Susan Sontag: On Photography (1977)

THEORY AND READING RESEARCH

SUSAN SONTAG: ON PHOTOGRAPHY (1977)

Sontag, S. (1977) On Photography.

‘Photographs alter and enlarge our notions of what is worth looking  at  and  what  we  have  a  right  to  observe.  They  are  a grammar and, even more importantly, an ethics of seeing.’ (p. 1)

‘Photographs really are experience captured, and the camera is the ideal arm of consciousness in its acquisitive mood.’ (p. 2)
 ‘But despite the presumption of   veracity   that   gives   all   photographs   authority,   interest, seductiveness,  the  work  that  photographers  do  is  no  generic  exception to the usually shady commerce between art and truth. Even  when  photographers  are  most  concerned  with  mirroring reality,  they  are  still  haunted  by  tacit  imperatives  of  taste  and conscience.’ (p. 4).
 ‘In  deciding  how  a  picture  should look, in preferring one exposure to another, photographers are always imposing standards on their subjects. Although there is a sense in which the camera does indeed capture reality, not just interpret  it,  photographs  are  as  much  an  interpretation  of  the world as paintings and drawings are.’ (p. 4).
 

                                                               

Sontag (1977) highlights the ethics of observation  in photographs – what is considered allowed or appropriate to look at according to social norms. In this way a photograph may encourage the viewer to look at the message from a certain ethical viewpoint, in the way the photographer may impose their own morals through their photographs, whether intentional or unintentional.

This can be noted in conjunction with Berger’s theory of observing subjects in art works, reminding us always to be mindful of the photographers’ intentions/ socio-historical influence (Berger, J., 1972).

These quotes can be read with a different tone when bearing in mind the possible relation to my proposed photography theme of challenging gender representations in media and the notion of Scopophilia, giving a new dimension to the descriptive words ‘seductiveness’ and ‘tacit imperatives of taste’. 

Sontag, S. (1977) On Photography. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, pp. 1-19.

Berger, J. (1972) Ways of Seeing. London: Penguin Books. pp. 5-166.

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