Diving Into Platos Cave by Susan Sontag
PHOTOGRAPHY | DESN 350

In the reading titled, Platos Cave, written by Susan Sontag, we are taken on a deep dive into the photograph, it’s implications on society, and what a photo is in the purest meaning. I’ll be honest, I found most of this reading extremely hard to grasp due to its focus on obscure philosophies, and it’s overly pretentious take on the topic as a whole. With this said, I felt the reading was trying to be less of a statement of facts, and more of an expression of what photography is, through the lens of an artist. Hah.

My favorite section of this reading was on the topic of how we use photography as a means to document evidence, especially while traveling or on vacation. In the way it was presented — how we use it to prove that “fun was had” — felt extremely dark, while extremely accurate to current times. I feel it could be argued that this idea has extended past the use of just travel/vacation, but applicable to modern youth and the feeling to capture almost every interesting moment for social media. A Black Mirror-Esque thought that leaves wonder to where we’re heading as a society.



