civilized ku # 348/49 ~ yet another recommendation
Monday, January 18, 2010 at 11:28AM 
Shoeshine box • click to embiggenWith these pictures I was using one of my electronic optical instruments in pursuit of visual inspection which was spun out for the sheer pleasure of discernment, if you know what I mean. If not, maybe you should take up finger painting as a hobby.
It would seem that my introductory sentence was instigated by a couple of recent experiences with the one of the TV shopping channels together with a mindset that comes from reading HOW TO READ A PHOTOGRAPH: Lessons from Master Photographers, a book that I would highly recommend. Not so, re: viewing TV shopping channels.
In my defense, re: viewing TV shopping channels, I did not actually view any Tv shopping channels but, while perusing an onscreen channel guide, I did notice a shopping channel segment that was listed as "Optical Electronics" which was part of a "Picture Perfect" sale. Apparently the word "camera" is rather passé these days, or is it "daze".
In any event, my ongoing reading of HOW TO READ A PHOTOGRAPH: Lessons from Master Photographers is a much more instructive and interesting experience. The book - which features (over the course of 380+ pages) "profiles of more than 100 great photographers" along with "biographical, historical, and technical details (that) place their work in a broader context, while analysis of key images unites each artist's vision, offering readers paths to discover the true meaning of a photograph".
Let me state , right from the get-go, that I am very suspicious of book titles that include phrases such as "lessons from master photographers" as well as book blurbs that claim to offer "paths to discover the true meaning of a photograph". And, the fact that the book was sealed in cellophane when I found it at a bookstore, made me rather wary of my purchase. However, the book is published by Abrams, a publisher not known for flakey "how-to" books, so I took a $35US chance and, fortunately, I was not disappointed.
The book's author, Ian Jeffrey, has assembled a visual history of the medium - from the first landscapes and portraits of the 1840s through the modern era - along with a critical narrative of not only the work of individual photographers but also of the cultural paradigms that influenced the photographers and their picture making endeavors. Jeffrey accomplishes both tasks by writing in a clear and direct manner without giving over to academia-speak gibberish.
As comprehensive as the book is, it can only give brief and rather cursory overviews - albethey insightful and informative - of the bios, work, and times of the 100+ photographer it surveys. If you think of the book as a kind of CliffsNotes short course / whet-your-appetite-for-more volume, then, IMO, the book is another must have/read for students of the game.
On that level and after a very short time with it, the book has already re-ignited my somewhat dormant interest in the work of 3 of my most favored photographers - Eugène Atget, Josef Sudek, and Paul Strand. Based just on that result, the book is well worth the price of admission.
As for the notion that the book has offered me "paths to discover the true meaning of a photograph", I'll have to get back to you on that claim after I have spent more time ingesting and processing Jeffrey's take on things.
FYI, You may have noticed in the course of perusing my recent recommendations, that I do not create links to book sellers. This comes from the fact that I have a long standing, irrational, knee-jerk, gut-level, aversion to the fact that everyone who does so links to Ama..... - see, I can't even type the word - the Mother of All Bookstore Killers. IMO, Ama.... represents, in the form of pure concentrated evil, everything that is wrong with the world.
Reader Comments (4)
Mater = mother. Mother photographers? Hmmm. I think we're got a typo here. Twice. Ctrl-C has its ad and disadvantages.
Like the diptych, though.
Command-C… gravitas et nugalis uses a MAC.
Right -- read "copy" and "paste" instead. Let's keep it generic.