As photographs give people an imaginary possession of a past that is unreal, they also help people to take possession of space in which they are insecure.
In America, the photographer is not simply the person who records the past, but the one who invents it.
It is not altogether wrong to say that there is no such thing as a bad photograph - only less interesting, less relevant, less mysterious ones.
Life is not significant details, illuminated by a flash, fixed forever. Photographs are.
So successful has been the camera's role in beautifying the world that photographs, rather than the world, have become the standard of the beautiful.
I am writing a paper on dan graham and gehard richter and am using susan sontag's: on photographer to compare and interpret their work. I was given on photographer for my birthday by my good friend and then purchased her journals, which shares insight into sontag's wonderfully complex mind, shortly after. I also just found out that she spoke at vassar for commencement five years ago. I wish i could have seen her. She and Joan Didion rank among the two writers who I would love to meet.
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