Plato's Cave

2) Susan Sontag makes the claim that while photography is "a way of certifying experience, taking photographs is also a way of refusing it- by limiting experience to a search for the photogenic, by converting experience into an image, a souvenir" (p. 9). She uses the example of travel to demonstrate this, people go on vacation, to "get away from it all," yet they feel they should be doing something. since they are not at their vocation, they take photographic images.
This definitely resonated with me. When go someplace, it seems I am using my camera, or at the very least, my cell phone, to capture images of the place or event. Whether visiting a location of natural beauty, a place of historical significance, or just being with friends and family, there is always someone using a camera to capture the memory of that moment in time. Even for this class, my camera has been with me at get-togethers with friends, as well as places where hardly a soul was around. But am I taking pictures to fulfill an assignment, capture a memory, or to fulfill the need to "do something."

3) Susan Sontag makes the statement "All photographs are memnto mori" (p. 15). When a photographic image is taken, we do so to freeze time. One reason for this is because we know our time is finite. We all have certain amount of time on earth. That is why we take photographs of our children during trick or treat, our families during holiday get-togethers, and those we vacation with. We know these people will not always be  with us, whether by death, or due to life circumstances. Photographs allow us to remember times together.
Additionally, moments are finite. Actually, finite is not a strong enough word. Moments are like a vapor, here, and then gone. Photographs have the ability to capture those ephemeral moments. There are two photographs in my personal life that remind me of this, and both very similar, taken about 18 months apart.  In both images I am actually wearing the same maroon shirt, In the first shot, I am holding my son, Nathan, when he was a few days old, and both father and son are fast asleep. In the second shot, wearing the same shirt, I am holding my days old daughter, Emma, and am in almost the same postition.
Photographs are a captured moment, which reminds us that our time is finite, and photographs help us freeze time.