Customer Reviews

Basic Critical Theory for Photographers

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Had this book been available during my degree in photography, I would have found it invaluable as an introduction not only to key texts to read alongside the originals, but also as an introduction to a wider range of approaches and writers of photographic criticism. After my degree even, it has been an enlightening book to read.
Ashley la Grange makes photographic theory accessible to those intimidated or unfamiliar with the sometimes overly complicated language used, and guides the reader through points that can be difficult to grasp without losing complexities of the original work.
Having worked with A-level students of photography since my graduation, I have found this an ideal book to not only introduce pupils to main ideas and terminology used in theory, but also to encourage personal responses through thought provoking questions included at the end of each chapter.
This book is different to other introductory books on photographic criticism in that its aims are not only to offer an overview of main debates and texts, but to help the reader gain a greater understanding of what they contain.

Perhaps even before considering this particular book, one might want to ask whether a study of photographic critical theory and philosophy will actually help a photographer to take better pictures. I would suspect that would depend, at least in part, on the genre that a photographer worked in. Much of the recognized current critical theory points toward a deconstructionist view of photography that attacks the validity of photographs and the use to which society puts them. I suspect the post-modernist photographer might benefit more than a traditional photographer who is primarily concerned with creating a beautiful image. (I know I invite attack for this over-simplification, but an adequate discussion of the utility of critical theory would require another book.) I asked a number of photographers their opinion and received a wide variety of responses. So be warned in advance that not every photographer will benefit from such study.

This book makes reference to a number of books and essays that are seminal works in the modern (or perhaps, post-modern) photography canon. They include John Berger's "Ways of Seeing: Based on the BBC Television Series"; John Szarkowski's "The Photographer's Eye"; and Susan Sontag's "On Photography (Penguin Modern Classics)" as well as a number of important shorter essays. Indeed the only major work omitted seemed to be Walter Benjamin's "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction".

La Grange's method is to provide a summary of the works, and then to provide a series of questions and exercises relating to the particular piece.

I confess that I did not read every summary presented because I found reading the summaries to be less than useful, although I did read at least one half of the book.

In several cases I compared the summaries to the original work. I found that in a few cases the summary was almost as long as the original work. However, many of these original works were very precisely developed with each idea clearly articulated, repeated and exemplified, so that the work was like a series of short geometric chords, each dependent on the previous, that, when observed from a distance formed an arc of ideas. Le Grange's summaries were more like long chords that missed many of the intermediated points and created a jagged figure. As a result it was often impossible for me to follow the original argument in the summary while a reading of the original revealed the author's points far more clearly.

Add to this the fact that many of the covered authors have a writing style that is worth following for its own sake, apart for the content, and that the summaries make no effort to capture that style.

Why someone would prefer to provide summaries of such complex works rather than the originals is beyond my comprehension. At first I suspected that there might have been a problem securing reprint rights, but another book that covers the same ground, "The Photography Reader", edited by Liz Wells, reprints original essays and important extracts of most of the readings in the la Grange book.

If there is any value to a photographer in reading critical theory, I would recommend that he or she read the original books and essays. Then, if they wish to refresh their memory at some future date, this book may prove useful. I would also recommend that the photographer interested in working in traditional forms might benefit from reading "Photography in Print: Writings from 1816 to the Present", edited by Vicki Goldberg.

This is a very useful book for anyone who wants to understand what photographs mean; how a particular meaning is constructed by the photographer and how different meanings are interpreted by the viewers.

The book is a summary of `essential texts' on photographic practice and theory. It's not critical theory in the technical academic sense; rather it is a selection of texts that it is critical to understand to gain some insight into the workings of photography. The selection of texts covers basic ideas of how photographs are constructed to semiotics, structuralism, post structuralism and post modernism to literature, poetry and philosophy. The book is targeted to a variety of audiences from high school students, to university students and advanced practitioners. It does help though to have a basic understanding of semiotics to get into some of the more difficult material.

A few years ago I completed a Masters degree in photography and many of the core texts from the course are included in this book. It is all well done, the summary of the texts are clear (or as clear as it's possible to be with some of this material). la Grange usefully includes a series of questions after each text that explores the key points and debates from the text. He also suggests photographic exercises that can be undertaken to explore the individual points. The plus side to all this is that he provides a relatively easy route to understanding this material without wading through the original books and articles. The down side is of course that many people will now not read the originals and loose much of the detail of the arguments.

The book starts with John Berger's Ways of Seeing (standard fare for any photo course). He then summarises Szarkowski's The Photographers Eye and Shore's The Nature of Photographs. Inevitably (and rightly) we get a long précis of Susan Sontag's On Photography that draws out many of the problematic ideas and half thoughts from her book. This is followed by Roalnd Barthes Camera Lucida which is mainly useful for the idea of `punctum'.

We then get a series of shorter pieces: Martha Rosler In, Around and Afterthoughts, Clive Scott The Spoken Image: Photography and Language, Andy Grundberg's The Crisis of the Real, Bertrand Russell on Appearance and Reality, Italo Calvino's short story The Adventures of a
Photographer and some poems by Felix Morrisseau-Leroy and George Szirtes

Also included is Raghubhir Sing's River of Colour where he argues that western sensibility tied to Judaeo-Christian values allows the creation of black and white photographic practice, whereas in India the values and world view of Hinduism promotes only the exploration of colour; interesting stuff. Finally a short section of Robert Adams, John Baldessari and Peter Goodwin's Analysis of Particular Photographs

Its hard to see how anyone can really understand the nature of photography without working through these texts. La Grange's book is therefore fully recommended. Go read.......

This book contains so many grammatical errors that it is difficult to figure out what the author is trying to say. It is full of run-on sentences, sentence fragments, and comma splices. Even if you are able to get past all this, his writing is very unclear. I do not recommend this book at all. But it would not be a bad idea to read the essays and books that he attempts to explain: Susan Sontag's On Photography, Barthes's Camera Lucida, and others.

Great anthology badly edited. Editor sees to apologize for this being an academic book. In retrospect I probably should have gone to the original sources - Berger, Sontag, Barthes et al. If you're new to photo theory then this is probably a useful crib. Disappointing

This review is merely a nod of approval for those who teach photo theory for undergraduates. The classic texts addressed--or not addressed--in the book have been noted elsewhere. Sure, there are essays that aren't addressed by la Grange, but what you have here is a very helpful tool for class prep--not just as a measuring stick for your interpretation of Sontag, et. al., but as a source for good questions that will help reframe discussions. If there is anything that I like to have when it comes to early AM art history/theory courses, it is a source for (1) a thorough but quick-and-dirty overview, and (2) creative questions for weaseling discussion from under-caffeinated students who've not read...or under-read...the course readings. So in addition to all of the other reasons to pick this up, consider the "class prep" angle, as well. Request it for your library and then check it out for the year. I have!

This is an extremely important and interesting introduction to key theoretical texts concerning photography. La Grange presents an impartial and clear synopsis of books and articles that have had wide-reaching impact on photographic practice and theory. The book has prompted me to return to many of the original texts and therefore I assume it must inspire new readers to commit to the texts for the first time. I have not attempted any of the exercises, but as a former teacher I think that they are good starting points for deeper consideration of the texts and will engage students in further analysis of the subjects, thereby encouraging them to have greater confidence in their own opinions. I am particularly excited that La Grange has placed photography within the broader context of the arts through the inclusion of literature and poems, as this is often overlooked by art criticism and theory.