Every living being on earth today was born into a world where their lives could be remembered forever through pictures. The invention and development of the camera has drastically changed our everyday lifestyle, as well as the way we remember it. People now choose to carry their cameras wherever they go, whether it is in a purse or even a pocket, all because taking pictures has become a necessary part of their lives. Susan Sontag’s essay On Photography analyses how cameras became so important and what they mean to us today. Reading Sontag’s essay reminded me of how important photography is in our lives.
It has become a common saying that “A picture is worth a thousand words”. Otherwise stated, a good picture of something can portray the same message and create the same feelings as a thousand-word essay of that same something. With one shot of the camera, a photographer can reach out to his audience and make the same impression on them as a world-class writer could. This is because we as humans generally prefer using our basic sense of sight to “speak” to our brain and tell it what to think rather than take the time to read and analyze and essay. We enjoy looking at appealing photographs that trigger memories or feelings rather than studying a page full of words and decoding a sometimes hidden message. For this reason, the act of taking pictures has become just as important as writing. History was once only recorded through formal writing and verbal tongue. With the invention of the camera, we can now see the events before our eyes as well as read in detail about what happened and listen to insight and opinion that has been passed down. Pictures allow us to actually see the setting and people involved, eliminating guesswork or false images we assume when thinking of the event. By combining all these resources, we can almost get the feeling that we were once present at that particular moment, even if it was hundreds of years before our time. Furthermore, we have become so accustomed to seeing pictures with text, that we will sometimes even choose not to read something because it has no pictures, or choose to read another source with pictures instead. For these reasons, pictures have arguably become more important that words.
The importance of taking pictures has only grown since its invention in 1839, however Sontag also states that “Photography is essentially an act of non-intervention” (Sontag 11). After reading this statement, I was immediately reminded of a time when I participated in the planning of my eighth-grade graduation slideshow. One of my friend’s duties was to take pictures at an event, and make a slideshow to hand out to the class. His goal was to take as many pictures as he could in order to ensure that nobody was left out of the slideshow. He took hundreds of pictures and after showing me the slideshow to be sure he did not forget anyone, I noticed that he was not in a single picture. We laughed and joked about how foolish he was, however it only proves Sontag’s point that taking pictures means you are not participating in the actual event. You are only there to recording history, not interacting with others. Because my friend understood the importance of both the pictures themselves as well as including everyone else in them, he spent all his time finding others, totally forgetting to include himself as a part of “everybody”.
Like my friend in eight-grade, we have all come to understand the importance of having pictures in our lives. “The inventory (of pictures) started in 1839 and since then just about everything has been photographed” (Sontag 3). Whether the event is as big as a presidential inauguration or as small as a family trip to the beach, one of our favorite ways to remember that event is through pictures. We find looking at pictures much more enjoyable than reading an essay, and for that reason, seeing a picture can give us the same feeling of remembrance as a verbal story or written article. Everyone living today views photography as second nature, and an important event sometimes doesn’t seem right without a camera. Events and the memories people have will eventually die, but a picture can make them last forever.
2 comments:
It is no doubt that our culture revolves around pictures. The bad thing about pictures, expressed in the piece, is that whatever we see in the photograph is the image our mind takes for what is in the photo. I think your response addressed this writing piece very well in that sense, taking into consideration of what photography has meant to the world. You have good organization, and the writing flows very nicely. Overall, great response.
I believe that photography is very important in our world today. It reminds people of a good time they had and it is very special to them. I'm not a camera person but i know that when i do look at picture i like to see how much i grown and how different i am now then when i was in the picture.
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