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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. Some theorize that the practice of photography allows the disclosure of a ___________ truth.

2. Photography allows painting to focus on the purely __________ of the object being captured.

3. An audience cares about the subject being photographed, yet wants little to do with the _______________.

4. Who was rendered with Antonioni's typical flair and technique, featuring long shots, close-ups, jarring juxtaposition, and a focus on the ordinary?

5. Most theories of art, according to Sontag, have only proven to be __________ in retrospect as well as in their own time.

Short Essay Questions

1. What is difficult, if not impossible to do when it comes to looking at photographs, as opposed to looking at paintings?

2. What does a photographic portrait not need to do, instead it can mingle documentation with artistic rendering?

3. What do the Chinese tastes prefer to see in their films, which made the Italian director a poor choice for the documentary on Chinese life?

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

5. What was the progression of photography in relation to its artistic status, according to this chapter?

6. What do cameras often reveal in the subject of the picture or in the object being photographed?

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

8. What discussion does false photography illuminate in regards to the essential division in photography?

9. What does modern photography seem to say about this subject of the photograph and its importance?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In Plato's cave, the prisoners are only able to see the shadows of what is real, not the actual objects.

Part 1: Why do you think Sontag used this image to begin a discussion of photography?

Part 2: How would life be different if you could only see shadows?

Part 3: Do you think you'd like a world in which all you saw were the shadows? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 2

According to Sontag, painting favors beautiful items while photography favors less than attractive objects.

Part 1: Why do you think painting is used for beautiful items?

Part 2: Do you think painting can only be used for beautiful things? Why or why not?

Part 3: Do you think that photography focuses only on those things which are less attractive? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 3

Photographs can capture beauty in all things, even things which are not supposed to be conventionally beautiful.

Part 1: How do you define the idea of beauty? Why?

Part 2: Why do you think it's important for some to capture images of beauty?

Part 3: How do beautiful images affect those who look at them? Why?

(see the answer keys)

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