The soldier’s beret matches the colour of the distant man’s polo shirt. On Photography is a 1977 collection of essays by Susan Sontag. Do any of Sontag’s theories connect with anything you’ve come across previously on the course? 1. Humankind lingers unregenerately in Plato's cave, still reveling, its age-old habit, in mere images of the truth. What is failure? In Plato's Cave Summary and Analysis. • Sontag draws an analogy between our viewing of photographs and the prisoners in Plato's cave. 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) The photographer thinks, ‘Would this image benefit from cropping out the soldier on the left? 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. Reflection on: “In Plato’s Cave” By Susan Sontag by Megan Leigh. It’s a lot easier to collect, carry and share things this way and – linking this idea to modern technology – mobile phones are now the most frequently used cameras on the planet. As you read, make a list of the range of themes, issues and ideas raised in the text. 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 … Since writing this, digital technology and the internet have changed photography and photographic culture irrevocably. How would you assess the way she expresses herself? But being educated by photographs is not like being educated by older, more artisanal images. 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) For one thing, there are a great many more images around, claiming our attention. Susan Sontag In Plato S Cave. This is a nonsense image. I took/appropriated the image thinking at the time that it was a good model to imitate. 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. Select three or more quotes that strike you as interesting or notable for whatever reason, including disagreement. 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’. But being educated by photographs is not like being educated by older, more artisanal images. Change ), You are commenting using your Facebook account. Modern advances in photography and its development into as an art form. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. 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. Can the object have several meanings e.g. On Photography Susan Sontag In Plato's Cave. It will remind me of recovering from an accident though there is nothing in the image to suggest that meaning to any other observer. Prompt: Susan Sontag tells us “In Plato’s Cave” that “photography makes us feel that the world is more available than it really is”. That day has gone. They remember a series of impressions without detail. Someone has decided that this view is worth a seat by the side of the road. Both girls have red hair. The people watch shadows projected on the wall from objects passing in front of a fire behind them, and give names to these shadows. Your email address will not be published. “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. What is their relationship that they sit so close together? But, instead of/or as well as the thing itself, you have a photograph. It is a piece of a lost jigsaw. But being educated by photographs is not like being educated by older, more artisanal images. Humankind lingers unregenerately in Plato's cave, still reveling, its age‑old habit, in mere images of the truth. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. special objects, people, places and events). Contents. See more ideas about susan sontag, photography, susan. About this Title On Photography iii. 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. "Susan Sontag In Plato S Cave" Essays and Research Papers . See, it really happened and yes, my hair did look like that. 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). In On Photography, Sontag named her first essay "In Plato's Cave" in reflection of the allegory of the same name by Plato. For one thing, there are a great many more images around, claiming our attention. Exercise 3.1 On Reading ‘Towards a Hyperphotography’, Digital Self-Control, Ready Player One and Otherlife, Response to tutor’s notes on Assignment 2. Photography as documentation (particularly within family life and travel). The point of the metaphor of the cave is that people sit inside the cave and watch shadows being reflected against a wall, and are transfixed by these moving images… “photography makes us feel that the world is more available than it really is.”We understand pottery and, if so inclined, anyone could recreate this image. 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. New York. Les neiges d’antan ne revient jamais. There is no context. Preview this book » What people are saying - Write a review. Now, in street photography, this kind of moment is commonplace and merely illustrates a small aspect of the human condition. The shadows are the prisoners’ reality. In Plato’s Cave is the first essay in the book On Photography by Susan Sontag. 5. 2. 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… 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. Identify anything that you struggled to understand and make a note of it. Her ideas and theories are well thought out and interesting, which makes for a very engaging read. ( Log Out /  The immortality/fragility of photographs. What is the function of the object – e.g. Change ), Making a Photograph out of a ‘photograph’. “The camera makes reality atomic, manageable, and opaque.”I took this picture of a hospital a day or two ago. Susan Sontag, in "Against Interpretation," takes a very interesting critical standpoint on the idea of literary interpretation. Make up your own story. Prompt: Susan Sontag tells us “In Plato’s Cave” that “photography makes us feel that the world is more available than it really is”. On thinking about Andy Warhol’s screen prints, For the Assessor – LO2 – Digital Image and Culture. The camera asserts aggressively that his superiors made the right choice. Does it exist outside human judgement? This picture invites speculation but there is no meaning inherent in the image. 