Cem/methods session 5 - second synopsis

Susan Sontag - On Photography (Photographic Evangels chapter)

With every photograph that is taken, there is the choice of framing, what is seen and what is not seen in the photograph, the way we see what we see, be it from the angle, its composition in the setting, it always possesses qualities of the view of the photographer with the subject. Therefore, every photograph is unique in its own way, even when the subject is the same. Displaying a scene with a photograph from a camera always brings out an unknown, a hidden part of the reality to surface. Pictures can have more reality in them then real life. It can tell more in terms the qualities of the subject than seeing them in reality. It can be said that a photographer assaults on reality with the camera, tearing a part of it, what was once familiar to us thus becomes defamiliarized. This is connected to the idea that every photograph is a self-portrait in a way, revealing a characteristic of its maker, which is the creative basis of the unfamiliarity. Wıth photography one can produce works of art, even though ıt does not have to be the case all the tıme, just lıke the way words can create bureaucratıc letters or grocery lısts as well as novels and poetry; photography cant be consıdered as an art form but a way to produce art.