In the 1970s I read Susan Sontag’s book On Photography, a collection of essays in which she looks at how photographs influence our relationship with reality and other topics she reflects on. In the book she presents these thoughts:
The Illusion of Reality: Photographs are not neutral windows into the truth; they are edited, selective slices of life shaped by the photographer’s hidden biases and intentions.
Chronic Voyeurism: Constant exposure to images turns people into passive spectators, reducing profound historical or tragic events to flat, equalized visual entertainment.
Capitalist Consumption: Sontag argues that photographing everything feeds an industrial, consumerist loop, making the camera a tool that accumulates possessions and colonizes experiences.
Aesthetics and Power: Images dictate what society deems beautiful, shocking, or important, often reinforcing the political and social status quo.
I often think about her views of photography, and reflect on what I choose to (1) photograph and (2) what I share publicly. I choose to shoot beauty and interesting subjects in nature for social media sharing and print sales (yes, everything I share here is available as a print, just sayin’.) To a degree, I do manipulate reality in what I present, enhancing colors sometimes, cropping out unwanted elements, etc. I try to present what I saw and liked enough to open my shutter and record the image so in post processing I create, or re-create (perfect?!) the subject or scene as I remember it. Beyond what Sontag observed we now often look at photography as telling a story. Today’s camera adventure for me was shooting egrets and ibises in the marsh while it was raining and blowing hard out of the northeast. Tidal water overfilled the marsh driving the ibises into the cover of a tree and woods behind it which successfully deadened the onshore wind. I found it interesting how this large mixed group of wading birds got through a stormy morning. Very little, if any, fishing, just hunkered down and probably keeping an eye out for potential predators. The ibises roosted for over an hour in that tree then suddenly all lifted off and flew circles around the marsh. And no, I had nothing to do with that decision, but I do wonder what, or who among them, gave the command for a spontaneous full group lift off. Fun to photograph though. So, that’s the story from the marsh this morning and, other than freezing the motion of fast flying birds, I hope my photos are tell a story and are not a non-neutral window into the truth but yes, maybe, deeming these images to be beautiful and important. You be the judge. Thoughts and comments always appreciated.
