“To collect a photograph is to collect the world.”(Sontag, 1979: p.3)
“Photographs are probably the most mysterious of all objects, they are experience captured and the camera is the ideal arm of continuousness in its acquisitive mood”. (Sontag, 1979: p.3)
“ Photographs give people an imaginary possessions of the past.” (Sontag, 1979: p.9)
“People are out there killing themselves or other real people yet the photographer stays behind his/her camera creating a tiny element of another world”.(Sontag, 1979: p.11)
“Like guns and cars, cameras are fantasy-machines whose use is addictive.”(Sontag, 1979: p.14)
When we are afraid we shoot, when we are nostalgic we take pictures. (Sontag, 1979: p.15)
“Photographs can create and a the same time convey memory.”(Sontag, 1979: p.8)
For me, the most significant point that resonated with me, was the idea of images creating a close link between the past and the present. I can completely relate to this idea considering my project. We need to be aware of our past but at the same time as we should be deeply rooted in the present. It can be viewed as very therapeutic to go back in time to reflect on our past, yet being in the present moment of reality. My portfolio will be based on the notion of going back in time and being nostalgic enough to transform my past gloomy days into bright present days which I hope will be therapeutic. Susan made another powerful point which inspired me, the idea of cameras being compared to fantasy machines. Photographs enable us to just go with the flow of our thoughts and enable us to create our own personal world. My project is about self – portrait photography which will give me the opportunity to share my very own personal version of my story. Finally, the world will get a chance to see what I see and I can portray myself the way I see me.
Susan Sontag. (1979). In Plato’s cave. In: On photography. Harmondsworth: Penguin. 3 -24.
