Susan Sontag

"To photograph is to appropriate the thing photographed. It means putting oneself into a certain relation to the world that feels like knowledge -- and, therefore, like power." -'On Photography'

I don't know very much about art criticism, and I've yet to read all of Susan Sontag's book, but I keep on thinking about what she says about photography and how her writing completely captures the sinking feeling I get when members of my study abroad group take photographs of townships.