Tag Archives: History of Photography

Books Every Serious Photographer Must Have

The best books on photography (regularly updated) One of the consequences of my interest in photography is that I acquire and read too many photography books. I hope to develop this site as a resource for other photographers seeking out … 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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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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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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A Narrative of Paradigms

American Photography by Miles Orvell, Oxford History of Art Series. In his introduction, Miles Orvell sets out a challenge for himself: to tell the history of photography in America as “a narrative of successive paradigms, rather than a string of … Continue reading

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A ‘Must Have’ Photoshop Book

Scott Kelby’s 7-Point System for Adobe Photoshop A couple of years ago I picked up Scott Kelby’s Adobe Photoshop CS3 Book for Digital Photographers. It’s an excellent reference book and I highly recommend the edition for whatever version of Photoshop you happen … Continue reading

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Oxford History’s thought-provoking review of photography

The Photograph by Graham Clarke The Photograph by Graham Clarke is the first of three planned books on photography in the Oxford History of Art series. The second is American Photography by Miles Orvell, which I’ll review at a later … Continue reading

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An accessible and entertaining history

A World History of Photography by Naomi Rosenblum. Don’t be intimidated by Naomi Rosenblum’s 640-page history of photography. It’s surprisingly accessible and unpretentious. It’s a long, but easy, read for anyone who wants to understand photography and photographers in context. … Continue reading

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Is Photography Dead?

Obviously not. Rather, has photography in all its aspects been so thoroughly explored and its language so highly perfected that there just isn’t that much left to say anymore? Are we all just repeating what’s gone before us? Documentary photographers … Continue reading

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