I have been reading “A philosophical Enquiry into the Sublime and Beautiful” by Edmund Burke of late, and came across a comment that has me thinking especially if you substitute photography for painting and drawing.

Burke writes “If I make a drawing of a palace, or a temple, or a landscape, I present a very clear idea of those objects; but…….my picture can at most affect only as the palace, temple, or landscape would have affected in the reality.”

Granted that some people can see more in some scenes than others and focus on different parts of the same scene, but can they ever see more than is actually there?

So my contemplating mind has got to thinking. Does photography simply reflect the beauty that already exists, or can it add to a subject.