~Sontag's On Photography~

Susan Sontag's book, On Photography, takes a deeper look into the meaning behind a single photograph. She recognizes the individuality behind each picture and takes a critical look at not only the photograph itself but also the photographer. In the first chapter, In Platos Cave Sontag emphasizes the popularity of mass photography and how popular this art form has become, and in the second chapter, America, Seen Through Photographs, Darkly Sontag takes a look at a photographer from the 1970's, Diane Arbus.

In the first chapter, In Platos Cave, Sontag states, "To collect photographs is to collect the world," she explains that movies are watched and then over, but a photograph is a singular tangible object. Photographs can be shared, framed, carried around, they are portable memories. With photographs gaining more popularity with each generation, Sontag explains that everyone is taking pictures, "Recently, 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 an art. It is mainly a social rite, a defense against anxiety, and a tool of power." This statement is very true for nearly every American; most people have pictures everywhere, in frames on shelves, on their fridge, at their desk, on their bulletin board, in their car. Most people also feel obligated to take pictures on vacation bringing their camera everywhere they go just "in case." This need to photograph everything on vacation is also similar to photographing your children, Sontag explains that if you do not photograph them growing up that it is a sign of ,"parental indifference." It is interesting to see that with the increasing availability of the camera, the face of photography, once seen as more of an art form, has been altered into a modern-day practice.

In Sontag's second chapter, America, Seen Through Photographs, Darkly, Sontag focuses much of her attention on photographer Diane Arbus. Arbus had a passion when it came to photographing people who were out of the ordinary and quite disturbing to most people; This was because she believed that most people focused on others flaws as one of the first things they noticed about them. Sontag explains that she concentrated on victims, "Her work shows people who are pathetic, pitiable, as well as repulsive, but it does not arouse any compassionate feelings." Sontag explains that Arbus's artwork, "... is a self-willed test of hardness. Her photographs offer an occasion to demonstrate that life's horror can be faced without squeamishness." This point offers up an explanation to why her photographs are so entrancing; they catch your eye and you want to look away, but you don't. Sontag explains that her photographs allow you to, "confront the horrible with equanimity."

In conclusion, both chapters from On Photography, were very interesting in the fact that they let the reader examine their own thoughts on photos. Sontag offers up different viewpoints on photography and explains in her first chapter the rise of photography and how we know it today. In the second chapter Sontag looks at photographer, Diane Arbus, and explains how an artist can change how the viewer looks at moments in life due to viewing a picture, and how a picture carries an unimaginable amount of influence over the viewer.