Photography: Sontag's Perception of Photography

Photography is an art that requires creativity to create a lasting impression that communicates to the recipients. At the age of seven years, I would ask for photo albums from my parents and take a significant time viewing them and imagining the science behind every photo. My interest in photography considerably increased at the age of ten when I would cut pleasant and well-decorated pictures from popular magazines and hang them around my room. My mother noticed my interest in photography and surprised me with a black Nikon camera during my twelfth birthday. The two types of photos I like taking since my childhood are landscape and fashion photography. The beauty and the quick sale of landscape and fashion pictures during invents influenced me to like them. The other type of photographs I like viewing is wildlife photographs. The enhanced beauty and uniqueness of wildlife photographs are unmatched. The reflection of reality in photos and their penetration into global cultures disclose and ascertain people's biasness in their apprehension of reality.Biasness in Comprehension of Photographs

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People's understanding of reality concerning photographs varies depending on their focus of viewership. On one side, Susan Sontag states that "photographing individuals is violating them." She further adds that "photography turns individuals into objects which may be symbolically be possessed" (Sontag 4). Sontag views photography as an inferior field that primarily focuses on violating people (Sontag 5). While for photography lovers; photography is an inexorable reality version that has a more profound message it intends to send. Sontag reviews photography as an industry, an activity, and a tool that imposes the way of seeing, therefore, altering reality. The perception of individuals varies depending on the information and mentality of people towards photography. Photography can beautify a sad image to pass a tragic message. At times it turns out that the photographs of intense suffering, pictures of poverty struck areas, and neglected hungry children end up being the most beautiful. On some of the photos, the colorful clothing, handsome, and charming faces of the young boys and girls rarely bear the truth of the pain a photographer intends to pass to the recipients. The beautiful faces may also send information which was totally out of the photographer's imagination. Recipients of the photographs are appealed by the beauty of the photo, therefore likely to overlook the message of intense suffering the children on the picture are going through. In taking a photograph, it is crucial to appropriate the object that is being photographed (Sontag 4). An individual who has not been on the scene may interpret a picture very differently. Some of the images that intend to show suffering are beautified until the beauty of the photograph outclasses the message. Sad views can also be beautiful. The perception of people on pictures varies depending on their comprehension of reality.

Visibility of Photographs Through Eyes and the Soul

The perception of a photograph comprises of the eye which sees the object and the soul, which sees beyond the beauty of the picture. In her thought-provoking essays, Sontag states that "photographers are primarily haunted with imperatives of conscience and taste rather than mirroring the reality of the object being photographed" (Sontag 6). The public always appreciates the beauty of the photograph. Only a few individuals go beyond the sight of seeing the attraction to incorporate the soul into feeling the message a photographer intended to send through the beautiful photograph. The environment a photograph is taken from also determines ins reception by the users. The current generation will always seek beautiful spots and buildings to take pictures from therefore attracting the users. Recipients of data focus more on the pictorial appearance rather than the non-verbal information that the whole picture intends to communicate. Sontag further states that "photographs furnish evidence" (Sontag 5). Many times, I have presented a variety of pictures to the recipients, and their responses varied. Each individual had a unique interpretation of the photograph and the message that was intended. The majority of people judge a photo from the appearance. The attractiveness of the picture determines the person's willingness to keep or dispose of. People discover the message on the photograph only when they are ready to receive it. The biasness in the comprehension of reality compels photographers their photographing art of producing the most attractive pictures for the recipients (Sontag 6). The focus on beauty will likely alter the intended message that the photographer wants to pass across to the general public. The primary aim of the photographers is to satisfy when taking photographs is the mind and soul, while the recipients focus on the eyesight, therefore, value beauty rather than the message.

Conclusion

The concentration by the recipients of pictures on the beauty of photographs ultimately influences their reflection of the exact message the photographers intended to communicate using the picture. The focus on how beautiful a picture is has led to pictures that intend to pass the image of suffering and poverty among developing countries be referred to as cute. The photographs are hung in public places to display the beautiful, but very few individuals surpass the beauty to see the message. The reality the photos intend to communicate is exceeded by the beauty that people see.

Work Cited

Sontag, Susan. On photography. Macmillan, vol. 48, no 2, 2001, pp 3-24. Accessed from http://writing.upenn.edu/library/Sontag-Susan-Photography.pdf