The Photography Reader
Susan Sontag
An Interview Dialogue about the Family Photograph
Photographic Researcher: Good afternoon Ms. Susan Sontag. It is a pleasure to meet you. I am glad that you were able to meet with me. I am doing a project researching how educated outsiders use their photographic eye to intellectually and critically talk about this Untitled photograph about Family.
Susan Sontag: Thank you for inviting me, I am honored. Although I am not a photographer, but rather a writer and filmmaker, I have always been fascinated with photography. I find that by writing about photography from a critical point it allows me to interact with and express my interest in photography.
Photographic Researcher: Well to get started I am going to show you the photograph. It is an untitled image and after looking at it I would like to know what your first impression of the image is.
Susan Sontag: After looking at the image the first thing that comes to mind is activity. Since in my opinion, photography is an activity and captures activity. There is the visual activity of the dog interacting with the cat, the girl interacting with the dog, and the mother with the child, as well as the hidden activity of the subjects interacting with the camera through their emotions and body positions. The second thing that immediately followed in my mind was how this raw looking image perpetuates my definition of photography, as a way to see the world, perceive the world, and store the information. With the edition of the film spokes leading into the next frame it leads me to believe that the photographer saw and perceived the unique interactions taking place and used their camera to capture the image and relay the information of their feelings. For example, the expression on the face of little girl with the pink pants is one that seems like disgust and almost impatience or frustration.
PR: You made a lot of interesting starting points. Could you expound more on the idea of how photographs relay information?
SS: Sure. Well when I describe photographs, I consider them creations that convey visual information through the image that is produced. A photograph is a form of information transmitter because they act as testimonies or as a form of witness. For example applying this concept to the Untitled family image it is conveying the testimonial information that this family probably lives in an area that is rural and that they spend a lot of there time outdoors. The factors of this image that relayed this information to me was the ‘outdoor’ or ‘play’ clothing that the children were wearing, the scarf on the mothers head (revealing that she did not want to wind to disrupt her hair), the stick in one of the girls hands, and the way that the older girl is interacting with the dog although her face is focused on the camera. One idea that I have realized, after observing the background information, is that the information that this image gives its reader can be drastically changed based on the context of the image. So in other words if this same format of three people and two animals standing together was in a different background the information and the read of the image would have changed significantly. So that is just to say that the testimonial information that an image communicates is also based on the context of the image.
PR: That is a very remarkable decipher of this photograph and the information that it is relaying. After having heard you speak of the factors that convey this information I now see the image in a new light. Before we close I would just like to thank you again for allowing me to use you to read this photograph, your insights are noteworthy.
Susan Sontag
An Interview Dialogue about the Family Photograph
Photographic Researcher: Good afternoon Ms. Susan Sontag. It is a pleasure to meet you. I am glad that you were able to meet with me. I am doing a project researching how educated outsiders use their photographic eye to intellectually and critically talk about this Untitled photograph about Family.
Susan Sontag: Thank you for inviting me, I am honored. Although I am not a photographer, but rather a writer and filmmaker, I have always been fascinated with photography. I find that by writing about photography from a critical point it allows me to interact with and express my interest in photography.
Photographic Researcher: Well to get started I am going to show you the photograph. It is an untitled image and after looking at it I would like to know what your first impression of the image is.
Susan Sontag: After looking at the image the first thing that comes to mind is activity. Since in my opinion, photography is an activity and captures activity. There is the visual activity of the dog interacting with the cat, the girl interacting with the dog, and the mother with the child, as well as the hidden activity of the subjects interacting with the camera through their emotions and body positions. The second thing that immediately followed in my mind was how this raw looking image perpetuates my definition of photography, as a way to see the world, perceive the world, and store the information. With the edition of the film spokes leading into the next frame it leads me to believe that the photographer saw and perceived the unique interactions taking place and used their camera to capture the image and relay the information of their feelings. For example, the expression on the face of little girl with the pink pants is one that seems like disgust and almost impatience or frustration.
PR: You made a lot of interesting starting points. Could you expound more on the idea of how photographs relay information?
SS: Sure. Well when I describe photographs, I consider them creations that convey visual information through the image that is produced. A photograph is a form of information transmitter because they act as testimonies or as a form of witness. For example applying this concept to the Untitled family image it is conveying the testimonial information that this family probably lives in an area that is rural and that they spend a lot of there time outdoors. The factors of this image that relayed this information to me was the ‘outdoor’ or ‘play’ clothing that the children were wearing, the scarf on the mothers head (revealing that she did not want to wind to disrupt her hair), the stick in one of the girls hands, and the way that the older girl is interacting with the dog although her face is focused on the camera. One idea that I have realized, after observing the background information, is that the information that this image gives its reader can be drastically changed based on the context of the image. So in other words if this same format of three people and two animals standing together was in a different background the information and the read of the image would have changed significantly. So that is just to say that the testimonial information that an image communicates is also based on the context of the image.
PR: That is a very remarkable decipher of this photograph and the information that it is relaying. After having heard you speak of the factors that convey this information I now see the image in a new light. Before we close I would just like to thank you again for allowing me to use you to read this photograph, your insights are noteworthy.
--->MY FIVE IMAGES<---
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