or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
or
Amazon Prime Free Trial required. Sign up when you check out. Learn More
Sell Back Your Copy
For a $2.00 Gift Card
Trade in
More Buying Choices
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
Photography in 100 Words: Exploring the Art of Photography with Fifty of its Greatest Masters
 
See larger image 
See all product images
See 1 customer image
Share your own customer images
Publisher: learn how customers can search inside this book.
Tell the Publisher!
I'd like to read this book on Kindle

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

Photography in 100 Words: Exploring the Art of Photography with Fifty of its Greatest Masters [Hardcover]

David Clark (Author)
4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews) |
List Price: $29.95
Price: $22.76 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
You Save: $7.19 (24%)
  Special Offers Available
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.
Only 8 left in stock--order soon (more on the way).
Want it delivered Monday, May 21? Choose One-Day Shipping at checkout. Details
Textbook Student FREE Two-Day Shipping for students on millions of items. Learn more

Book Description

Publication Date: October 28, 2009 | ISBN-10: 0240813006 | ISBN-13: 978-0240813004 | Edition: 1

The question 'What is photography?' is not an easy one to answer. Many thousands of words have been written in an effort to do so, in academic journals and in books by cultural commentators such as Susan Sontag and Roland Barthes. If we acknowledge that it is impossible to provide a definitive answer, can we at least distil the meaning of photography into somewhat fewer words, and get to the very essence of the medium without diminishing its importance as an art form?

This book aims to do just that. David Clark has selected 50 iconic images by some of the world's greatest photographers and asked them to explain how the pictures were made and their creative approach. From these interviews he has chosen 100 words - two from each photographer - that encapsulate their philosophy, and which are picked out in bold in the text. Martin Parr, for example, likes to capture ambiguity in many of his images, whereas David Bailey hopes for the perfect accident. For Harry Benson a news picture must have a sense of crisis while reportage photographer Paolo Pellegrin sees his role as that of a witness. And while Harry Cory Wright strives for completeness in his landscapes, Michael Kenna is drawn to the idea of suggestion.

The highlighted words work on two levels. As well as giving insights into iconic images from the photographers who took them, they build over the course of the book into a unique creative lexicon of the photographic medium - one which crystallises its many aims and functions, perspectives and meanings. Thought-provoking, insightful and inspirational, Photography in 100 Words will appeal to all photographers and anyone who seeks a better understanding of the medium.

* Features a host of famous names, including Ralph Gibson, Art Wolfe, Elliott Erwitt, David Bailey, Martin Parr, Frans Lanting, Nick Danzinger, Dennis Stock and Yann-Arthus Bertrand

* World renowned photographers discuss their philosophy and approach, and explain their iconic images

* Includes photographers from all branches of the medium, from landscape to still-life, portraiture to reportage

Special Offers and Product Promotions

  • Buy $50 in qualifying physical textbooks, get $2 in Amazon MP3 Credit. Here's how (restrictions apply)

Frequently Bought Together

Customers buy this book with The Photographer's Eye: Composition and Design for Better Digital Photos by Michael Freeman Paperback $17.70

Photography in 100 Words: Exploring the Art of Photography with Fifty of its Greatest Masters + The Photographer's Eye: Composition and Design for Better Digital Photos
Price For Both: $40.46

Show availability and shipping details

  • This item: Photography in 100 Words: Exploring the Art of Photography with Fifty of its Greatest Masters by David Clark Hardcover

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

  • The Photographer's Eye: Composition and Design for Better Digital Photos by Michael Freeman Paperback

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

David Clark is a photography journalist and author. He was the senior features writer on Amateur Photographer magazine for nine years, during which time he met and interviewed many of the world's great photographers.

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 128 pages
  • Publisher: Focal Press; 1 edition (October 28, 2009)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0240813006
  • ISBN-13: 978-0240813004
  • Product Dimensions: 10.5 x 9.2 x 0.6 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #871,557 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Borrow a copy January 22, 2010
Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)
First, a few pros and cons:

PROS

interesting photos

excellent technique

good use of light, contrast, etc

CONS

shallow interviews

two words isn't enough, nor always representative

no cohesive theme (topic of photograph or selection of artists)

rule that two photographers cannot be tied to a single word might well skew results

"Greatest Masters" is always arbitrary, but these photographers, with few exceptions, are not in that exalted league.

GENERAL

It is always important for photographers to view the work of others in order to experience things like perspective, lighting, visual mass, etc. Before the Internet, the only way to do this would have been via a book like this. Had it come out 10 or 15 years ago, I might have welcomed it with open arms and given it 5 stars. Since in today's world a wide variety of images can be found every day via blogs, artist personal websites/portfolios or even flickr, the value of this book is questionable.

The author did accomplish what he set out to do. My question is what value did his journey provide us? In this case, I think the answer is very little.
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Hidden Concept December 9, 2009
Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)
Here's what I would classify as a high-concept photo book.

