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
Photographs are a way of imprisoning reality, understood as recalcitrant, inaccessible; of making it stand still. One can't possess reality, one can possess (and be possessed by) images — as, according to Proust, most ambitious of voluntary prisoners, one can't possess the present but one can possessthe past.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects on the nature of photography as a means to capture and hold onto reality, which is otherwise fleeting and elusive.
Susan Sontag's quote explores the paradox of photography: while it allows us to capture moments and memories, it simultaneously indicates that we can never truly hold onto reality itself. Photography serves as a tool for preserving our perceptions of the world, but it highlights the limitations of those images in truly representing the present, as we can only ever refer back to what has already transpired, making us prisoners of our captured past.
Themes
PhotographyRealityImagesPastPerception
In practice
Example use cases
In a presentation on the impact of photography on art appreciation.
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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.
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