On Photography
By Susan Sontag (1977)
Any serious discussion about photography will reference, either knowingly or unknowingly, Susan Sontag’s 1977 collection of essays On Photography.
There is so much to digest within this body of work. Three key themes that intertwine are: beauty, expression, and reality. These themes, to me, were the most interesting.
“Nobody ever discovered ugliness through photographs. But many, through photographs, have discovered beauty… What moves people to take photographs is finding something beautiful. (The name under which Fox Talbot patented the photograph in 1841 was the calotype: from kalos, beautiful.) Nobody exclaims, “Isn’t that ugly! I must take a photograph of it.” Even if someone did say that, all it would mean is: “I find that ugly thing… beautiful.”
Do we deliberately take photos of something because it is ugly? Sontag argues that instead, if we are taking a photo of something deemed ugly, it is because we have found at least a sliver of beauty within it. And as such, does the mere action of photographing something eliminate the ugliness?
This leads to expression. The act of photographing is a physical expression of how we feel about something. The form of documentation and artistic expression of something in itself is a statement of expression - in whatever manner the artist intends.
Expression is a double-edged sword, however. Photography, Sontag argues, fosters a voyeuristic relationship with reality. Whilst we can express adoration for physical reality by photographing it, we can, in turn, make reality bland.
“Images anesthetize. An event known through photographs certainly becomes more real than it would have been if one had never seen the photographs ... But after repeated exposure to images it also becomes less real. ... 'concerned' photography has done at least as much to deaden conscience as to arouse it.”
Through photography, we experience a beautified version of reality - much like social media. Because of this, the reality we experience can be disappointing. Sontag provides minimal advice for how to combat the stripping of reality; in a post-modern context, too, the notion of simply consuming less images seems an impossible one.
On Photography received criticism for lacking academic roots, and for not delving deeper into its own arguments. Sontag refuted these claims with her follow-up Regarding the Pain of Others (2003). In this work, she delves deeper into the role of photography in war, and the extent to which photographs can influence understanding of traumatic events.
Regardless of the criticisms On Photography received, for anyone interested in the craft - both professionally and recreationally - it makes for a curious read.