Customer Reviews

The Photography Reader

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

As the editor Liz Wells remarks in her introduction, this book is concerned with histories of ideas about photography. Even though Wells herself falls into the trap of referring to the materials in this book as photography criticism, this is a book of readings in critical theory of photography, and as such is concerned more with history, sociology, semiotics, aesthetics, and epistemology. All of the works in the book were created after 1930 and include the writings of many of the great public intellectuals, like Roland Barthes, Susan Sontag and Umberto Eco.

After a general introduction by Wells, the book is divided into several parts, each of which deals with a particular aspect of photographic critical theory. Again Wells sets the scene and then a number of voices are heard from, either offering original theory, or analyzing a theory, or finding fault with a theory. For example, the general section offers selections from Barthes, Sontag and Walter Benjamin as well as articles by authors who clarify the thoughts of these writers. Thus W.J.T. Mitchell's article on Benjamin's "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" made explicit for me the basic conflict between Benjamin's respect for the aura of the original work of art and his optimism about the ability of mechanical reproduction to make art available to the public.

The book covers a number of subjects in critical theory, such as photography and postmodernism, where several authors explain what the postmodern is in photography (I hasten to add "in photography" since the nature of postmodern seems to vary amongst the arts), and for me at least, explained what elements distinguished postmodernism from what I perceive to be the main stream of art photography. There is even a section on digital photography, which spent a great deal of print on an old question, how real is photography?

There is nothing about photographic technique here. In fact one question that is regularly on my mind when I read photographic critical theory is "how much use can this work be to the photographer?" Some photographers will find the discussion of the nature of images interesting, but I was hard pressed to understand how all of the broad theory will help in making a single image that better expresses the photographer's vision of his work. (Interestingly, photographic critical theory may have diverged in this respect from literary critical theory where knowledge of some of the theory might help an author write a more effective work.) Moreover, except to the extent that photographic critical theory has identified certain broad philosophical trends in images, I'm not certain that all of this theory will help a single viewer to come to grips with a single photograph.

Many of the concepts in this book are hard to grasp and I expect that many of the selections will require several readings to understand. However, as I've said elsewhere, reading the originals of the articles that Wells has assembled is probably the best way to come to terms with the deep roots that photography has sunk into modern culture.

This book includes seminal essays that all photography students should read such as those from Rosler, Sontag and Barthes to name a few. It also includes others that discuss the role of the photographer in the Post Modernist, digital artworld. Together the essays create a discussion about why we photograph the things around us and what happens to the meaning of the image when seen by others.

I reccomend this anthology with 4 rather than 5 stars only because some of the essays are not complete and the book began to fall apart before I finished it. Many of the full version of the essays are available in the Context of Meaning, another highly reccomended photo-theory anthology. If available buy this in hard cover. It is a great introduction for college-aged students to the various writings on photogaphy.

My advanced photo teacher had us purchase this book for class. It is NOT an instruction/technique guide of any kind. Instead, it is more of a collection of short-essays written by photographers, and lovers of the art. It is very philosophical, and a few of my classmates dislike this, however I find it to be very interesting.

This is the only required book I have ever made my college photography students buy.

I bought this book for a class. It is a collection of essays by photography critics and theorists examining photography throughout history. It served its purpose for the class and I did find some of our required reading interesting but it wouldn't be my choice for everyday reading.

I had to get this book for a Photography class and I have to say, the book itself, coinciding with the requirement to read it in 4 days, made me dislike this book. Its content is a compilation of essays and articles which I often found the title and content of them disconnected or poorly connected. I felt like the authors often overused their vocabulary in ways that were nondescript and seemed to be trying to produce a facade of intellect and superiority (2 sentences in one section used "phenomenon" or "phenomenological" 4 or 5 times which any writer should know not to use the same word or word derivative repeatedly; that is why we have synonyms). Seeing as it is not a book by one author, the flow of the book is broken and you find a repetition of thought and sometimes a multiplicity of ideas on similar subjects that can get confusing or contradictory (which is to be expected when you have separate people with different perspectives writing about similar topics). If you have to get the book for school or something; good luck. If you are getting the book for some free time reading; try reading one section at a time with breaks in between and it may be more enjoyable as it was not intended to be one cohesive thought. Reading it all at one time is not recommended and I personally did not find the book beneficial.