A photograph is an instant captured through technology, allowing that moment to be preserved past its time. However, this once-pure idea of preservation has experienced a great amount of change over the past few decades. While photography continues to allow viewers to observe and appreciate natural things/occurrences, photography has also grown subject to staging. Staging is definitely a great part of art, as artists use their own discretion to create their photographic pieces. However, this posing culture in social media has become an issue when it comes to the perception of these images and their effects on viewers.
In her article, On Photography, Susan Sontag wrote, “a photograph is both a pseudo-presence and a token of absence,” (2). In this, she speaks on idea that viewers are able to grasp both the presence and absence of something in their lives through a photograph. They are able to feel envy due to the photo, but also feel the comfort of its existence. In this post of an aesthetically pleasing food spread, the image is unrealistically organized and staged for the photograph. This staged photograph has the power to induce feelings in a viewer, creating both feelings of longing and comfort. However, they do create unrealistic exceptions of experiences and products because the staging creates an ideal to be perceived through someone else’s lived experience. Thus, a subsequent attempt at recreating something photographed often brings about disappointment. In addition, the physical action of taking these photographs often ruins the experience itself as the pressure of capturing the perfect frame overpowers possible enjoyment.
Moreover, Sontag further wrote, “photographs can abet desire in the most direct, utilitarian way—as when someone collects photographs of anonymous examples of the desirable as an aid to masturbation,” (2). This idea can also be seen in the use of vision boards as many people are able to use them for motivation. These images create a feeling that what is pictured already exists in one’s life, thus urging the viewer to live as if they already own it. However, the corresponding feeling of longing often acts as a catalyst for the necessary approach the viewer would have to take to achieve the pictured goal.
Images hold the power to induce countless emotions in a viewer, regardless of whether they are staged or not. They capture moments in time, freezing them for eternity so that they can be observed and analyzed forevermore. However, posing culture has come to influence the ways in which they are perceived and the effects images can have on viewers. While these effects can be both beneficial and unfavorable, photographs exist for more than just viewing-purposes and hold great influence on human experiences.
I really like how you pointed out that photos can make us feel both comfort and a longing for something, because it’s something that I think has really impacted people with the rise of social media. We see this everywhere, especially with people posting photos of their lives, and only the perfect moments in them.
I love your commentary on how photographs have an affect on the viewer, not just the photographer. The affects of images and online sharing are definitely a major and impactful issue in today’s society, especially concerning the mental health of social media users. The varying intentions behind capturing images is vastly expanded by their potential use by others beyond the initial moment being memorialized.
Hey Dheyala! I agree with you. Oftentimes I would see a post advertising aesthetically pleasing food, and it wouldn’t be after I tried the food out myself that the hype was gone. This goes to show staged photography of food oftentimes build viewers expectations only to be let down the real product in hand. Not to say advertising of food through staged photography is harmful, but it brings to question whether the public’s expectation on food will remain dependent on pictures if they continuously know pictures can be misleading towards the quality of food.
You bring up a great point when mentioning the disappointment after trying to recreate an experience that was in a photograph you may have seen. We often find that the most emotion inducing photographs were specifically curated and aimed so that you would feel that way. Ideas expressed in photography seem to be romanticized and it up to the viewer to go into consuming content understanding that notion so that it may not have a negative influence on us.