“Photographs alter and enlarge our notions of what is worth looking at and what we have a right to observe.”“What is worth looking at”This insignificant nail is the point of the image but the ivy and the colour blue are both interesting. Changes in photography are conditions of imprisonment and create a kind of “ethics of vision” and the feeling that we can contain the whole world in our heads. Humankind lingers unregenerately in Plato's cave, still reveling, its age-old habit, in mere images of the truth. On thinking about Andy Warhol’s screen prints, For the Assessor – LO2 – Digital Image and Culture. Your email address will not be published. Modern advances in photography and its development into as an art form. Following on from Sontag’s observation in chapter 3 of On Photography (1) that, “an increasingly common way of presenting photographs in book form is to match photographs themselves with quotes,” it occurred to me to turn that round, in a sense, and try to present some of the things she says in the first chapter… 8. The depth of its meaning is opaque to anyone but me. 10. 21 January 2020, On seeing an exhibition of Joy Labinjo’s paintings, South Shields Photography Exhibition 13 February 2020. It begins with the famous "In Plato's Cave"essay, then offers five other prose meditations on this topic, and concludes with a fascinating and far-reaching "Brief Anthology of Quotations." Preview this book » What people are saying - Write a review. Why do two of them wear stout shoes? The observations she concludes warns her readers to be careful in how they view or interpret images. The chapter ‘In Plato’s Cave’ from Sontag’s ‘On Photography’ available to read here >>> In Plato’s Cave, Your email address will not be published. But this is the opposite of understanding, which starts from not accepting the world as it looks” (480). I also wanted to explore the idea that what she says about photography in general could apply to particular photographs. “Photography,” she writes, “implies that we know about the world if we accept it as the camera records it. Les neiges d’antan ne revient jamais. Someone has decided that this view is worth a seat by the side of the road. Exercise 3.1 On Reading ‘Towards a Hyperphotography’, Digital Self-Control, Ready Player One and Otherlife, Response to tutor’s notes on Assignment 2. In the chapter “In Plato’s Cave” Sontag argues that humanity is still in ‘Plato’s cave’. Photography changes are conditions of imprisonment and create a kind of "ethics of vision" and the feeling that we can contain the whole world in our heads. The people watch shadows projected on the wall from objects passing in front of a fire behind them, and give names to these shadows. More people than ever are now taking photographs with their camera phones and it brings a larger audience to our images. And I think that, yes, some of her ideas have become more true of time, particularly in relation to documentation within photography and a need to collect photographs as souvenirs. the QR code – why use it? Sontag says how we as humans have developed dependence on photography for the sake of the mere ability to experience something that has meaning. Dec 18, 2020 - Explore John Muse's board "Susan Sontag, On Photography, "In Plato's Cave"" on Pinterest. Susan Sontag use the metaphor of Plato’s cave to describe the role of photography as the different lighting from inside the cave and the direct sunlight from outside. 9. User ratings. "—Washington… receipt as an expression of digital and analogue technologies? But being educated by photographs is not like being educated by older, more artisanal images. In her essay, “In Plato’s Cave,” published in 1977, Susan Sontag reflects on photography and looks at the meaning behind taking a photograph. Throughout her essay, Sontag makes important observations based on the broad world of photography. Does it exist outside human judgement? This is my favourite quote from the reading. “a way of certifying experience”Our wedding photograph. 11 - 20 of 500 . In the past we used photography to record our story for reflection, and then share (e.g. Plato Allegory of the Cave ... by Susan Sontag In Regarding the Pain of Others, Susan Sontag asks the reader to think about how our engagement with a photograph affects our understanding of suffering and war. I think Susan Sontag had a very strong need to express her opinions. Susan Sontag’s On Photography: In Plato’s Cave (Reading) Yesterday’s lecture on shadows made reference to Plato’s Cave, which I have now learnt is an allegory by Plato, a philosopher in Classical Greece, that explains how humanity is inclined to mistake ‘sensory knowledge’ for reality, even in the face of contrary evidence. “There is an aggression implicit in every use of the camera.”This picture of my father-in-law taken during the war catches him coping with adult responsibilities and grown up before his time. Why do you think Sontag chose this philosophical allegory to represent her general view of photography? The shadows are the prisoners’ reality. The children have grown up. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ‘Photographs alter and enlarge our notions of what is worth looking at’- we think about what would make a worthy photograph and what catches our eye. On Reading Digitally Yours: The Body in Contemporary Photography, On Reading New Media and Vernacular Photography: Revisiting Flickr, On Reading ‘Atrocity and Action: The Performative Force of the Abu Ghraib Photographs.’, On Reading After Photography by Fred Ritchin, On Roland Barthes’ Four Images of Himself, Response to watching Peter Fraser discuss ‘Mathematics’ ‘Mathematics’ exhibition at Camden Arts Centre, London, On reading ‘Touching Photographs: Roland Barthe’s “Mistaken” Identification’ by Margaret Olin, On reading The Art of the QR Code by Ros Holmes, A lecture on Photographing Tutankhamen’s Tomb. ( Log Out /  But being educated by photographs is not like being educated by older, more artisanal images. Sontag's background in philosophy is evident in this argument, as she uses the philosophical definition of understanding a thing and brings Plato … Books, 1977, pp have changed photography and its development into as an of. 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