In “The Thing Itself,” from The Photographer’s Eye by John Szarkowski, the difference between the thing that is shown in a photograph or the subject of the photograph and the photograph is the actuality in the acceptance of fact by the photographer. According to this short text, the photograph might be more important than the thing itself because the facts are in the photo and the thing itself is not as important as what is in the photo. What is seen through the camera can be seen differently by viewers. The facts of reality can present itself in a still picture where all the information can be held in one spot. It is up to the photographer to use the worlds eye rather than his own to let the camera experience the life, rather than the photographer controlling the camera and its actions. Photos when taken with passion show truth, when the photographer is seeing truth and believe what story the scene is portraying.
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Szarkowki is raging something a bit different than what you write above. He states that the photographer changes the thing or event he or she photographs by shifting the emphasis onto what he or she thinks is important. That photograph becomes more important than the event that actually happened because it is what is remembered.