Throughout human history, we have documented everything and anything we could, ranging from simple ideas that evolved over centuries, to detailed historical accounts of events from many different perspectives. Our methods of documenting these things have also varied, from simplistic wall drawings to complicated texts written, interpreted, and modified in various ways. We have developed the arts from this: literature, visual art, music, performance, dance, and most recently, photography. It is an art practiced every day, by nearly everyone with access to a digital camera, and is shared across all sorts of platforms. Photographs reveal not just our desire for the arts, but our strong desire to take part in it.
Ever since the camera became a tool just about anybody could use, the number of photos that we have taken has grown seemingly exponentially, revealing that we all have a desire to take part in the arts. When we look at the content of the photos many people take, we see this desire taking shape, “Travel becomes a strategy for accumulating photographs… Most tourists feel compelled to put the camera between themselves and whatever is remarkable that they encounter.” (Sontag 6). Tourism takes up quite a large number of photos that are taken and shared across mediums like social media, which happens because of people’s desire to take part in such an accessible art as photography. It becomes a driving motivator for why many people travel, they want to find amazing things to take photos of, even if thousands of others have done the same. It often doesn’t matter that many others have done the same type of photo because people end up satisfied with the photos they take anyway. This is proven as Sontag further explains that taking photos is a relaxing activity, especially for tourists on vacations from places with intense work ethics, which is significant due to art often being referred to as a way to express our emotions (6-7). Perhaps a more interesting reason why people desire to partake in photography so much could be that its accessibility makes it a necessity to capture things before they are gone, “All photographs are memento mori. To take a photograph is to participate in another person’s (or thing’s) mortality, vulnerability, mutability.” (Ibid 11). We often take photos of our loved ones, because they will inevitably be gone, similarly, we take photos of them throughout their lives because the separate stages of life eventually end as well. We take pictures of places because they could disappear, we photograph the world around us because we may never see it the way we did again, and we capture significant moments because they only exist for that period of time we will never have again. It is clear, then, that we all desire to take photographs because it is an art form that can be participated in with the click of a button, and often drives our motivation to explore the world and enjoy life, as it will eventually end.
The prevalence of photography in our world is a telling sign that we have discovered an art form not just capable of contributing to society and our shared reality, but also to our own individual realities. While the photos taken to invoke emotions from people all over the world stand out more than most others, the photos that we take ourselves stick to us and motivate us to take even more.
Works Cited:
Sontag, Susan. On Photography. RosettaBooks, 2005.
Why do you think people desire to participating in art creation in not just photography as a form. What value do you think it brings to people’s lives and why do they need it?