameras and fewer with guns" (15). It took me a while to fully say what I wanted to say when I read this first sentence of the paragraph many times. Others might have a different opinion when they read the quote but this is what my mind was set on. It finally hit me that what Sontag said came true, similar to a fortune cookie. I was interested in this sentence because I, and if not anyone, have seen this going on everywhere. Besides the law of the guns being an issue, I'm referring to Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, and all apps out there where people post a picture of themselves or others is being used as violence. It occurs to me that cameras of aggression is being compared to guns, and my mind refers back to this quote. For human kindness, it's kind of sad thinking of cameras and guns being related. That's why I find this quote quite appealing.
ReplyDeleteIn her book, On Photography, Susan Sontag writes, “A Photograph is both a pseudo-presence and a token of absence”(16). While this can be accurate for many situations, such as a longing for someone or place which is out of reach, it is never truer than at a funeral. Large portraits are displayed at the front of a memorial, often times accompanied by smaller photographs, which contain snap shots of that person’s life. Viewers of these photographs are often struck with intense emotions, as they bring forth feeling which highlight the absence of those who have passed.
ReplyDeleteSontag page 11 “A photograph is not just the result of an encounter between an event and a photographer; picture-taking is an even in itself, and one with even more peremptory rights to interfere with, to invade, or to ignore whatever is going on.” This quote reminds of how people are so involved and consumed in capturing the moment and less interested in living in the moment. People are now speeding so much time in trying to get the perfect picture to post on their social media account instead of actually spending quality time with their loves ones. The other day I took my daughter to the park to play at the jungle gym, and it never fails to amaze me seeing more parents trying to capture that perfect image of their child playing at the park instead of actually being involve and playing with their child at the park. The child isn’t going to build memories while someone is taking pictures of them playing by themselves, in my opine a child will remember how you played on the swings with them or how you helped them climb the biggest slide in the park.
ReplyDelete"In deciding how a picture should look, and preferring one exposure to another, photographers are always imposing standards on their subjects" (6). This quotes stood out to me, because it is 100% true. When a person is taking a picture, professional or not, they try to find the best angle and lighting. And if the person is still not satisfied, they edit it further and put a filter or photoshop. We all try to make the picture look the best it can be before posting it on social media or showing it off to someone. I find myself or other people taking a picture moving the camera up and down, side to side, and/or horizontal or vertical, just to take the picture. Often, people will have a lot of the same object or selfie in their photo gallery and then decide which one has the best angle and lighting before posting. A photographer is always trying to make their photos look the best it can be.
ReplyDeleteSontag states, "As industrialization provided social uses for the operations of the photographer, so the reaction against these uses reinforced the self-consciousness of photography-as-art.” This is interesting because she was also talking about how photographs are not the same type of art as paintings or drawings, which have been around for much longer than cameras. So this quote implies that when factory-made things were being built, people decided to take these new items, like cameras, and call it art. When relating this to “real-life” you could use the example of how individuals all want to be able to create some form of art. Even though being able to take a great photograph is not the same as being able to paint or draw a picture worth framing, society was able to conform photography into being its on type of art that is very popular in todays world.
ReplyDelete“It is an Event: something worth seeing- and therefore photographing” by Sontag (pg.11). This quote exemplifies real life scenario that occurred to me in Oakland at Holy Names University during the opening game of my soccer season. After winning the first opening game, we decided to take a picture because it is something valuable for the school, the athletic department and for myself to have that memory. I’ve heard this quote many times, which it ties to the quote I chose from Sontag, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” The quote is interesting because to have a picture with different cultures sharing a moment for the same goal, it’s an objective and passion for all of us to play the same sport.
ReplyDeleteSontag states “photography implies that we know about the world if we accept it as the camera records it” (23). So basically this quote means that we see the world as we want to see it because a camera only captures what we want to see. For example, when we take a selfie or a picture we only focus on what we want to take and what we want to see in the picture or we sometimes even use Photoshop to see in the picture what we want to see and we do not accept the picture as the camera records it. Another example would be when taking a picture of a flower bush, the flower bush might have dry and ugly flowers and the photographer or people might only focus on the beautiful flowers and might edit the picture to delete the dry and ugly flowers in the picture and leave the beautiful image of the flower that we want to see. Once again, we only capture in the picture what we want to see and we would know more about the world if we left the picture or image how in reality the camera recorded it.
ReplyDelete"Photographs shock insofar as they show something novel. Unfortunately, the ante keeps getting raised---partly through the very proliferation of such images of horror." (19) This quote is stating that photographs of traumatic events have a shock factor, but over time that shock factor fades and a new bar has been set of what is shocking to the person viewing it. A good example of this is shown in the movie Nightcrawler, which shows how media itself is always trying to shock viewers in order to draw attention to crime and other problems. This movie goes to an extreme that is not seen on our local news. It displays images of murder victims on the news in order to have the most intense experience for the viewer. As the movie progresses and the fictitious news channel's ratings increase, more gruesome images are displayed in order to maintain the viewers that were gained, and attract more. Although the actual news avoids showing such gruesome events, stories continue to be based upon what will have the highest shock value for the viewer. It continues displaying more depressing news about crimes and murder and fewer positive stories about the good in the community.
