The first week of class provided an introduction into the structure of the intensive semester, and encouraged a broad discussion about how we utilise photography in this modern day. We gained an insight through the weekly readings of Susan Sontag’s 1969 ‘In Plato’s Cave’ chapter from the book On Photography, in which we discussed how photography is a medium of immortality and how the presence of a camera makes every moment ‘an event’. We later discussed that photography provides a sense of reality and nostalgia, whilst overall, is there for ones amusement. It was interesting to hear her opinion on how photography is used, in the 70’s she noted how more families have cameras within households to document their family and social events, conflicting with the ideology that photography is primarily used for art purposes. This idea proved to be ahead of her time, as we see a similar trend in todays age. With the prevalence of social media and the internet, the availability of cameras enables photos to be used for everyone as capturing a moment worth documenting, and thus encourages the wide spread transfer of these images thanks to the influence of social media.

We watched Henri Cartier Bresson’s ‘The Decisive Moment’ in preparation for the activity of our self portraits. The video was a pleasure to watch. Watching Henri go through his life’s work and explain how he took those shots and what thought processes were going through his head was interesting. One thing he said that stood out to me was “the difference between a good picture and a mediocre picture is a question of millimetres” (Bresson, 2014). I often question how one does decide what photographs are good and what is not. As there are so many photographs out there and everyone can photograph anything, so how do you distinguish yourself in the industry? How should I rank my own work among others? As Bresson continues, he describes the importance of the relations between the world around you and yourself that aids you in taking a good photo. This ideology is essential in making up for that minuscule difference in photographs and what makes them great.

Completing the self portrait exercise, I found very hard. It was the combination of my dislike towards portrait photography and having to photograph myself. However, it did prove as a good opportunity to get to know my new camera (Canon EOS 90D), and the result of the photos came out clean and high quality.

Overall, this class was a good introduction to this media unit.

References:

Sontag, S 1977, ‘In Plato’s Cave’ chapter in On Photography, Penguin Books, London, pp.3-24

Henri Cartier Bresson The Decisive Moment 2014, YouTube video, viewed 2 November, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qgnie1F6uVY&ab_channel=BillFriedmanVideos>