"Benjamin and the Political Economy of the Photograph"

"And yet it is precisely these traditional notions of aesthetics, with all their attendant claims about craftsmanship, formal subtlety, and semantic complexity, that have sustained the case for the artistic status of photography."

This quote to me sums up this huge debate over photography being an art, or not being an art. In taking a photograph, there still has to be the aesthetic notion, which only someone with a photographic eye, or artistic view can see, when taking the photograph. Craftsmanship is something which all artists understand, whether in painting, sculpture, drawing, or even photography. I feel that when I look at a photograph taken by someone that knows little to nothing about photography, or has no artistic background, their photograph is not aesthetically pleasing, and might be missing the meaning that was actually at the scene; where as someone that understands photography knows what to capture or how to capture something in a photograph. Just the same as, not every person can pick up a paintbrush and paint a masterpiece.

"Benjamin's, we might say has the force of desire: he wants photography to transform the arts into a revolutionary force; he wants the question of photography as a fine art (or perhaps as just another technique of picture-making) to be bypassed by history."

I think this is a very strong quote from the passage. Benjamin wants nothing more than to see photography be accepted for what it is, even to go as far to say it is innovative. He wants to see this whole pointless debate of photography as a fine art be completely skipped over by history. I couldn't agree anymore with this quote. Photography is a revolutionary force, it always was and always will be. What would history be, if a camera, or photography was never invented? Photography could never be in the same realm as "picture-making." Photographs are the closest to the truth in my opinion. I sure don't want to base history on a painting, drawing, or tall tales passed down generation to generation.