“A way of certifying experience, taking photographs is also a way of refusing it -by limiting experience to a search for the photogenic, by converting experience into an image, a souvenir.”
This 'refusing the experience' that Sontag mentions within the concept of tourist, was, for me, equal to my experience as a photographer and nature-lover. By merely focusing on what was minimal and beautiful within the scenery I had, I was denying what was really going on within that natural habitat. Like many in my generation, I was simply repeating the cliches I learned.
This absence of questioning of what was going on, subconsciously resulted in the creation of an artificial relationship with nature (through images, mostly photographs) —although I had been assuming that it had been real. My Entomophobia (fear of insects) and Muriphobia (fear of mice) are great obstacles in the way of experiencing the unknown. With this project, as a daughter of a real nature-loving mother, I am questioning my way of admiring nature hence, improving my relationship with it.
