On Photography

As Jana states in the review (two before mine) this book was written so long ago much of Sontag's thinking is already a part of what is thought today about photography. But reading it now, all I could think throughout is what would Sontag have thought about photography issues today such as social sharing of photography through facebook, flickr, tumblr, instagram and others and how that has changed content or not. As well as what would be her thoughts about iphoneography which is close to gaining legitimacy as its own field with exhibits at major galleries and even a couple major museums.

The questions invited me to explore where iphoneography is now and I discovered the apps available now are leaps ahead of where they were even a year ago. In particular there are a two different apps that allow for multiple images and several that allow a person to work in layers (as in photoshop). These developments may solve a particular creative problem I had working in the early nineties. At the time the ideas I had were beyond the technical scope that I could manage in the camera and darkroom, so I abandoned the project. But now, I think I might be able to pick it back up again with the iphone. I've often read a book that resulted in my thinking differently about something, but it is rare that I read a book and then embarked on a a whole new body of creative work, because of it.

Thank you, Susan.

Gosh easily one of the best books I’ve read, with lots of food for thought, interesting takes, and many highlights/notes. I immersed myself in this slowly and thoroughly. I can’t stop thinking about what Susan Sontag would think of photography’s influence in culture today, especially with TikTok/Reel internet era. Maybe I should write an essay?