

“To photograph is to appropriate the thing photographed.”ģ. “Photographs cannot create a moral position, but they can reinforce one-and can help build a nascent one.”Ģ. GradeSaver, 4 February 2019 Web.Top 15 Susan Sontag on Photography Quotesġ. Next Section Character List Previous Section About On Photography How To Cite in MLA Format Anonymous "On Photography Summary". Will review the submission and either publish your submission or provide feedback. You can help us out by revising, improving and updatingĪfter you claim a section you’ll have 24 hours to send in a draft. Because there are so many images widely available to the public of drastic events, people have become immune to them and no longer consider those events to be of urgency. She does admit that this was not the intended use of the camera, but says that the media spreading so many images at once makes people feel less of a need to do something. In conclusion, Sontag wraps up the argument that she believes photography has hurt the country, for the most part.

She also says that Walt Whitman's poetry and essays made America look too much like a perfect society despite the fact that, compared to other countries, it is.

Obviously, this was far from fact, but it was simply used to show that times would get better soon - even though they didn't.Īmong the artists of the 1970's, Sontag criticizes Andy Warhol, who she says dramatized the events of the country. While millions of farmers around the United States were in a state of deep poverty, the Farm Security Administration issued photographs of successful farmers and high crop yields. One of the many examples discussed is propaganda during the Great Depression. She believes that photographs are an important commercial and industrial driver, and often exploit consumers. For the most part, she describes the relationship between photography and capitalism in society. Of course, this modern day was the 1970's, but many of the key elements described in the collection of essays still remain relevant. In On Photography, Susan Sontag discusses what she believes photography does to society in the modern day. Written by people who wish to remain anonymous We are thankful for their contributions and encourage you to make your own. These notes were contributed by members of the GradeSaver community.
