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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is NOT one of the things that the Chinese expect from photography, which can cause a disconnect?

2. The main question becomes whether photography is a high art or if it is merely a __________ reproduction by a machine.

3. Cartier-Bresson, in the introduction of his book, justified his unwillingness to use _________ by citing technical limitations.

4. It is __________ to distinguish one photographer's work from another, according to the opinion of Sontag.

5. How do beautiful things begin to seem cliched and dull? Through their ____________, things become cliched.

Short Essay Questions

1. Why is a photograph of an object a more reliable way of looking at an object, according to the text in this chapter?

2. What do some primitive tribes think about the idea of taking pictures of other people, according to this chapter?

3. What do some philosophers - namely Balzac - have to say about the idea or the act of taking photographs?

4. What is one of the methods of falsifying photographs without changing the photograph itself?

5. What do some theories speculate that photography allows the artist to capture when they are taking the photograph?

6. What do photographs do to reality, according to this final chapter of the book as written by Sontag?

7. What did the film Chung Kuo include that helped to present an accurate, though not flattering, picture of Chinese life?

8. Sontag makes a bold assertion in regards to photography and the work of some artists. What does she assert?

9. What does photography have the power to do to truly beautiful things, according to this chapter?

10. Why are photographs considered to be a superior form of recording information, even more so than writing?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Photography brings up a lot of emotions and reactions from those who take photos and from those who look at photographs.

Part 1: Why do you think photography creates such intense reactions in those who view it?

Part 2: Why do you think Sontag is so passionate about photography and spreading knowledge about it?

Part 3: How do you think photography hold so much power over those who view it and those who take pictures?

Essay Topic 2

In its beginnings, photography was thought to be unnatural and disgraceful, though it eventually grew accepted and then revered.

Part 1: Why do you think photography was once thought to be unnatural?

Part 2: Why do you think the attitude toward photography changed over the years?

Part 3: In what ways is photography unnatural today? Why?

Essay Topic 3

Sontag also points out that some photographers are moralists, trying to identify a world vision.

Part 1: How do you think photographers are moralists? How does this label work?

Part 2: Why is it important to identify a world vision? Or isn't it?

Part 3: Is photography necessary in order to understand morality? Why or why not?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 679 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample