Cameras are devices for one to capture a moment in time, a milestone, or an adventure. Through the creation of cameras, photography became a medium for art and journalism. The easy accessibility of photography gave photographs the ability to reveal aspects of our world that we would not have seen otherwise.
Photographs capture slices of our reality and can be used as evidence to show that events occurred. As Susan Sontag stated in On Photography, “Something we hear about, but doubt, seems proven when we’re shown a photograph of it” (Sontag 3). We often learn about events but fail to realize the extent to which people are affected by them. Russia’s attack on Ukraine seems so much more real to us after we see photographs of destroyed homes and shots fired. When events of injustice are happening in places far from us, photographs help us to acknowledge them. Photographs make us better at sympathizing with others and understanding their circumstances.
Furthermore, photographs help us to learn about each other and reveal people’s stories. Photographs are often taken at every milestone of one’s life: graduation, marriage, and starting a family. “Through photographs, each family constructs a portrait-chronicle of itself—a portable kit of images that bears witness to its connectedness” (Sontag 5). In family pictures, you can see the relationship between family members and all their memories together. Photographs help us to remember people that we met and people that are no longer with us. Photographs of trips and accomplishments reveal where one has been and what one has done. Photographs show us both one’s past and one’s growth.
Moreover, photographs allow us to better understand the past. In On Photography, Sontag gave an example of photography deepening our understanding of history, “Jacob Riis’s images of New York squalor in the 1880s are sharply instructive to those unaware that urban poverty in late-nineteenth-century America was really that Dickensian” (Sontag 17-18). Photographs of unsafe and unsanitary living conditions in New York during the 1880s allowed the viewers to understand the social state of the city and picture what it was like living in New York during that time. Photographs provide valuable insight into past events and allow us to better understand the state of a place during a specific period of time.
Photographs are a way for one to learn about the past and the present. Since photography is easily accessible, people from all walks of life can share their unique perspectives on the world through photography. Thus, photographs reveal aspects of our society that allow us to form a better understanding of the world around us.
Yinglin, I love how you mentioned that photos are a way for us to learn about the past as I feel like I’ve learned so much about my own childhood and upbringing through photos that capture moments my parents and I otherwise would have forgotten. It’s so special that we are able to hold onto these moments for eternity and even view moments in time we weren’t witness to. Photography is able to bring us closer together and garner a deeper understanding of our experiences.
I really appreciate your comments about how photos can help us make emotional improvements through allowing us to sympathize with events that are foreign to us. I think that is often seen as only an outlet for manipulation, but showing how some kinds of photographs can move us without ill intentions is very interesting. I feel the same way about your ideas of sharing personal experience through showing photos to those close to us!
I like how you used the example of Russia’s attack on Ukraine because people often don’t realize how bad something is until they see it for themselves. It’s also like what Sontag said about how printed words don’t show as much as a photograph does. I also agree with what you said about how photographs also show the relationships of people. People who are closer might stand closer to each other. This is an interesting point that I didn’t think about when I was thinking about photography.