On Photography

Every once in a while we see something (usually a movie since that's the art form I've invested my soul in) that moves us and changes how we view ourselves and the world. As I mentioned, for me, these riveting experiences are usually films, but Susan Sontag's article came pretty close to being one of these earth shattering experiences for me. Honestly, I was anticipating that the reading for this week would be a few interesting articles and a few cool pictures that I could take in in order to prove that I was diligent and did what I was asked to do this week. But this article actually kind of pricked my heart and my consciousness and I had a mini awakening. I seriously doubt that anybody else experienced this but for some reason this article caused me to take a step back and ask myself what my role was as a filmmaker. As I tried to remove myself from my situation and take a purely objective standpoint in determining what my role was, I found myself questioning what my motivations were in deciding to be a filmmaker. This article literally concerned me as I realized that I'd kind of slipped into that role of being a 'casual photographer' that just uses photography as a means to relieve stress and escape the banality of real life. Similarly, I've discovered that I'm exactly like Jimmy Stewart's character in Rear Window in a lot of respects where I've taken a passive role in capturing events instead of using a camera as a means of conveyance. Sontag fairly and unfairly accused many of being in two classes: those who bring about great things and those who document these great people using their cameras. Unfortunately, there haven’t been nearly enough people to justify setting up a third class, which would be those who bring about great things with their cameras. I hope to one day join this elite and barely mentionable third class, which I’m sure we all aspire to do. This article kind of bled into what the latter half of the reading talked about which was challenging media. For me, this article was challenging because it forced me to take a good look at myself and determine what exactly I stood for as a filmmaker and how I was going to achieve my goals in spite of my inevitable challenges. After reading the article about challenging media, I became grateful for the fact that it was indeed challenging because I honestly wouldn’t have evaluated myself and my goals if it wasn’t for the fact that it challenged me to do so. In short, I think I’m starting to grasp why it’s so important for some media to not be passive and be aggressive in challenging us to become better than we already are.