Andre Bazin

In my opinion Andre's book about the Ontology of the Photographic Image preaches a very touchy side of photography that is constantly berated to the new by the old. I agree that the ancient use and value of photography was to extend life onwards into immortality. To be able to capture the best of oneself and provide evidence of the existence. Afterwards he goes on to explain how nowadays photography has become a channel for those of us from the masses to live through a portal in the surreal. To be able to find a place where we can escape reality and enjoy our own fantasies without repercussions.

I have always considered the use of photoshop a bit more of a cheating way than purely using Lightroom. Don't get me wrong though, I understand that there are fantastic artists who put Photoshop to legendary use and create shockingly realistic images, yet these people understand and claim that their "paintings" or work stems from the use of existing images across the internet. Yet for a photographer, the only existing image is from the real world. Where no one thing happens more than once. Thus I enjoyed the way Andre explained the ideal of realism in art. He explains that modern societies quarrel over the realism in art because of the misunderstanding between giving a piece of art that is grounded and concrete in reality while expressing its essence in the way the artist wants to.