Power of Photography

 

“Because each photograph is only a fragment, its moral and emotional weight depends on where it is inserted. A photograph changes according to the context in which it is seen: thus ... photographs will seem different on a contact sheet, in a gallery, in a political demonstration, in a police file, in a photographic magazine, in a book, on a living-room wall. Each of these situations suggest a different use for the photographs but none can secure their meaning.” - Susan Sontag, On Photography by Susan Sontag , ISBN: 0385267061 , Page: 10


Photography has the power to express so many different types of emotions. So many things can be communicated through images and send different messages to each person that looks at photos. The fact that photographs can be edited like the one above also goes to show the impact on editing a photo can have. A basic picture of president Obama was turned into a beacon of hope. So much can with this image that it became very powerful because of what it represented. Even the editor of the image was saw his day in court because of him designing this image. When this design first came out it instantly became popular. I remember seeing it and actually liking it because of the colors in it and just wanting to know what it was created. Photography as brings about questioning. what is the meaning behind this photo, who is the person in this photo, what were they doing before the photo was taken? 

Photography has definitely changed over the course of history because of the easy access we now have to it. Yes photos can get lost but they can also get blown up, emailed, messaged, printed, and can now live forever digitally. Thinking back to when photos where black-and-white, I didn't realize how much we could have misinterpreted a photo or just took the photo as is no questions asked. As we advanced in society color helped in developing a story from photographs. I don't think I would be able to see a story in black and white photos or got an emotional appeal from it. But because photography is changing more and more, we can better understand what we are looking at. 

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