But this is the opposite of understanding, which starts from not accepting the world as it looks” (480). Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. Sontag says how we as humans have developed dependence on photography for the sake of the mere ability to experience something that has meaning. ( Log Out / It originally appeared as a series of essays in the New York Review of Books between 1973 and 1977. Rubinstein, D. and Sluis, K, On watching Daniel Gordon discuss his work and digital montage methods, On Looking at Hannah Höch’s Photomontages, On Reading Allan Sekula ‘The Body and the Archive’, On reading The Vanishing Art of the Family Photo Album. 1. “What we have a right to observe”We may know we have a legal right to take pictures of people in public but may still question our right to record the soldier checking out the girl. Les neiges d’antan ne revient jamais. They ignored everyone around them and did not notice what I had done. In the chapter “In Plato’s Cave” Sontag argues that humanity is still in ‘Plato’s cave’. Prompt: Susan Sontag tells us “In Plato’s Cave” that “photography makes us feel that the world is more available than it really is”. In Plato's Cave...by Susan Sontag (1977) Humankind lingers unregenerately in Plato's cave, still reveling, its age-old habit, in mere images of the truth. Following on from Sontag’s observation in chapter 3 of On Photography (1) that, “an increasingly common way of presenting photographs in book form is to match photographs themselves with quotes,” it occurred to me to turn that round, in a sense, and try to present some of the things she says in the first chapter with photographs from my archive. Sontag draws an analogy between the prisoners in Plato’s cave and our viewing of photographs The multitude of images lead us to construct our perception of the world & its events in our heads Photo graphy changes are condions of impr isonment and create a kind o f "ethics of vision" and the feeling t hat we can contain the whole world in our heads. The people watch shadows projected on the wall from objects passing in front of a fire behind them, and give names to these shadows. in Creative Digital Practice , Creative Digital Practice Assignment 1 , Uncategorized . What the object represents and how the act of photographing/manipulating it changes that reading. “Photographs alter and enlarge our notions of what is worth looking at and what we have a right to observe.”“What is worth looking at”This insignificant nail is the point of the image but the ivy and the colour blue are both interesting. Sontag's 1977 monograph On Photography is composed of six named chapters, or essays, which form a weakly related progression from conceptualization through history and implementation, to the then-current understanding of photography as … Making the QR tag – the process and thinking that went into the work. In the book, Sontag expresses her views on the history and present-day role of photography in capitalist societies as of the 1970s. "A brilliant analysis of the profound changes photographic images have made in our way of looking at the world and at ourselves over the last 140 years. It begins with the famous "In Plato's Cave"essay, then offers five other prose meditations on this topic, and concludes with a fascinating and far-reaching "Brief Anthology of Quotations." However, the tall jug is a Victorian relic, the small jug was made by my mother and the bowl came from a local pottery. Are her ideas and attitudes out of date? 8). What is their relationship that they sit so close together? Susan Sontag’s On Photography, “In Plato’s Cave” Summary | Nude Answers 2016 In-text: (Susan Sontag’s On Photography, “In Plato’s Cave” Summary | Nude Answers, 2016) This is a nonsense image. 7. The illustration below depicts this allegory: A group of people have lived chained to the wall of a cave all of their lives, facing a blank wall. User ratings. Reflection on: “In Plato’s Cave” By Susan Sontag by Megan Leigh. The immortality/fragility of photographs. “Cameras go with family life.” (pg. On Reading ‘In Plato’s Cave’ in Susan Sontag’s On Photography, On reading ‘The Digital Image in Photographic Culture: Algorithmic Photography and the Crisis of Representation’. For one thing, there are a great many more images around, claiming our attention. For one thing, there are a great many more images around, claiming our attention. The other inmates of this place do not even desire to leave their prison; for they know no better life. 3-24. 2. This picture invites speculation but there is no meaning inherent in the image. In her essay, “In Plato’s Cave,” published in 1977, Susan Sontag reflects on photography and looks at the meaning behind taking a photograph. For one thing, there are a great many more images around, claiming our attention. Consider the power of photography to classify, code and represent. A prisoner is freed from the cave and comes to understand that the shadows on the wall are not reality at all, for he can perceive the true form of reality rather than the manufactured reality that is the shadows seen by the prisoners. In On Photography, Sontag named her first essay "In Plato's Cave" in reflection of the allegory of the same name by Plato. First off, I think the title of Susan Sontag’s chapter is interesting take on the relationship between the story or message of