Philosophy of Photography

Finally getting yours hands on the latest smartphone is such an exciting feeling to start customizing it to your personally preference. Browsing through checking if the settings are in your desired mode and finally taking your first selfie to be able to post it on Instagram, SnapChat, Facebook ; whatever social media platform to show off the new and improved camera quality that not yet most others have. Super easy in today's generation to capture that perfect moment to be kept yours forever all due to from a simple deceive.

However it wasn't always so simple. Centuries ago photographers were highly dedicated in their own unique method that involved a lot more work than a simple tap off a button from our phones.

Based off from Sontag's essay, " In Plato's Cave" talks about smartphones photography and how the art behind it has a greater meaner than what it seems. Explaining the basic purpose of taking a picture states here that, "Photographs alter and enlarge our notions of what is worth looking at and what we have the right to observe.

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They are a grammar and, even more importantly, an ethics of seeing". Photography captures a desired image in order to later show on how it should be viewed. Sharing these ideas to the public also gives them a taste of how we should see the world around us. Images who provide the best content of their perspective begin to attract popularity and influence others. That's where social media comes into role here where many accounts posting mouth watery entr?es, showing off pieced together outfits for the day, the addicting self portraits, etc.

Referring back to Sontag's essay, her message is still relevant to our time and has a chance to be connected with how photography is used today. It has brought the media world together worldwide and easy to access. However on the other hand, people nowadays just snap a shot to show off any activity they are doing at the moment instead of actually living in the moment to enjoy it. Sontag's displays that, "By furnishing this already crowded world with a duplicate one of images, photography makes us feel that the world is more available to us than it really is.'' Photographs presents itself to us the appearance of what it allows to be seen. Usually people spend most of their time on the internet making a scene of living the best life but in reality are just lonely individuals who seek out and absorbs the bare minimum of attention based off of what they present on there public platforms.

In addition to where she also mentioned that, "a way of certifying experience, taking photographs is also a way of refusing it - by limiting experience to a search for the photogenic, by converting experience into an image, souvenir." When someone is taking a photo that is meant to be shared with, most of the time it is only certifying to what is important to them when in reality there are some parts that is being ignored because it didn't really make it into the "the cut". Even though there are individuals out there who would share almost about anything - technically cannot do so because of the thought in the back of there mind will start to worry about who will start to judge them based off of what they want to post.

My view of the principle of photography is that it is a valuable advantage that continues enhance each day that goes by. Each taken image has a meaning behind it and can cause unraveling emotions based on the perspective of that particular individual. Whereas Sontag's ideas of photography is thought to be compared to an artifact that which we create and gain ownership from. Due to the fact that a person should also be educated to navigate contemporary media because if having no knowledge at all can lead to inappropriate misuse, possibly stealing someone else's work without asking permission or giving credit when its due, also displaying sensitive content that many viewers are not okay with seeing easily, etc. Including also that I personally think photography should not contribute to our general education unless that person themselves decides if they want to pursue this work of art because if it is made into a requirement not everyone will be interested and I feel that Sontag will agree with me for the reason that since it is her passion it doesn't mean that it can apply to others.

From the provides sources that were mentioned above I can further argue that photography has skyrocketed over the past centuries to where we are now. It is being used in books, movies, billboards, museums, the list goes on and on. Taking one look off an image can cause a great impact not just to one person but to millions around the world. A photograph that left an impact on me was the "falling man" taken by Richard Drew. It's a man who is falling head first down from dropping out from one of the burning twin towers. This photograph went extremely viral due to the fact that it made it in so many newspaper covers which easily caught the viewers attention. Till this day it still haunts me that he appears so relaxed and not intimidated. He took his fate to depart from earth like an arrow with both arms by his side and left leg slightly bent. When I see this image the first come to mind is freedom. He chose how to end his last instants of life by embracing it what's left to be done to get over with.