PHOTOGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION.

The article discusses an argument against documentary photography as a communicative practice as argued by literary theorist Susan Sontag and by media theorist Neil Postman. According to Postman, photographs do not present an idea or concept about the world, since they have no context. The author presents a critique of Sontag and Postman through discussion of an article by Stephanie Ross titled “What Photographs Can’t Do.” Ross’ article addresses Sontag’s claims that photographs cannot narrate moral knowledge, conveying only limited knowledge. The author concludes that Sontag is wrong to think that photographs cannot narrate events, since photographs practically always imply facts about what occurred before they were taken, and what would happen afterwards.