Category Archives: Photography Histories

A Genuine Delight

The Ongoing Moment – Geoff Dyer, Vintage Press I read a lot of books about photography, but there are very few that I would call delightful. But, that’s a pretty good description of Geoff Dyer’s “The Ongoing Moment.” The book … Continue reading

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Genius of Photography on You Tube

The BBC has apparently posted a recent television series “The Genius of Photography” on You Tube. Each episode appears to be split into four parts.  This is the first part of Episode One. I’ll post more when I get a … Continue reading

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Striving for Art

Photography, the Key Concepts by David Bate, Berg Publishers Where exactly does photography fit into the world of art? That photography is, or can be, “art” has been a settled question for a century or more. Far more difficult to … Continue reading

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2009 NPR Story about Robert Frank

One of the great things about Google and the Internet is that you never know when you might stumble upon a prize. This one comes via Google Alerts and is an NPR story from 2009 on Robert Frank. It’s pretty … Continue reading

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In Search of Things as They Are

Disappearing Witness by Gretchen Garner. Johns Hopkins University Press. Gretchen Garner thinks documentary photography contributes something that is worth preserving. For much of the 20th Century,  that would have seemed like a ridiculously self-evident perspective. Documentary photography, or more precisely, … Continue reading

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Gretchen Garner is hot!

Disappearing Witness. Gretchen Garner. I thought that might get your attention. To clarify, and to avoid any domestic problems, it’s really Garner’s book Disappearing Witness that I’m infatuated with. Most photography critiques don’t exactly qualify as page-turners. But, I find … Continue reading

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So, what’s Philip Gefter got against Annie Leibovitz?

A lot, apparently. In his Photography After Frank , most of Gefter’s essays are complementary profiles of a variety of photographers, some famous, some not so much. But, when it comes to his review of Leibovitz’s own book, A Photographer’s … Continue reading

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What I’m Reading

Photography After Frank. Essays by Philip Gefter. I’ll want to write more about this book. But, it’s so good that I thought I’d put in a quick plug right away. It’s not really what I expected. Rather than a single … Continue reading

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Thinking about Beaumont

The History of Photography by Beaumont Newhall. The Museum of Modern Art (1982 Edition) Beaumont Newhall’s History of Photography is so much a part of the history that it documents that it can be hard to read it today and … Continue reading

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How to Read a History of Photography

I’ve discovered a secret about reading histories and criticisms of photography. It’s the iPhone. Or, alternatively an iPad or iTouch. Almost every book on photography contains a disclaimer from the author that he or she regrets that the practical limits … Continue reading

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