ReplyDeleteSontag states that: "Movies and television programs light up walls, flicker, and go out; but with still photographs the image is also an object, lightweight, cheap to produce, easy to carry about, accumulate, store." I find this quote interesting because film is an immense library of still images, so saying that a film will fade out as a negative is like claiming that a photograph won't eventually fade when in reality both can and do. The nature of film, however, is not a true depiction of life; it is one person's hyper realization of what the real world (or whatever world it takes place on) may look like under certain circumstances. In that sense, watching a movie or television program then becomes the ultimate window into the world of the director's mind, seeing the world as they do. People aren't made of blood squibs, but certain frames from a Tarantino flick might make you believe that he thinks otherwise. Blue monkey-tailed aliens don't exist to us, but in James Cameron's mind they've existed long enough to make 3 movies out of (2 are currently in production). If a picture is worth a thousand words, then it follows that 24 frames per second is equal to twenty-four thousand words per second and in different languages depending on what film you choose to experience.
ReplyDelete"A way of certifying experience, taking photographs is also a way of refusing it-by limiting experience to a search for the photogenic..."(9) This quote reminds me so much of the pictures discarded and images not captured because they do not look beautiful enough for a social media profile, or an album. Most amateur photographers like me are guilty of this but the truth is that the least photogenic photographs and the unpleasant scenes are also an integral part of our experience which should be certified by documenting them.
ReplyDeleteI particularly remember some touching photographs from my dad's burial, which I could not keep, but now it is lost forever. I wish I kept them.
“Photographers will offer indisputable evidence that the trip was made, that the program was carried out, that fun was had” (9). The part that interested me the most about this quote is that a photo must be taken to show that fun was had, when in reality fun must cease even for a moment to take a photo that is suppose to show fun. I love taking photographs, that is a hobby of mine but when I’m truly enjoying my self I forget about taking photos. My and my boyfriend went to Balboa Park, in San Diego and we rented and rode bikes for 2 hours, in that time we stopped to take photos of views, plants, and our selves. In what felt like an hour we had to head back to return the bikes. If we would have used that time to just relax and enjoy that time instead of try to capture a picture of us having fun then maybe we would have felt like we rented the bikes for more then just an hour.
ReplyDelete"Photographs may be more memorable tan moving images, because they are a neat slice of time, not a flow" (11). I found this quote interesting because photos are only captured in that one moment, but they have so much more meaning to them than moving images. Photos are a moment caught in time that no one will ever be able to get back; having old photos allows people to cherish these memories. I have so many photos that I will cherish forever just because seeing a few smile on the photos will always be a memory of being happy and having a great time. Photos become so memorable to certain people that they their photos are their number one most important possession. So much information can be told in just one photo.
ReplyDeleteSontag’s states, “Today everything exists to end in a photograph” (24). Every photograph taken has significance or purpose. A way to capture a memory is to take a photo of it. Many people take and use photos to reminisce on experiences they have had and have seen. Almost everything in this world gets captured by a photograph or recording. With today’s technology advancements, a camera phone and digital cameras are easy devices to capture events. No event can go about without a photo being taken to prove it happened. I can admit that I enjoyed taking pictures of everything, knowing I could capture all my moments through a photo and post them on social media. Now, enjoying my experience in the moment is more fascinating than capturing all my moments through a photo. I do not need a photo to prove where I’ve been or what I’ve experienced. Many people forget to enjoy the experience of the moment and are more focused on proving what they have done or been through a photo.
ReplyDeleteSontag expresses that, "photography has become almost as widely practiced an amusement as sex and dancing-which means that, like every mass art form, photography is not practiced by most people as art" (8). I found this quote interesting because of her repeated referral to photography as being industrialized. I agree that this is the case. She directly relates it to real life and the dilution that social media and the current generation has added to almost all art forms. Sontag reaches further in describing photography as a social rite, or tool of power. I believe that this is relatable to the real life issues that many young people face today. If there is a lack of acceptance through social media outlets via likes on photos or whatever the case, then many people I know will get anxious or feel unloved. On the opposite end of this spectrum many people believe that they have become successful based on the amount of people that interact with their photography on social media. When photography itself is objectified in this manner, we can agree that photographs are not being construed as art.
ReplyDeleteSontag states, "the are stuck in albums, frames and set on tables, tacked on walls, projected as slides. Newspapers and magazines feature them; cops alphabetize them; museums exhibit them; publishers compile them." This quote emphasizes the importance photography plays in our everyday life. Whether it be used for admiration as a form of art or used as a resource to assist the law. I chose this quote because it focuses on the positive ways photography can be used. But just like any other thing, photography also has its downside. Nowadays we see young children on social media posting pictures to get attention in a disrespectful way, or using it to bully their peers. In more extreme cases, we see our own students teachers found guilty of child pornography. Photography has evolved and will continue to do so. I hope we can find new positive ways instead of negative.
ReplyDeleteSontag states "photographed images do not seem to be statements about the world so much as pieces of it, miniatures of reality that anyone can make or acquire." This quote is interesting to me because an image is so much more than JUST an image. It tells a story, a memory, about the reality you experienced when taking the photograph. This image has the power to bring that memory back to life. That image is not just a statement or interpretation of an event, but a living piece of your past. It can evoke feelings and emotion. The greatest part is that we all have the ability to make or acquire these "miniatures of reality" and to cherish them.
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