This is one of the few books on how to see, understand, appreciate, and evaluate, a photograph or photographs written by a practicing photographer, who, most unusually for visual artists, is articulate in a concrete manner. Deeply knowledgeable of the entirety of the arts scene, Freeman has given us not only the third volume in his expanding franchise of "The Photographer's ___" series, but what may become a classic among books on this type of subject. It is certainly a wonderful candidate as a text for any university course on art appreciation.
At the zero-dimensional level, it is easily the most and best illustrated of any such book, and has a wonderful eye appeal. Most such books are full of text with few, if any illustrations. I tend to have little patience with books on art that are mostly words, particularly when the words do little to move the reader toward the supposed goal of knowing more about the art under consideration. Arnheim and Gombrich are good for theory, but tedious to plow through, and Susan Sontag? Well, I'll just say that I never managed to get through hers; she does have some quotable one-liners.
This book took a lot of work. Unlike Freeman's other books, only a very few of the illustrations in PV are his. He has mined the historical archives and dozens of the most current practitioners' work for over a hundred images, almost all with a well thought out caption. Setting this book apart from any other by a European or American is the number of images from East Asian photographers of the first caliber. Freeman has done a number of book and article projects in China and throughout Southeast Asia over many years and is more aware of talent there than we in the US are likely to be. This aspect alone makes this a book to which one should pay attention.
It took me a while to read this book. I went at it one or a few sections at a time. And it grew on me.
The first part, "A Momentary Art," looks at what a photograph is and isn't and what sets photography apart from other visual arts. He argues a model for understanding what makes a great photographic image. The second part, "Understanding Purpose," starts out with a review of a pretty standard breakout of the genres of photography, all based on content. Next he examines the various end use formats for one or a set of photographs. Not much new here. However, how he will develop his argument throughout the book starts to become apparent at several levels. Firstly, he continually links where he is to the opportunities emergent with today's digital tools and the larger possibilities these tools admit to the capture vs. concept dichotomy that runs through the philosophical and critical discourse today. Secondly, even in discussions on standard topics, he hints at where photography is going. Thirdly, he works the differing perspectives and expectations of practitioners, their audiences, critics and other vested interests into all aspects of his argument. That may be characterized as, "I like to think of photography as all one."
With that in mind, the reader will follow Freeman through a thorough look at appreciating, understanding, and evaluating an image or set of images from the viewer's, photographer's, and presenter's views of the "creative purpose" behind the images. Freeman moves around and among all sides of the debates that often resemble mumbojumbo and hand waving more than substantive statement in others' hands. The spectrum runs from classical "capture" to a major thrust in today's fine art photography hiding behind the cloak of "concept." "Concept" is the longest subsection in this part on "purpose." No longer "previsualization," concept today requires for a viewer's understanding a written or verbal discourse on the photographer's intent, message, personal philosophy, and so on. Of course, the Achilles heel of concept photography is what to do with the image in the absence of all of the words: this is of a different degree from the debate around images and captions from the picture magazine era. This reviewer's humble opinion is that "concept" covers for a lot of boring, uninspired, but often mural-sized pictures being flogged as fine art. But it is still useful to understand that....
At the bottom line, I favor, "It's the image, stupid!" But Freeman argues convincingly that the more one knows, let's say, of Jeff Wall's background and attempt at a personal philosophy, the more likely one might enjoy and appreciate his work. Sometimes, it just takes real effort.
The third and concluding section returns to the stuff of "The Photographer's Eye," and "_ Mind," though at a much more sophisticated level. Freeman summarizes the skill set a photographer must master to emerge successfully in today's hyper-competitive, rapidly desensitized market. He then places compositional considerations driven by the subject, what works, color, and lighting into the fuller world of display, purpose, and leaking across boundaries into fine art and art-crit discourse. It is clear that some influential critic/curators have stymied the opening up of thinking about photography since the 1970s and continue to distort the market today.
So enjoy this book. Any reader will come away enlightened, and, very likely, more open minded. With this book, Freeman is, I hope, signaling that other titles are forthcoming. This book expands beyond the photographer-centric viewpoint of PE and PM to encompass all of the actors in the photographic universe. He is close to having written the most significant body of work on a visual art form in many a year, and certainly a terrific one on which to start enjoying a new century of art.
