The collection of essays by Susan Sontag, "On Photography," first appeared as a series of articles published in the New York Review of Books between 1973 and 1977. In the book that made her famous, Sontag concludes that the widespread use of photography leads to the establishment of a relationship between people and the world characterized by "chronic voyeurism." As a result, everything that happens is placed on the same level and acquires the same meaning.

According to Sontag, the main paradox of photography is that the person taking the picture cannot intervene in the event. Conversely, if they participate in the event, they are no longer able to capture it as a photographic image.