This took me a little longer to read than i originally anticipated as it's written like hardcore philosophy.
But her in-depth analysis of the consequences of the development of the photographic process, it's affects on art, culture and society and it's long fight to be credited as an art form had me hooked.
The most lingering thought from having read this book, is the overwhelming emotional statement one makes when they rip a photograph in half. The symbolisim of parting yourself with a memory of a place or a person in a moment of angst or pain or even just commitment to a new beginning is so strong. Sontag points out that to many of us our reality exists in these images, once disposed of, they simply no longer exist and more importantly we are saying they never existed.
In a world now of digital photography our generation will rarely make such a finalising action of ripping a photograph of a past lover like our parents before us did. Now we just delete photographs off our flickr's and blogs and facebooks. At the click of a button. They still exist on a back-catalogue on a computer memory but we exempt them from our realm of existence. In my opinion, nothing says closure on any subject more than destruction. Simply deleting it doesn't feel as satisfying.
A must have book for anyone who has even held a camera in their hands, finished with a series of striking quotes on the subject.
"The camera is a fluid way of encountering that other reality"
-Jerry N. Uelsmann
"To experience a thing as beautiful means: to experience it necessarily wrongly."
- Nietzsche
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