Walker Percy The Loss Of Sovereignty Analysis
The Loss of the Creature: Photography and Sovereignty
Control. Power. Self-agency. Walker Percy tackles these concepts and more in his article The Loss of the Creature. Percy presents his argument using phrases including “a loss of sovereignty”, “symbolic complex”, and “packaging”. Many advocates of Percy's argue that photography can only result in a further loss of sovereignty using Percy's arguments; however, there are times this isn't the case. Nature photography does not always result in a loss of sovereignty for the photographer because cameras can provide a means to explore and experience nature in different, frequently unique, ways. To start, this paper will explore Percy’s argument in The Loss of the Creature as it relates to photography in nature, then, describe a personal experience of gaining sovereignty through photography, and finish by addressing potential counter arguments.
In his article The Loss of the Creature, Walker Percy’s idea of “a loss …show more content…
Angles. These hatchlings were smaller than the circumference of a tennis ball, and less than an inch tall. To get detail on their newly hatched, yet ancient faces, I had to get the camera (and by extension, myself) on their level. Doing so revealed an entirely new facet of this experience, one that I value to this day. As the hatchlings moved into the waves, using my camera as an extension of myself displayed another element I hadn't considered in the timing of the waves. Having my camera all but resting on the wet sand meant that, just like those hatchlings, I was going to get wet if I didn't have the perfect timing. I soon discovered that this timing is extraordinarily difficult to execute, even with my human body. This gave me a whole new level of respect for these small
Control. Power. Self-agency. Walker Percy tackles these concepts and more in his article The Loss of the Creature. Percy presents his argument using phrases including “a loss of sovereignty”, “symbolic complex”, and “packaging”. Many advocates of Percy's argue that photography can only result in a further loss of sovereignty using Percy's arguments; however, there are times this isn't the case. Nature photography does not always result in a loss of sovereignty for the photographer because cameras can provide a means to explore and experience nature in different, frequently unique, ways. To start, this paper will explore Percy’s argument in The Loss of the Creature as it relates to photography in nature, then, describe a personal experience of gaining sovereignty through photography, and finish by addressing potential counter arguments.
In his article The Loss of the Creature, Walker Percy’s idea of “a loss …show more content…
Angles. These hatchlings were smaller than the circumference of a tennis ball, and less than an inch tall. To get detail on their newly hatched, yet ancient faces, I had to get the camera (and by extension, myself) on their level. Doing so revealed an entirely new facet of this experience, one that I value to this day. As the hatchlings moved into the waves, using my camera as an extension of myself displayed another element I hadn't considered in the timing of the waves. Having my camera all but resting on the wet sand meant that, just like those hatchlings, I was going to get wet if I didn't have the perfect timing. I soon discovered that this timing is extraordinarily difficult to execute, even with my human body. This gave me a whole new level of respect for these small