10. New York: Delta Books, 1977, pp. The chapter title is In Plato’s Cave. She compares the allegory of these shadows to photos and reality, saying that photos are like shadows. 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? ( 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 nail, a punctum in fact and potentially, is worth noticing and we might hope nobody is hurt. Susan Sontag’s “On Photography” is one of the worst texts you can ever assign to an aspiring photographer, photography student, photography beginner, or lover of photography. ‘In Plato’s Cave’, published in 1977 in ‘On Photography’ is particularly prescient as Sontag wrote it more than three decades before the age of social media photography – the ultimate attempt to control, frame, and package our idealised lives. 5 stars: 5: 4 stars: 8: 3 stars: 0: 2 stars: 1: 1 star: 0: ON PHOTOGRAPHY User Review - Kirkus. Susan Sontag’s famous critique of photography entitled “In Plato’s Cave” starts with an analogy drawn from ancient Greek Philosophy. They ignored everyone around them and did not notice what I had done. How might the object/artefact be read differently in different contexts – historical, social, cultural? 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. 11. photo albums, in photo frames etc.) The chapter ‘In Plato’s Cave’ from Sontag’s ‘On Photography’ available to read here >>> In Plato’s Cave, Your email address will not be published. (1) Sontag, S. (1977) On Photography. “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. CHAPTER 1 CRITIQUE (Plato’s Cave) I’m always suspicious of thinkers who always invoke the Plato Cave analogy (I’m with Nietzsche in […] 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. Even though a photo can be manipulated (a lot), it can’t be entirely made up. 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. The observations she concludes warns her readers to be careful in how they view or interpret images. 6. 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. ( Log Out /  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. The colours are important for the rhythm of the picture. I definitely agree that taking photos is like collecting important parts of your life (e.g. In the essay, she compares photography to the word of Mallarme that everything in the world exists in order to end in a book; in the same way, “Today everything exists to end in a photograph” (Sontag 19). But being educated by photographs is not like being educated by older, more artisanal images. These unique items are not available.This scene is not available. The doorway without a door, the window without glass, and the sofa facing a derelict wall make no sense. For one thing, there are a great many more images around, claiming our attention. 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. Photo graphy changes are condions 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. Dec 18, 2020 - Explore John Muse's board "Susan Sontag, On Photography, "In Plato's Cave"" on Pinterest. 3-24. 7. 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. “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. In her conclusion, Sontag notes how we are now all addicted to approving and confirming reality through photography. Digital Identities – Digital native or digital migrant? “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. “a way of certifying experience”Our wedding photograph. Today, everything exists in order to be photographed. 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. 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). It defines and presages the thinking that underlies the whole book. In the book, Sontag expresses her views on the history and present-day role of photography in capitalist societies as of the 1970s. 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. I also wanted to explore the idea that what she says about photography in general could apply to particular photographs. 9. “one never understands anything from a photograph.”Number 38. I feel that a lot of the points that Sontag makes in this chapter link to modern day technology, particularly smartphone photography. One of Sontag 's main observations about photography is that photographs are like the shadows inside the ancient Greek philosopher Plato's metaphorical cave. 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. The other inmates of this place do not even desire to leave their prison; for they know no better life. “photographs actively promote nostalgia”The grandmother has gone. “Photography,” she writes, “implies that we know about the world if we accept it as the camera records it. But this is the opposite of understanding, which starts from not accepting the world as it looks” (480). the QR code – why use it? Susan Sontag, In Plato’s Cave from the book: On Photography Humankind lingers unregenerately in Plato's Cave, still reveling, its age-old habit, in mere images of the truth. 