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Aim Shoot Capture Frame . Photography an act of Violence. Susan Sontag

 


How many of you have heard the joke about photographers “shooting” and “framing” people? Shooting and framing—these words coil with an excitable vehemence in my mouth whenever I tell the joke, yet I have only recently realized the baggage they carry.

A cold, detached, calculated act of violence. Intention. You need to aim before you shoot. When someone points a gun and fires to kill, a living, breathing being filled with potential is reduced to a sack of meat.

Point a camera at someone, and you aim to capture an essence you see in your mind. Then you shoot to capture, and all that remains of that particular moment of life is reduced to an object.

I also like to think that this is why people in earlier times readily believed legends claiming that taking a photograph meant taking an ornate piece—or even the entirety—of the soul.

Photography is frequently described as an act of violence because it is inherently invasive, transforming subjects into objects, and exercising power by capturing, framing, and often distorting reality. Susan Sontag’s analysis suggests that photographing is a "soft" form of violence, a way of "shooting" someone to possess, limit, or reduce them. This violence can be psychological, by exposing vulnerable individuals, or exploitative, by prioritizing the image over the subject's humanity. 




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