Susan Sontag "On Photography"

Panasonic DMC-L1 with Leica Summilux 25mm lens at f2.0 ISO 100 1/160th of a second

I first learned bout Susan Sontag as the subject in the Annie Leibovitz book "Women" that I found in a used book store a year or so ago.  Again on one of my used book store browses I found Susan's book "On Photography" sitting unnoticed on a back bookshelf.  Unsure of exactly what I was going to get I decided to buy it and give it a try.

To say that I was over my head intellectually is a bit of an understatement.  Susan's exploration of a new visual code born out of the introduction of the camera and resulting photographs to society is a Mensa level travel through her definition of the art.  I tried reading the book slowly in parts and in marathon sittings with no difference in result.  It turns out I'm rather daft.

But never-the-less I loved the book.  When my cognition occasionally caught up with the text I found little gems of insight and thought that really sang to me.  Susan's grasp of what photography means to us as a society and as individuals is really insightful, which is my way of saying "she seems kinda smart."

Susan claims that photography has created an overabundance of visual material, desensitizing it to the viewer.  She speaks about how it has impacted our education about the world around us and what we know even if we've never seen it in person.

If you happen to be a photographer that is looking for a more intellectual essay on the art of photography, you won't find a better text than this.  I really loved it and plan on hiding it from myself on my bookshelf to be re-visited by an older version of myself in the future.  As for right now, I'm seriously in need of a mindless zombie book.