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Best Books of the Year So Far
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Best Books of the Month
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ON PHOTOGRAPHY by Susan Sontag is a 163-page book of photography criticism. The book does not contain any photographs. There is no need for any reproductions of photos, because essentially every page refers to the work of well-known photographers, including Fox Talbot, Paul Strand, Richard Avedon, Harold Edgerton, Edward Weston, Henry Callahan, Ansel Adams, Diane Arbus, Roy Stryker, Alfred Steiglitz, Russell Lee, Edward Steichen, Man Ray, Walker Evans, August Sander, Cartier Bresson, Dorothea Lange, Lewis Hine, Andreas Feininger, and a handful of lesser known photographers. Of these, the book focuses most on Edward Weston, Diane Arbus, and Alfred Steiglitz, and August Sander. Thus, the reader should make an attempt to educate herself on all of the above photographers before reading Susan Sontag's book.
The book also assumes a familiarity with a number of films, such as Peeping Tom by Michael Powell, Blowup by Antonioni, Freaks by Todd Browning, Man with a Movie Camera by Dziga Vertov, Rear Window by Hitchcock, La Jetee by Chris Marker, Menschen am Sonntag by Robert Siodmak, the Cameraman by Buster Keaton, A Letter to Jane by Gorin, and Chung Kuo by Antonioni.
All of these photographers and cinematographers are skillfully woven into Susan Sontag's narrative (it is not the case that the author is a mere name-dropper). The book also refers to a number of painters, such as Morandi, Delacroix, and Turner, however, paintings are not much discussed in this book.
The book has the following seven chapters:
(1) IN PLATO'S CAVE (pages 1-19). This chapter includes a number of perceptive observations on amateur photography. (I disclose more on this chapter, below.)
(2) AMERICA, SEEN THROUGH PHOTOGRAPHS, DARKLY (pages 21-38).Read more ›
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This should be a must read for any photographer whose mind seeks to go beyond the technical aspects of photography. When I read it, many of her comments were aimed at those "snapshot prints" that ended up in photo albums, thus lacked impact for me as digital photography was then my new medium. Now, with the the iPhone or equivalent running amuck, and the age of "selfies", which I would rename "narcisstics" for the "me, me, me" crowd, it regains impact. Yes, the medium is the message.
I didn't like much of what she said as she was your typical leftist intellectual. The truth is she really had something to say about the meaning and content of photography. This alone puts her in a class probably by herself. I love photography and have been taking pictures since 1959. I don't know of one other book that even comes close to dealing with the real impact of photography. It is not a book for the "sheeple". If you are serious about photography - read it! It should make you angry, and challenge your beliefs. We all need more of that. I'm re-reading it now for about the tenth time. Every time I read it I get something new and challenging from it. You can't say that about many books today.
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A classic. There's nothing I could say that hasn't been said. If you are a student of photography, aesthetics, or art history and you have not read it, get it now!
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Sontag is a great writer and it is a joy to read here comments on Photography. Lots of insight. The book is a little dated as it does not consider the current world where everybody has a camera in there pocket and is posting pictures of themselves constantly. But still, Sontag's observations about people, culture and photograph is spot on.
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