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. My critique: I think Susan Sontag hates photography. In the past we used photography to record our story for reflection, and then share (e.g. 4. More people than ever are now taking photographs with their camera phones and it brings a larger audience to our images. “Photographs, which cannot themselves explain anything, are inexhaustible invitations to deduction, speculation and fantasy.”Who are where are these people? Why do you think Sontag chose this philosophical allegory to represent her general view of photography? What the object represents and how the act of photographing/manipulating it changes that reading. Sontag's background in philosophy is evident in this argument, as she uses the philosophical definition of understanding a thing and brings Plato … But this is the opposite of understanding, which starts from not accepting the world as it looks” (480). The children have grown up. Probably not. This is my favourite quote from the reading. Humanity, argues Susan Sont ag in "In Plato's Cave" in her collecon o f essays "On Photography", is sll in Plato's cave. For the photographer, these elements, caught on the spur of the moment, pushed any scruples right out of his mind. On reading Archive Fever: Photography between History and the Monument. Sixteen – what’s it like to be a sixteen years old in Scotland now? Is this a good thing? "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. 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 11 - 20 of 500 . Throughout her essay, Sontag makes important observations based on the broad world of photography. 21 January 2020, On seeing an exhibition of Joy Labinjo’s paintings, South Shields Photography Exhibition 13 February 2020. I think Susan Sontag had a very strong need to express her opinions. Is this an invasion of a private moment? receipt as an expression of digital and analogue technologies? In other words, we need the camera in order to realise and substantiate these experiences. ( Log Out /  Sontag discusses many examples of modern photography. “Cameras go with family life.” (pg. Unlike most literary critics, Sontag believes that literary criticism is growing increasingly destructive towards the very works of art that they, supposedly, so greatly "appreciate" and "respect." She was clearly an intellectual woman and this comes across through her ability to criticise. • 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. Susan Sontag starts her book on photography with a reference to Plato's cave, a dark prison only a few escape. However, the tall jug is a Victorian relic, the small jug was made by my mother and the bowl came from a local pottery. "—Washington… 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 photograph gives a sense of permanence to something that is essentially ephemeral. 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. Sontag’s ideas are still relevant decades later and can easily be referred to when discussing modern technology. Sontag says how we as humans have developed dependence on photography for the sake of the mere ability to experience something that has meaning. This is the kind of moment that was previously only caught in works of art. 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. This shed no longer exists. Are her ideas and attitudes out of date? What is the difference between an archive and a typology in photography? User ratings. “Photography,” she writes, “implies that we know about the world if we accept it as the camera records it. ‘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. Have some of them become more true over time? So to answer the above question, no, her attitudes are not out of date. Whilst reading Sontag’s In Plato’s Cave we were asked to consider/complete the following questions/tasks…. 8. Would the image be more interesting in black and white? Consider the power of photography to classify, code and represent. RR4 In the chapter “In Plato’s Cave” Sontag argues that humanity is still in ‘Plato’s cave’. 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.) But being educated by photographs is not like being educated by older, more artisanal images. The man in the distance looks at the girl with red hair, echoing the soldier’s glance at the smoking girl. Why do two of them wear stout shoes? Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com. Susan Sontag’s On Photography: In Plato’s Cave (Reading). 3. This is not accidental. Required fields are marked *. in Creative Digital Practice , Creative Digital Practice Assignment 1 , Uncategorized . Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. In Plato's Cave Susan Sontag from On Photography. “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. Who, when and why? Moments in time are fleeting, so by converting experiences into images, photography gives form to the transient experiences of our lives. Making the QR tag – the process and thinking that went into the work. Change ), You are commenting using your Twitter account. “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. 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 “. The depth of its meaning is opaque to anyone but me. Humanity, argues Susan Sontag in "In Plato's Cave" in her collection of essays "On Photography", is still in Plato's cave. In her essay, “In Plato’s Cave,” published in 1977, Susan Sontag reflects on photography and looks at the meaning behind taking a photograph. 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." It originally appeared as a series of essays in the New York Review of Books between 1973 and 1977. 8). 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