Caitlin Giglio
February 11, 2011
English Composition: Photography
Friday Paper 2
When I look at works of photography I see life. What I mean when I say this is that from my experience taking photos I’ve realized that it is easy to stand behind the camera and lose one’s self for awhile. It’s very simple to do. I don’t have to be a professional photographer to pick up a camera and capture an image. This is one of the points that Susan Sontag makes in her passage, “In Plato’s Cave”. In a way photography can be classified as an open door to a world where a picture is more important than the real thing. Where a person can spend more time photographing an object rather than admiring or absorbing the beauty of the object itself.
Susan Sontag talks about how people around the world who have cameras use them all the time. For family events, for vacations, for celebrations, for graduations and etc. Cameras are used non-stop all the time. She explains that if parents don’t take pictures of their children while they are growing up then that’s not good parenting. This is one of the reasons photography as become so much a part of the world’s daily routine. It’s a way of life and sometimes people can take that too far. What I mean when I say this is that people hide themselves behind the camera and take pictures of everything. No matter what it is they take a photo of it. For example, when a family is on vacation at say the Grand Canyon, you’d think that they would be excited to see all the sites and the beautiful landscape. Yet, in this example everyone has a camera that they brought with them. Instead of taking one picture and then taking the time to really enjoy the view, the family takes thousands of pictures and then leaves without ever looking at the Canyon itself. Although this is a very extreme example, this happens all the time around the world.
Even though photography is the art of capturing a moment and being able to carry it with you where ever you please, many people go overboard. They spend their entire lives behind a camera and they don’t really see the world and how beautiful it can be. Photography is a form of collecting the world, as Sontag writes. Yet, unless we take the time to look around us without a camera in front of our faces we will never really be able to capture the beauty of the world in its fullness.
I feel that this concept can be related to Eggleston’s work also. In William Eggleston’s photography there is a very casually posed theme to a lot of his pictures. Almost like he arranged the picture the way he wanted it to look but then he said to “look casual”. Instead of just capturing the world as it was in real life, it’s like Eggleston changed it so his photography could be exactly how he would want it. There is nothing wrong with this and many photographers do this every day. They rearrange real life as it is to make it more interesting or more meaningful then it was in the first place. Instead of seeing the beauty in the original way, photographers like Eggleston, may not see the beauty in the real thing because they are too busy rearranging and hiding behind the camera. They miss out on the natural essence and wonder of the world.
Susan Sontag writes about photography as a way of life, while Eggleston takes photographs of life. They both understand the true meaning of photography in their own ways. With Sontag, she sees photography as a routine and that anyone can pick up a camera and take a photo. Eggleston understands that sometimes it’s good to rearrange real life to make it interesting. To show the beauty in a way that the photographer can understand along with anyone who views his work. It’s easy to get lost behind the camera; in Eggleston’s case it has allowed him to become a world renowned photographer.
I feel like this picture represents what I was talking about in my essay. As you can see I’m behind my camera and you can’t see my face. This is because I wanted to hide behind my camera to make a point. Some people live behind their cameras and they never really appreciate the real life beauty of the world around them. Some people view everything from a camera lens and they feel that if they capture life as a picture then they will know life. I disagree with this lifestyle. Although I love photography and I’d like to become a professional photographer, I don’t live behind my camera. I know that if I want to be a good photographer I have to be able to see the beauty in the world for myself to really be able to capture it through a camera.
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