Susan Sontag- "On Photography"

Almost everything has been photographed since 1839.
Photographs give us the sense that we can hold the world in our hands.
Photographs are objects and provide most of the knowledge people have of the past.
Photographs are pieces of the world instead of statements like paintings and drawings.
Books have been the best way of arranging photographs because they are fragile and photographs are collectible objects.
Photographs are used as evidence because they are accurate relations to reality.
Although cameras capture reality, and does not just interpret it, photographers are an interpretation of the world like paintings and drawings.
Cameras were first used by the clever, wealthy, and obsessed.
-At first there were no professionals or amateurs
Photography has become widely practiced and is mainly used as a tool of power.
It is a part of family life. Most families with children have at least one camera in their home.
It is also used for tourism.
Some people would rather choose a photograph over a life.
-"The person who intervenes cannot record; the person who is recording cannot intervene."
-They are interested in things as they are.
Diane Arbus thought of photography as naughty and perverse.
-The camera presumes, intrudes, distorts, and exploits.
-Sold as a predatory weapon
  -Use is addictive
  -Violates whoever it takes a picture of
To take a photograph is to participate in another person's mortality.
Cameras are able to record what is disappearing.
They are attempts to lay claim to another reality.
Photographs cannot create a moral position, but can reinforce one.
Each still photograph is a privileged moment.
-Valued because it gives information.
Any photograph has multiple meanings and makes us feel that the world is more available than it really is.

"Today everything exists to end in a photograph."