Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/09/12
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]> From: ARTHURWG@aol.com > Subject: Re: [Leica] Sontag et al > Message-ID: <11.8f6a453.26ed814d@aol.com> > References: > > I re-read "On Photography" last year, for the first time since it was written > in the 1970's. At that time I thought it was very interesting and smart. This > time I was stunned! This has got to be one of the best investigations of > photography ever! I don't see it as directly related to my own pictures, > exactly. But I think she was right about so many things, made me consider and > reconsider so many things, that it has to some degree changed my > picture-taking. Arthur Took a photography course as part of environmental studies/architecture at university and the course curriculum had two required readings -- one was an introductory technical book, the other was Sontag's "On Photography." I'd been taking photos for a number of years and thought I knew it all. The text book I didn't really need, since I already had many. And Sontag's book I dismissed early as pedantic bunkum. Went back to it years later, and I am not ashamed to admit that I was ignorant. I don't agree with everything she asserts, but I admire her guts for saying it, and yes, there's lots of provocative thinking going on there. A smart instructor for making it required reading, I've always thought.