Like the collector, the photographer is animated by a passion that, even when it appears to be for the present, is linked to a sense of the past.
Susan SontagRead
To photograph people is to violate them, by seeing them as they never see themselves, by having knowledge of them that they can never have.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote highlights the ethical implications of photography, particularly in how it captures the essence of individuals differently than they perceive themselves.
Susan Sontag's quote emphasizes the complexity of photography as an art form that not only captures reality but also influences our understanding of individuals. By stating that to photograph people is to 'violate' them, she points out the intimate power of the lens, suggesting that photographs can reveal truths about people that they themselves may not recognize, leading to a form of knowledge that can be intrusive and profound.
Themes
PhotographyIdentityPerceptionArtIntrusion
In practice
Example use cases
During a discussion on ethical photography practices in a workshop.
More from Susan Sontag
All quotes βScience fiction films are not about science. They are about disaster, which is one of the oldest subjects of art.
Susan SontagRead
Gide and I have attained such perfect intellectual communion that I experience the appropriate labor pains for every thought he gives birth to!
Susan SontagRead
Volume depends precisely on the writer's having been able to sit in a room every day, year after year, alone.
Susan SontagRead
In NY sensuality completely turns into sexuality - no objects for the senses to respond to, no beautiful river, houses, people. Awful smells of the street, and dirt... Nothing except eating, if that, and the frenzy of the bed.
Susan SontagRead
It hurts to love. It's like giving yourself to be flayed and knowing that at any moment the other person may just walk off with your skin.
Susan SontagRead
Similar quotes
We have to support our own films. If we don't, how can we expect others to support them?
Cicely TysonRead
We must never forget that art is not a form of propaganda; it is a form of truth.
John F. KennedyRead
Mediocre writers borrow; great writers steal.
T. S. EliotRead
Art is enchantment and artists have the right of spells.
Jeanette WintersonRead
If someone asked, 'What are your films like?,' the best I can come up with is that they're, like, a fine balance between comedy and drama. And they deal mainly with the clumsiness of humanity.
Taika WaititiRead
I am always wandering around in enigmas. There are young people who constantly come to tell me: you, too, are making Op Art. I haven't the slightest idea what that is, Op Art. I've been doing this work for thirty years now.
M. C. EscherRead