Final answer:
The author argues that photography impacts our perception and communication, similar to media's role as posited by Carlos Cortes. Both photography and media shape public opinion and understanding of human experience, despite the transformation of photography into a commodified and digitalized form.
Step-by-step explanation:
The author makes several claims about how photography can shape people’s worldview. One significant claim is that photography has the power to alter and enhance our senses, as seen through Umbo's photomontage featuring a camera-eyed observer, which represents the medium's potential to transform vision and communication. This transformative vision was particularly potent for early twentieth-century artists trying to comprehend a rapidly changing world.
When comparing this to Carlos Cortes's claim about media in “A Long Way to Go,” both suggest that visual representation, be it in photography or media at large, can significantly influence public opinion and our understanding of human experiences. Through images in weekly news magazines or digital media, the public's perception can be shaped, reinforcing or challenging societal norms and expectations.
Photography in colonial contexts often depicted non-Western people in ways that emphasized a developmental difference, reinforcing primitivist and orientalist stereotypes. However, photography has evolved to reflect the natural world, the creator's mind, and digital technology's influence. Photographers today still push the medium's boundaries, despite photography's commodification and ubiquity in the digital age.