Firstly, it was inevitable that Shakespeare would make an appearance in, or have an influence on this website in some way or another. His words are never far from my thoughts.
Secondly, photography does, literally and metaphorically, hold a mirror up to nature. The mirror inside the camera casing guides the image onto the sensors (or film). And those who look at the images that emerge on the computer screen (or still, occasionally, out of the darkroom) are, in effect, seeing a type of mirror image, sometimes distorted, sometimes painfully immediate, of scenes we encounter in every day life as well as extraordinary situations.
And we should not assume 'nature' refers solely to the various 'landscapes' around us. Shakespeare was also referring to human nature. Just as his plays explore human nature in all its complexity, from pure evil to selfless sacrifice in the name of good...so the camera wherever it is carried can be found recording similar acts of cruelty or compassion. Thus, both the writing of a play and the taking of a photograph become an invaluable record of the diversity of human behaviour, its beauty but also its ugliness. And, when either genre aspires to, or achieves greatness, initiates a dialogue with its 'audience'.