A Couple Passages I Enjoyed in Practices of Looking

I found the reading very intriguing and a good source to reference in the future. I was happy to hear about surrealist painter Rene Magritte's The Treachery of Images, not only because I enjoy his paintings and the surrealism, but also because I enjoyed the fact that Magritte's intention was to challenge the viewer to "examine the process of representation". I agree with the author in that people do in fact take this process for granted. If it were more natural for us to delve deeper into the true meaning of an image, then our exposure to the unique qualities that are expressed through images would be never ending. It is easy to overlook things, but taking the time to let an image soak in could be an incredibly inspiring moment.

Another section I enjoyed was the one talking about how we perceive photography as an art that tells the truth. Photographs have been used to prove historical events, to prove that someone did in fact exist,     and to prove that memories happened. I like the fact that photography is magical. The author talks about Robert Frank's photographic essay The Americans, which he created in the 50s. The image shows a segregated group of white and black passengers who are riding in a trolley in New Orleans. This image both portrays segregation in the past and examines how far we have come today, which is rather special in itself.