The author has collected one photograph from each of 50 photographers and then interviewed each, asking the source of their inspiration. Then in each of the interviews the author has highlighted two words used by the photographers in bold type. Typical of the words were some of those beginning with the letter "A": Abstract; Accident; Addictive; Ambiguity; Anger; and so forth. Once these words were selected, they were not highlighted in other interviews even if repeated by subsequent photographers. This resulted in a list of 100 words which appears in large type opposite the table of contents. Other then a few brief paragraphs in the introduction, the author makes no further attempt to analyze the selection of words.

The photographers selected seemed mostly from the British Isles. While I don't claim to know every one of the world's great photographers, I was not familiar with about half of the photographers. Similarly, if I were to make up a list of the 50 most famous photographers in the world, only about five would be included in the book. That doesn't mean the photographs were not good, but just that the photographers were not the most famous.

Whenever a series of pictures, whether by a single photographer or multiple photographers, is presented in a book, one should expect some synergistic effect. In this case, the images are a mixed bag of styles, from gritty realistic reporting to almost abstract close-ups of flowers. Even though most were quite good no constant theme emerged from the pictures. Apparently the author thought that some overarching idea would emerge from the selection of words. It would be possible for a person to put some of the words together to derive an idea, but there is nothing to say that that this would be the idea intended by the author.

In other words, this is a high concept book whose concept remains hidden.
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)
Fuzzy Wuzzy's Summary:
**** Recommended with warm fuzzies.

This book is more of a conceptual exploration of what inspires photographers instead of a how-to book. The author interviewed 50 photographers and selected two words (mainly nouns and adjectives) from each photographer's response to form the basis of the "100 Words". So regardless of where you open this book up, on the left-side page is a short narrative of an interview with the photographer and on the right-side page is a representative photo shot by that photographer.

The selection of photographers in this book was good, but I truly think that this book could have been so much more inspiring to the reader had David Clark included: (1) more photographers into this book (too many great iconic photographers were left out! and too many photographic styles and subject matters were also not included), (2) more samples of each photographer's work, even if that means dividing one page to hold 4 separate photos instead of just one large photo, and (3) more commentary, written from each photographer's perspective, about how the essence of the two words associated with that photographer pertains to either their approach to photography or the art of photography in general.

There is a "Biographies" section at the end of the book that has a short curriculum vitae of each represented photographer, along with references to their published books and Web sites. But, overall, the brevity of this book, along with the amount of empty space on each page that could have been used for more photos and narratives, was slightly underwhelming for me (I am a "serious amateur" photographer with 3 DSLRs, 1 point-and-shoot, and 7 lenses), and thus the 4-star rating, and in my eye, this book makes a good "coffee table book" for casual flipping, but is not enlightening enough for those of us who consider photography to be either a profession or a serious hobby.
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Novel approach, helpful insights
As a serious amateur photographer, I am always trying to understand the strange hybrid art/science of photography, what constitutes a good or great photo, and how other... Read more
Published 16 months ago by Robert Holland
A visual feast....
Honestly, I wasn't too keen on the format of this book, highlighting a word from an interview with a photographer and trying to string these words together into some kind of lesson... Read more
Published on April 12, 2010 by Learning All The Time
Great for inspiration and teaching
I'm very much an amateur photographer and honestly don't know much about famous photographers. This book helped introduce me to many well known photographers and also a sneak peek... Read more
Published on February 23, 2010 by Jeff ten Bosch
For those who love iconic photographs
This beautifully presented book is filled with iconic photographs in exquisite resolution. I had seen many of those photographs in various sites before and so it was especially... Read more
Published on January 21, 2010 by Lynn
A really good gift for a photographer
This is a really good book to inspire photographers to take better pictures. The book has 100 photographers write about the different aspects of photography that influence their... Read more
Published on January 21, 2010 by Shyam Sundar
Successful Challenge to the Cliche
David Clark's PHOTOGRAPHY IN 100 WORDS offers fifty images by fifty different photographers and then attempts to distill those images' intrinsic values into two descriptive terms. Read more
Published on January 17, 2010 by Thomas A. Holmes
broad and inspiring
This book is a curious entity, with photos covering everything from an elephant swimming to an almost-from-space arial shot, to a portrait of the queen of England. Read more
Published on January 15, 2010 by bored99
A must-read for all aspiring photographers
This book is simply designed to give the reader insight to the meaning of photography from some of the greatest photographers. Read more
Published on January 7, 2010 by P. Kalina
Pleasant change from the ordinary
This is a nice companion book to add to your burgeoning photo book library. This book has a unique twist to it... Read more
Published on December 28, 2009 by Jeffrey E
Collective Moments
Photography is all about capturing and preserving moments, subject to the perspective a photographer brings to the process. Read more
Published on December 22, 2009 by Damian P. Gadal
Search Customer Reviews
Only search this product's reviews

What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?

› Explore similar items

Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 
(11)
(8)
(8)
(8)
(7)
(5)
(4)
(3)
(3)
(1)
Agree with these tags?
See all 13 tags...

Your tags: Add your first tag
 
See most popular tags

Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store

If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store. Learn more

Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   
Related forums

Listmania!


Create a Listmania! list

So You'd Like to...


Create a guide

Look for Similar Items by Category

Look for Similar Items by Subject

Search Books by subject:







i.e., each book must be in subject 1 AND subject 2 AND ...