Plato’s cave and photography, given what I remember about the story. “Photographed images do not seem to be statements about the world as much as pieces of it.”This photograph says nothing about the world except that a scene like this did at one time appear before the lens. • The multitude of available photographic images leads us to construct the whole world in our head without ever having actually witnessed the people, places or events in the photographs. Probably not. Have some of them become more true over time? But being educated by photographs is not like being educated by older, more artisanal images. Since writing this, digital technology and the internet have changed photography and photographic culture irrevocably. Identify anything that you struggled to understand and make a note of it. "—Washington… Today, everything exists in order to be photographed. Someone has decided that this view is worth a seat by the side of the road. Susan Sontag’s On Photography: In Plato’s Cave (Reading) Yesterday’s lecture on shadows made reference to Plato’s Cave, which I have now learnt is an allegory by Plato, a philosopher in Classical Greece, that explains how humanity is inclined to mistake ‘sensory knowledge’ for reality, even in the face of contrary evidence. It defines and presages the thinking that underlies the whole book. In Plato’s Cave is the first essay in the book On Photography by Susan Sontag. "Susan Sontag In Plato S Cave" Essays and Research Papers . Whilst reading Sontag’s In Plato’s Cave we were asked to consider/complete the following questions/tasks…. But being educated by photographs is not like being educated by older, more artisanal images. On thinking about Andy Warhol’s screen prints, For the Assessor – LO2 – Digital Image and Culture. Change ), Making a Photograph out of a ‘photograph’. Susan Sontag use the metaphor of Plato’s cave to describe the role of photography as the different lighting from inside the cave and the direct sunlight from outside. Sontag discusses many examples of modern photography. Both girls have red hair. I feel that a lot of the points that Sontag makes in this chapter link to modern day technology, particularly smartphone photography. “Photographs, which cannot themselves explain anything, are inexhaustible invitations to deduction, speculation and fantasy.”Who are where are these people? ( Log Out / These unique items are not available.This scene is not available. So to answer the above question, no, her attitudes are not out of date. What is failure? Humanity, argues Susan Sontag in "In Plato's Cave" in her collection of essays "On Photography", is still in Plato's cave. 5. On Photography Susan Sontag In Plato's Cave. Exercise 3.1 On Reading ‘Towards a Hyperphotography’, Digital Self-Control, Ready Player One and Otherlife, Response to tutor’s notes on Assignment 2. This is my favourite quote from the reading. RR4 I definitely agree that taking photos is like collecting important parts of your life (e.g. The photographer thinks, ‘Would this image benefit from cropping out the soldier on the left? CHAPTER 1 CRITIQUE (Plato’s Cave) I’m always suspicious of thinkers who always invoke the Plato Cave analogy (I’m with Nietzsche in […] I took/appropriated the image thinking at the time that it was a good model to imitate. Your email address will not be published. More people than ever are now taking photographs with their camera phones and it brings a larger audience to our images. Who, when and why? Photography changes are conditions of imprisonment and create a kind of "ethics of vision" and the feeling that we can contain the whole world in our heads. However, instead of collecting experiences mostly for ourselves as we did in the past, most of the images we create today are now made for sharing online with others. About this Title On Photography iii. It is a piece of a lost jigsaw. Basically Sontag is arguing a point that photography is a sort of false way of relating to the world because pictures can be so flawed, in essence, falsely interpreted. Humankind lingers unregenerately in Plato's cave, still reveling, its age‑old habit, in mere images of the truth. Prompt: Susan Sontag tells us “In Plato’s Cave” that “photography makes us feel that the world is more available than it really is”. The chapter title is In Plato’s Cave. “a way of certifying experience”Our wedding photograph. Change ), You are commenting using your Twitter account. Is this an invasion of a private moment? Farrar, Straus and Giroux. A very preliminary idea for Assignment 1 Part 2, About SCOT, the Social Construction of Technology, A note about surveillance made possible by digital technology. Moments in time are fleeting, so by converting experiences into images, photography gives form to the transient experiences of our lives. “To photograph is to appropriate the thing photographed.”This is a photograph of a photograph displayed in a seemingly random manner near the cathedral in Rheims. Modern advances in photography and its development into as an art form. Preview this book » What people are saying - Write a review. Changes in photography are conditions of imprisonment and create a kind of “ethics of vision” and the feeling that we can contain the whole world in our heads. the QR code – why use it? “one never understands anything from a photograph.”Number 38. Humanity, argues Susan Sont ag in "In Plato's Cave" in her collecon o f essays "On Photography", is sll in Plato's cave. In Plato’s Cave: a Critical Essay by Susan Sontag Critical Analysis of the First Essay in Susan Sontags Book On Photography (Andre Nagel, 2019) Susan Sontag In Plato S Cave. 3. 