In this chapter, Susan Sontag gives her knowledge and insight into the power of photography and how it helps capture your life through a lens. The ‘predatory weapon’ (Sontag, 1979: 14) reference links to the way of how quick it is to take a photo and that is ready to spring at any time which suggest that it can perform so rapidly to capture the moment in front of you; hints why she refers it to a gun. The other reference ‘tool of power’ (Sontag, 1979: 8) once again emphasises Susan’s view on just how important is to have a camera so that we can document our lives as a way of reflection.

Overall, Susan’s view on photography is powerful and strong in which she gives many examples of how it can affect our everyday lives. Her view is that you gain photographic knowledge with every photo you take and that your life should be shown not through a book, but a photo. Susan’s work has influenced me to capture as much as I can through a photo lens and document each stage. The work itself is simplistic and stands out; which is exactly what I intend to do for my own final piece.

(Sontag, S. 1979, ‘In Plato’s cave‘ in On photography)