Sontag reaction

   Sontag says that photography is "A way of certifying experience......also a way of refusing it." I understood this statement. She used the example of a tourists photographing themselves by something that they've seen, but just because they have seen it, does not mean that they have experienced. To any one that looks at a photo of a person by some beautiful monument, he or she would believe that this person experienced this place inside and out. A person would think that the person in the photo could any questions about the building and know more. I feel like Sontag was trying to show how photos can be deceiving to a person who looks at a photo. I agree with Sontag, I believe that photos can be deceiving to the person viewing it. They only tell a part of the story, they don't tell the entire story. It is definitely a difference between someone just snapping a photo in front of a beautiful building than someone going inside the building and learning about the construction and when and how it was built. It's easy to snap a picture and move on to the next place.
  Sontag also said that photography is "momento mori". I believe that she said this to tell about how photos can capture a person at that moment but as time passes they can look back and see how they change. If nyou take a picture of someone at a young age, and then they take a picture after they begin to get older, it reminds that person that you will not live forever. I believe she is trying to say that people can become more aware of life when they see old pictures that they could have remembered like it was yesterday. Time can go fast to a person but nobody really thinks about it until they see an old photo. I agree with this statement because I've seen photos that I remember exactly what I was doing that day and I realize how much time has really passed. I know that it is the same way for people who are in their 40s and look back at a photo of them in their 20s and think about how things have changed. Sometimes its a sad thing for people to do.