One way that a photograph can be good is when it portrays a subject in such a way that it seems both familiar, and strange, at the same time. The "cognitive dissonance" this involves keeps us coming back to look at it. That is actually what got me interested in photography in the first place: The way things somehow look different, when we photograph them. I suspect that the fact that many "traditional" people who are living in the ancient ways find photographs to be creepy or even dangerous may be related to this phenomenon. (If it exists at all; it may just be me.) Of course not all good photographs work this way.
Thus in addition to sometimes being beautiful objects in their own right, photographs can serve as reminders of how much we are missing every day, as we go on living and seeing somewhat carelessly, as though we will be here forever.
In that connection, it is sometimes said that good photographs are everywhere to be made. I'm not sure I agree with that. It might be possibly true in principle, or possible for photographers with more talent than me. But I often struggle to find something new to say when I am in well-familiar territory.
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