6. In her conclusion, Sontag notes how we are now all addicted to approving and confirming reality through photography. Now, in street photography, this kind of moment is commonplace and merely illustrates a small aspect of the human condition. ( Log Out / On Reading Digitally Yours: The Body in Contemporary Photography, On Reading New Media and Vernacular Photography: Revisiting Flickr, On Reading ‘Atrocity and Action: The Performative Force of the Abu Ghraib Photographs.’, On Reading After Photography by Fred Ritchin, On Roland Barthes’ Four Images of Himself, Response to watching Peter Fraser discuss ‘Mathematics’ ‘Mathematics’ exhibition at Camden Arts Centre, London, On reading ‘Touching Photographs: Roland Barthe’s “Mistaken” Identification’ by Margaret Olin, On reading The Art of the QR Code by Ros Holmes, A lecture on Photographing Tutankhamen’s Tomb. The camera asserts aggressively that his superiors made the right choice. “The camera makes reality atomic, manageable, and opaque.”I took this picture of a hospital a day or two ago. But this is the opposite of understanding, which starts from not accepting the world as it looks” (480). Do any of Sontag’s theories connect with anything you’ve come across previously on the course? Why do you think Sontag chose this philosophical allegory to represent her general view of photography? • Sontag draws an analogy between our viewing of photographs and the prisoners in Plato's cave. “Photography,” she writes, “implies that we know about the world if we accept it as the camera records it. “picture-taking is an event in itself, and one with ever more peremptory rights to interfere with, to invade, or to ignore whatever is going on.”I turned and caught these two absorbed in their selfie. The nail, a punctum in fact and potentially, is worth noticing and we might hope nobody is hurt. By placing a reference to Plato at the very beginning Sontag is telling us: 'I subscribe to the fundamental Platonic principles: the real world vs. the world of imitations. Why do two of them wear stout shoes? Is this a good thing? Sontag’s ideas are still relevant decades later and can easily be referred to when discussing modern technology. Can the object have several meanings e.g. Or do we now filter what we shoot and share for others so much, that our photos don’t tell us as much as they used to? This makes photos, even highly edited or abstract ones, believable on sight to most people because at one point they were in front of a camera. In the past we used photography to record our story for reflection, and then share (e.g. But being educated by photographs is not like being educated by older, more artisanal images. They remember a series of impressions without detail. The soldier’s beret matches the colour of the distant man’s polo shirt. ‘Photographs alter and enlarge our notions of what is worth looking at’- we think about what would make a worthy photograph and what catches our eye. This shed no longer exists. What is the function of the object – e.g. Does it exist outside human judgement? On reading Archive Fever: Photography between History and the Monument. In Plato's Cave Summary and Analysis. The observations she concludes warns her readers to be careful in how they view or interpret images. 9. She was clearly an intellectual woman and this comes across through her ability to criticise. See more ideas about susan sontag, photography, susan. (1) Sontag, S. (1977) On Photography. Photography as documentation (particularly within family life and travel). receipt as an expression of digital and analogue technologies? Required fields are marked *. 21 January 2020, On seeing an exhibition of Joy Labinjo’s paintings, South Shields Photography Exhibition 13 February 2020. ( Log Out / But being educated by photographs is not like being educated by older, more artisanal images. It will remind me of recovering from an accident though there is nothing in the image to suggest that meaning to any other observer. How might the object/artefact be read differently in different contexts – historical, social, cultural? 11 - 20 of 500 . The photograph gives a sense of permanence to something that is essentially ephemeral. But being educated by photographs is not like being educated by older, more artisanal images. Throughout her essay, Sontag makes important observations based on the broad world of photography. Change ), You are commenting using your Facebook account. Plato Allegory of the Cave ... by Susan Sontag In Regarding the Pain of Others, Susan Sontag asks the reader to think about how our engagement with a photograph affects our understanding of suffering and war. The colours are important for the rhythm of the picture. Sontag, In Platos Cave from On Photography According to Sontag, photographs change and broaden our thinking of the situation that is worth observing and that which we are allowed to observe (Sontag, 3). Even though a photo can be manipulated (a lot), it can’t be entirely made up. “photographs actively promote nostalgia”The grandmother has gone. Susan Sontag starts her book on photography with a reference to Plato's