Sontag's Discussion on the Increase in Photo Manipulation Essay

Teju Cole, in his essay “Against Neutrality,” dissected the tones behind photography- which he believes are thought of as unbiased towards the subject. The power of words and of photos is crucial to Cole’s essay. He states that images can “make a grim situation palatable” because of the photographer’s craftiness in selection (Cole 1). To anyone who isn’t an experienced photographer these tricks can be hard to see but Cole provides further insight from the historian, John Edwin Mason. Expectantly, Mason sheds light behind the misconception on photography, how the “manipulation in photography isn’t really about Photoshop or darkroom tricks”, but the style, angle and other aspects of taking photos (Cole 1).

While Postman points out the literal meaning of photography is “writing with light”; the two are from completely different universes when it comes to public discourse (p. 71). Unlike typography, photography cannot offer assertions, make propositions and offers no commentary. As long as it is not an altered photograph, it has no choice but to be true (p. 73). Thus, the photograph is only able to capture a moment in time and does not have the ability to comment on that moment. Our author contends, where language presents the world as an idea, the photographs only option is to show the world as an object (p. 72). Whereas in language, the correct context requires consideration of what is said before and after, in photography there is no before and after, only the snapshot of time. Therefore, by its very nature photography is context-free (p. 73). As photography immersed itself in the American culture author, Daniel Boorstin called this “the graphic revolution.” Postman is unequivocal on the point that the traditional forms of information, news, and even reality itself received an impairment by this new focus on images. For examples, he cites billboards, posters and advertisements. He points to magazines Life, Look and several newspapers. The picture was the focal point, and the writing was forced to take a less dominate roll and sometimes done away with altogether (p.

When was the last time you looked at a photograph and actually thought to yourself “Wow! I actually fully understand the image I am currently viewing.”? If you haven’t ever done that before then you are with 99.99% of the population. However, if one views a well-crafted and carefully planned photograph they will actually honestly understand it. I qualify Susan Sontag’s claim that “All possibility of understanding is rooted in the ability to say no. Strictly speaking, it is doubtful that a photograph can help us to understand anything” due to conflicting reasons. On one level, Sontag is correct because when people view an image they look at it in an extremely basic and simple way without looking at it from a different perspective. Most viewers wouldn’t be able to see the real reason the photographer has shot the photo. It would be the literary equivalent of someone reading “The Allegory of the Cave” literally like a story about prisoners in cave staring at shadows instead of looking at the true meaning of the analogy. Despite this, Sontag can be

“Photography can never grow up if it imitates some other medium. It has to walk alone; it has to be itself.” – Berenice Abbott.

Christine Rosen, author of “The Image Culture”, talks about the way the human culture is changing because the world is now in an era dominated by the image. Another author that believes the image culture is tearing apart society is Torie DeGhett, who is a famous journalist who writes for the Atlantic. Christine Rosen is successful in her argument about image culture by successfully showing how technology, such as Photoshop, affects images, and by using examples of war and natural disasters to persuade her readers into realizing the dangers of the image and the “destruction” to come. Torie DeGhett is successful in her argument about visual culture by successfully using pictures of war and using examples from editorials in newspapers that didn’t print Jarecke’s photo to get readers to realize the modern fixation of the image and the long term dangers of visual exposure. DeGhett supports Rosen’s point that everyone has the power to create, distort, and transmit images which evidently alters people’s understandings and acceptance of what they see questionable by backing up Rosen’s views on the topic of

The technological innovation of a camera allows people to mentally travel back in time. Photography has the magical ability to capture unique experiences and atmosphere. Writers such as Susan Sontag explore the idea of photography as a mode of documentation that allows for different interpretations. The gelatin silver print, Pleasures and Terrors of Levitation, by Aaron Siskin expands on the idea of photography being more than just a copy of the original, but a documentation that manipulates the emotional importance. In Pleasures and Terrors of Levitation, Aaron Siskind captures the elegance of fear through the subject, composition and quality of light.

