https://blackboard.uwe.ac.uk/bbcswebdav/pid-4426593-dt-content-rid-6196103_5/library/eReserves/UA1APQ-15-1_15sep_1/On%20photography.pdf
IN PLATO'S CAVE
The main questions that were asked in this extract were:
- What makes photography an art?
- What makes photography a hobby?
Using photography as a hobby would mean you know a little about it and you enjoy it, but you don't pursue it full time. Amateur's associate photography as their hobby if they take their camera to weddings, birthdays, sunny days to the beach etc. Preserving a family moment and placing this in your family album including holiday photographs which are of good quality.
However making photography an art takes patience, using analogue cameras and playing around with how they're processed in the dark room. Not using the Auto button on a DSLR but using the manual setting to adjust according to lighting, weather and the subject. Taking time to focus on what you're taking a photograph of and finding a connection between yourself and the subject. Rather than snapping to capture a moment to stick in a frame on the mantlepiece. The professional photographer pursues this art everyday, working in different aspects such as analogue and digital. Both branching out into processing, dark rooms, editing software, technical equipment to improve quality and so on. All these things are considered by professional photographers but perhaps not by people who use photography as a hobby. Therefore making it an art as more thought and care goes into it.
''Sontag argues
that tourists feel insecure and use photography to take possession of their new
spaces (just as they photograph to take possession of their past). The photographs
become proof both of the visit and the pleasure''
This quote explains how society uses photography to connect, whether that be towards their family back home while they're visiting a new country and so they send off tourist images 'as proof of the visit and the pleasure' to connect their excitement with people back home to experience too. Or perhaps taking images in places you've never been to before as it allows you to gain a connection with that city/place that you didn't have before. As tourists feel uncomfortable with their new surroundings, photography allows them to connect and feel comfortable once they own those images they can possess.
It was also mentioned how photography is so easy to possess in this generation, back 50 years ago it was hard for someone to even get hold of a camera and film, let alone shoot with it and learn the dynamics of using a camera. In modern day, almost everyone owns a smartphone which has a camera built into it and images can be instantly posted on to social media sites or even physically printed out. Photography was more cherished 50 years ago as it wasn't so popular, being able to own photographs of places or people that have long passed enables you to keep that connection to the memory. However it has become desensitized as it is something that is used every second of the day to document holidays, events, places etc. Which is interpreted to be a positive or negative thing to different people. I personally admire how photography was used in the past and how we can carry it on through analogue processing but add a modern twist to it. However I also love how easily accessible photography is now, being able to use a variety of cameras from instant polaroids to full blown DSLR wide angle, macro lens cameras which produce amazing imagery. It has been put to so much good use on TV shows such as BBC's 'Life' and 'The Hunt' narrated by David Attenborough which displays tremendously talented film work and patience.
In conclusion, I am intrigued on the development of photography and how it is getting more advanced and wonder what will be next for the use of photography.
This quote explains how society uses photography to connect, whether that be towards their family back home while they're visiting a new country and so they send off tourist images 'as proof of the visit and the pleasure' to connect their excitement with people back home to experience too. Or perhaps taking images in places you've never been to before as it allows you to gain a connection with that city/place that you didn't have before. As tourists feel uncomfortable with their new surroundings, photography allows them to connect and feel comfortable once they own those images they can possess.
It was also mentioned how photography is so easy to possess in this generation, back 50 years ago it was hard for someone to even get hold of a camera and film, let alone shoot with it and learn the dynamics of using a camera. In modern day, almost everyone owns a smartphone which has a camera built into it and images can be instantly posted on to social media sites or even physically printed out. Photography was more cherished 50 years ago as it wasn't so popular, being able to own photographs of places or people that have long passed enables you to keep that connection to the memory. However it has become desensitized as it is something that is used every second of the day to document holidays, events, places etc. Which is interpreted to be a positive or negative thing to different people. I personally admire how photography was used in the past and how we can carry it on through analogue processing but add a modern twist to it. However I also love how easily accessible photography is now, being able to use a variety of cameras from instant polaroids to full blown DSLR wide angle, macro lens cameras which produce amazing imagery. It has been put to so much good use on TV shows such as BBC's 'Life' and 'The Hunt' narrated by David Attenborough which displays tremendously talented film work and patience.
In conclusion, I am intrigued on the development of photography and how it is getting more advanced and wonder what will be next for the use of photography.
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