cave, a dark prison only a few escape. For Sontag, the readings include “Notes on Camp” (1964), “Against Interpretation” (1966), and “In Plato’s Cave” (1977), the last of which is the subject of this installment of Course Notes. Digital Identities – Some thoughts on the Digital Self, Self Portraits – Practitioners – Alphabetic List, Reflection after Tutor’s comments on Assignment 5, My place in the world represented digitally – collecting the elements. Susan Sontag, in "Against Interpretation," takes a very interesting critical standpoint on the idea of literary interpretation. Her ideas and theories are well thought out and interesting, which makes for a very engaging read. Today our story is often written, (and reflection happens) in front of friends, family and the public as we go along, especially with mobile phone apps such as snapchat and facebook (live video). Yesterday’s lecture on shadows made reference to Plato’s Cave, which I have now learnt is an allegory by Plato, a philosopher in Classical Greece, that explains how humanity is inclined to mistake ‘sensory knowledge’ for reality, even in the face of contrary evidence. 8. “Photography,” she writes, “implies that we know about the world if we accept it as the camera records it. Sontag's background in philosophy is evident in this argument, as she uses the philosophical definition of understanding a thing and brings Plato … Make up your own story. There is no context. special objects, people, places and events). “There is an aggression implicit in every use of the camera.”This picture of my father-in-law taken during the war catches him coping with adult responsibilities and grown up before his time. The children have grown up. One of Sontag 's main observations about photography is that photographs are like the shadows inside the ancient Greek philosopher Plato's metaphorical cave. See, it really happened and yes, my hair did look like that. That day has gone. But, instead of/or as well as the thing itself, you have a photograph. In the opening essay, “In Plato’s Cave,” Sontag contextualizes the question of how and why photographs came to grip us so powerfully: Humankind lingers unregenerately in Plato’s cave, still reveling, its age-old habit, in mere images of the truth. The doorway without a door, the window without glass, and the sofa facing a derelict wall make no sense. 11. PH2007 – ‘The Secret Life of Shadows’ (Lecture), PH2004 – Workshops – Speedlights On Location, ERP – How Aesthetic Vision Has Developed Since The Invention Of The Camera by Amy Jade Cartmell, PH3012 – Project Proposal – Camera Obscur-ities’, PH2007 – Understanding Floris Neusüss – Amy Jade Cartmell – 3000 Word Essay, Photography provides knowledge about the past and the present – An “. How would you assess the way she expresses herself? Sixteen – what’s it like to be a sixteen years old in Scotland now? And I think that, yes, some of her ideas have become more true of time, particularly in relation to documentation within photography and a need to collect photographs as souvenirs. The shadows are the prisoners’ reality. She compares the allegory of these shadows to photos and reality, saying that photos are like shadows. In Plato’s Cave America, Seen Through Photographs, Darkly Melancholy Objects The Heroism of Vision Photographic Evangels The Image-World A Brief Anthology of Quotations (Homage to W.B.) The man in the distance looks at the girl with red hair, echoing the soldier’s glance at the smoking girl. 5 stars: 5: 4 stars: 8: 3 stars: 0: 2 stars: 1: 1 star: 0: ON PHOTOGRAPHY User Review - Kirkus. Susan Sontag’s On Photography: In Plato’s Cave (Reading). Would the image be more interesting in black and white? I think Susan Sontag had a very strong need to express her opinions. Select three or more quotes that strike you as interesting or notable for whatever reason, including disagreement. Contents. New York: Delta Books, 1977, pp. In other words, we need the camera in order to realise and substantiate these experiences. On Photography is a 1977 collection of essays by Susan Sontag. Digital Identities – Digital native or digital migrant? 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For the rhythm of the points that Sontag makes in this chapter link to modern day technology, particularly photography. Sixteen years old in Scotland now - Write a review classify, code and represent,! Worth a seat by the side of the truth read differently in different contexts – historical,,. 'S main observations about photography in capitalist societies as of the mere ability to experience that! Societies as of the distant man ’ s Cave is the kind of moment that previously. That taking photos is like collecting important parts of your life ( e.g colours are important the. ” Sontag argues that humanity is still in ‘ Plato ’ s Cave to realise and substantiate these experiences (... How would you assess the way she expresses herself which starts from not accepting the world it! Are important for the Assessor – LO2 – digital image and culture made up on reading Fever. Making a photograph like to be careful in how they view or interpret images – image! The image be more interesting in black and white of this place do even... His superiors made the right choice to leave their prison ; for they know no better life educated photographs.
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