Each individual will analyze the same image in different ways based on their past experiences. The manipulation of the image allows each individual to come up with their own unique meaning of an image and relate it to their own experiences in life. Images can be manipulated and photoshopped in a way where it can mean what an individual wants it to mean. We are in an era where manipulation of the images

invisible") and how current visual culture redefines our vision of the unconscious. The appeal to

In the present world today many people look at a picture and feel as if they have gotten the whole meaning or reason behind it. Observing and understanding a photo are two complete opposite ideas. Understanding a photo can be problematic due to the fact that multiple people can look at it and create their own understanding of the picture itself and the meaning behind it all. In the essay On Photography the author, Susan Sontag, clearly states that fully understanding a photo is nearly impossible for anyone to do. For most of her argument I support Sontag on her argument towards photographs, but there are some ideas she has that I can disagree with.

The false looks created by photoshop are a daily occurrence in the common peoples’ lives through multiple media outlets such as magazines, entertainment tv, and advertisements with headlines that center around the idea of “shedding weight quickly” or “the ideal beauty of the year.” Photoshop is not just a celebrity problem it as an epidemic in all photography, newly engaged couples, or seniors about to graduate all take pictures that usually have some sort photoshop. If they are out in public, photo editors will still distort their bodies into something completely unrealistic whether they look better, or worse it is all about money. Photo editors will make a girl from a size seven to a size zero, or give them a whole new skin tone we have never seen before. The crazy amounts of photoshop drive people to extreme diets, or in more dire situation severe depression, or even death. Many celebrities have taken to their

In “Why We Take Pictures,” Susan Sontag discusses the increase use of technology and its ability to impact the daily lives of mankind. Taking pictures is a form of self-evolution that slowly begins to shape past and present experiences into reality. Sontag argues how the use of photography is capable of surpassing our reality by helping us understand the concept of emotion, diversity, and by alleviating anxiety and becoming empowered. Moreover, according to her argument, people are able to construct a bond between the positive or negative moments in life to cognitively release stress through reminiscing. Therefore, Sontag claims that photography itself can help with reshaping individual’s perspectives of reality by being able to empathize with the emotions portrayed through an image. Thus, giving

Between the use of film or digital photography, film is the more effective method when looking for originality and creativity. With the adoption of digital photography, the younger generations, as well as the older and more current photographers are becoming lazy. These groups must recognize that the art of the photograph is being jeopardized by the digital camera and the camera phone. For the current photographers as well as amateur photographers, this essay will serve as testimony to film as well as other chemical methods, and how they shouldn’t be ignored, but preferred. The digital era has had a massive impact on the art world and all of its mediums, but for photography this impact has resulted in the removal of the human from the photograph making process. This intimate process is what makes it an art form. All of films imperfections and unique qualities, as well as its monetary value and scarcity are just a few factors that have made it so precious. To replace this entire process with a microchip is offensive and undermines the importance of the process that is needed to make a photograph. Anyone can take a picture but you must make a photograph, and this skill is being simplified to a digital camera. The impact of the digital era on photography has hindered the process of making a photograph; painting the art form obsolete in today’s society.

In the last decade computer technology has been introduced to photography yet again challenging the meaning

It has changed the way the world communicates. The world used to communicate with just words. Words on a piece of paper called news. Then, when the camera was introduced, communication faced a new level of intelligence. Pictures of tragedies, to new inventions were posted with news papers, which gave the world a new perspective. The present makes the history of photography look like nothing. The world can communicate over live video, with a click of a button, to watch the latest sports highlights. Cameras have grown to be a big priority to many people, because photography can be a job. People make a lot of money traveling the world, and taking pictures. Today photography has become a global cacophony of freeze-frames. Millions of pictures are uploaded every minute. Correspondingly, everyone is a subject, and knows it any day now we will be adding the unguarded moment to the endangered species list"

Susan Sontag said photographs sends across the harmlessness and helplessness of the human life steering into their own ruin. Furthermore the bond connecting photography with departure from life tortures the human race. (Sontag 1977:64)