[jacamar]

Even family pictures and albums can be looked at in a cynical way - expression of wealth and social standing (quality of the house and family car, ability to travel), values and taste (fashion sense, are they on a beach drinking tequila or standing in front of a glacier?).
If you want to dig deeper, read "Ways of Seeing" (John Berger), "On Photography" (Susan Sontag), neither of which I have fully digested.
For me, photography helps me be "there" in my surroundings in a more direct way and to want to expand my appreciation of the world and my particular interests. Some say we are just collecting "memories" but you can build on your knowledge of a subject or scene when you notice things later that were not apprehended in a fleeting moment.
There is also the potential to creatively enhance or modify the original experience through camera settings, knowledge of the language of composition, or post processing (which gets us back to taste...).

[AstroDave]

So what do you think the scientifically correct terms for sunset and sunrise should be?

Good question! "Earth rotation set" and/or "Earth rotation rise" just don't have quite the same ring! I'm happy with sunset and sunrise.

[ProfessorBuzz]

Even family pictures and albums can be looked at in a cynical way - expression of wealth and social standing (quality of the house and family car, ability to travel), values and taste (fashion sense, are they on a beach drinking tequila or standing in front of a glacier?).
If you want to dig deeper, read "Ways of Seeing" (John Berger), "On Photography" (Susan Sontag), neither of which I have fully digested.
For me, photography helps me be "there" in my surroundings in a more direct way and to want to expand my appreciation of the world and my particular interests. Some say we are just collecting "memories" but you can build on your knowledge of a subject or scene when you notice things later that were not apprehended in a fleeting moment.
There is also the potential to creatively enhance or modify the original experience through camera settings, knowledge of the language of composition, or post processing (which gets us back to taste...).

You might enjoy the biography of Richard Avedon. He comments on how his family photos included other people's dogs. A way of raising social standing.
... Ironically, I found a very old portrait of my great-grandparents in Scotland, with a collie dog... I've often wondered if it was their dog or supplied in studio.

[jacamar]

You might enjoy the biography of Richard Avedon. He comments on how his family photos included other people's dogs. A way of raising social standing.
... Ironically, I found a very old portrait of my great-grandparents in Scotland, with a collie dog... I've often wondered if it was their dog or supplied in studio.

Thanks, I've certainly heard of him. I'll look out for that.

[35mmfilmfan]

Why not photograph scenes in your home village / town / city of buildings being demolished, scheduled for demolition, and the re-building taking place once the land has been prepared ? Parades, celebrations, street parties, what you will. Send electronic copies to your local paper and museum - may be of no interest now, but in ten years time, who knows ?

[Wheatfield]

Even family pictures and albums can be looked at in a cynical way - expression of wealth and social standing (quality of the house and family car, ability to travel), values and taste (fashion sense, are they on a beach drinking tequila or standing in front of a glacier?).
If you want to dig deeper, read "Ways of Seeing" (John Berger), "On Photography" (Susan Sontag), neither of which I have fully digested.
For me, photography helps me be "there" in my surroundings in a more direct way and to want to expand my appreciation of the world and my particular interests. Some say we are just collecting "memories" but you can build on your knowledge of a subject or scene when you notice things later that were not apprehended in a fleeting moment.
There is also the potential to creatively enhance or modify the original experience through camera settings, knowledge of the language of composition, or post processing (which gets us back to taste...).

Everything can be looked at cynically. This is how otherwise mundane or inconsequential things get blown out of proportion and weaponized by people more interested in having some sort of culture war than allowing people to live their lives.
BTW, Sontag is not especially digestible. I read On Photography when it was released in the late 1970s. I've come to realize in the decades since that there is a lot of well written drivel in that tome.
Wasn't it Sontag that opined that the camera was invented to get women to take off their clothes?

[jacamar]

Everything can be looked at cynically. This is how otherwise mundane or inconsequential things get blown out of proportion and weaponized by people more interested in having some sort of culture war than allowing people to live their lives.
BTW, Sontag is not especially digestible. I read On Photography when it was released in the late 1970s. I've come to realize in the decades since that there is a lot of well written drivel in that tome.
Wasn't it Sontag that opined that the camera was invented to get women to take off their clothes?

Photos have always conveyed messages and agendas, whether intentional or not. For me the quality and impact of the image itself has to come first. When a photographer thinks a full-page "artist's statement" is needed to tell you how to view a photograph I move on to something else.

I haven't come across that Sontag quote yet, but Berger makes a strong case that photographaphy continued a lot of the traditions from oil painting, including the portrayal of women.