But the very question of whether photography is or is not an art is essentially a misleading one. Although photography generates works that can be called art --it requires subjectivity, it can lie, it gives aesthetic pleasure-- photography is not, to begin with, an art form at all. Like language, it is a medium in which works of art (among other things) are made. Out of language, one can make scientific discourse, bureaucratic memoranda, love letters, grocery lists, and Balzac's Paris. Out of photography, one can make passport pictures, weather photographs, pornographic pictures, X-rays, wedding pictures, and Atget's Paris. Photography is not an art like, say, painting and poetry. Although the activities of some photographers conform to the traditional notion of a fine art, the activity of exceptionally talented individuals producing discrete objects that have value in themselves, form the beginning photography has also lent itself to that notion of art which says that art is obsolete. The power of photography --and its centrality in present aesthetic concerns-- is that it confirms both ideas of art. But the way in which photography renders art obsolete is, in the long run, stronger. Susan Sontag
About This Quote

The world is full of people who want to be something they are not and want to do something they cannot. There is a lot of pressure and stress on teenagers and young adults that might make them feel as if they cannot accomplish anything or live up to their potential. This quote from the movie “Aladdin” is a good example of how perseverance can overcome any obstacle, no matter how large it may be. In this quote, the Genie tells Aladdin that his words are magic, but he also says that Aladdin must have “heart” to use his magic.

The Genie says that if Aladdin doesn’t have the heart, then he won’t be able to use his words to create a magic carpet for himself. If Aladdin doesn’t have the heart, then he won’t be able to defeat Jafar and return back home.

Source: On Photography

Some Similar Quotes
  1. Eleanor was right. She never looked nice. She looked like art, and art wasn't supposed to look nice; it was supposed to make you feel something. - Rainbow Rowell

  2. It is good to love many things, for therein lies the true strength, and whosoever loves much performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in love is well done. - Vincent Van Gogh

  3. Any fool can be happy. It takes a man with real heart to make beauty out of the stuff that makes us weep. - Clive Barker

  4. Art and love are the same thing: It’s the process of seeing yourself in things that are not you. - Chuck Klosterman

  5. There is nothing more truly artistic than to love people. - Vincent Van Gogh

More Quotes By Susan Sontag
  1. The truth is always something that is told, not something that is known. If there were no speaking or writing, there would be no truth about anything. There would only be what is.

  2. That's the source of the meditation on death I've carried in my heart all my life.

  3. A writer, I think, is someone who pays attention to the world.", Frankfurt Book Fair, October 12, 2003]

  4. The writer is either a practicing recluse or a delinquent, guilt-ridden one--or both. Usually both.

  5. Writing is a mysterious activity.

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