In Plato's Cave

Alright, so I'm not really getting why sex has to do with photography other than it is considered voyeurism and that that is a truth to life, and so I just wanted to state that now, even though I will be coming back to it later.

Now, this "In Plato's Cave" by Susan Sontag makes many good points relating to photography and art that I never thought of. That a painting is only life how that person sees it, how the painting is very subjective and opinionated, while a photograph is a document of life itself, an image of truth. How Sontag states that photos are captured experiences on page 466 is true, but not something I ever thought of. I like the way she puts it though. Today, photos are seen all over the web, people can download and send photographs of themselves, friends and family to, well, their friends and family. They can also just post them google for everyone to see. Or the fact that she mentions that photographs are proof that an event or experience actually did occur.

Sontag goes on, (this the whole sex scandal part), about how photography has "become almost as widely practiced an amusement as sex…" on page 469 (it would be on that page), which spreads out throughout the rest of the article. Mentioning that the photographer becomes the "voyeur" while taking the photographs of (what the hell, let's be sexist in this posting) his "subject" where "only he has mastered the situation", pg 471. In this same paragraph, towards the end, photography is voyeurism of all meanings of life. I can see where Sontag is getting at this now….The photographer has to separate himself from the photographed, much like in a play with a cast and audience.

Another well justified point is that photography is an everyday common sort of thing! YAY! Thank you Tom, myspace is a vast improvement on that. So much so that people are realizing the beauty of nature. Finally! It's about time! Continuing, Sontag points out that people are trading in killing animals for photographing them, which makes a lot of sense. Who REALLY wants elephant tusks when they can have a picture of a friend, or complete stranger, standing just near a LIVING one. Not even someone standing next to it. Having a picture of the elephant all on its own great too! I know some people who would pay lots of money for a picture of a living elephant, rather than the elephants tusks.

Which is yet another thing! (I'm almost done I swear…haha) Photographs make a longer lasting impact. Sure they fade, but they can remade and so can their image every time it's thought of. But pictures really do show the reality of what has happened and what is happening, or should I say "just happened" since the image has already been captured? It really does show lots of things no one ever believed or wanted to believe were true.