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On Photography-

Cover of Public. Private. Secret

Public, Private, Secret

Public, Private, Secret. On Photography and the Configuration of Self.  By Charlotte Cotton with Marina Chao and Pauline Vermare   Public, Private, Secret. On Photography and the Configuration of Self, is an outgrowth of an exhibition held in 2016 for the opening of a new space in New York’s Bowery for the International Center of […]
Image of The Social Photo by Nathan Jurgenson

The Social Photo: On Photography and Social Media

The Social Photo: On Photography and Social Media.  By Nathan Jurgenson, Verso   Nathan Jurgenson covers a lot of territory in just over 100 pages, as he presents page after page of insightful and thought-provoking observations on photography and social media. Jurgenson dissects current opinions and attitudes about social media and nicely places them in […]
Photography as Contemporary Art Cotton

The Photograph as Contemporary Art

The Photograph as Contemporary Art   by Charlotte Cotton.  World of Art series: Thames & Hudson. Writing about contemporary anything is like running to catch a train that never slows down at a station. The author is forever destined to have missed the latest one, no matter how fast she goes. For nearly two decades, Charlotte […]
Photographers Eye

The best books on photography (irregularly updated)

None of these books will tell you anything about f-stops, but they will definitely make you a better photographer 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 the best in […]
Mary Ellen Mark Book

A workshop in book form?

Mary Ellen Mark on the Portrait and MomentAperture FoundationThe Photography Workshop Series It is an impossible task to convert the experience of learning from an accomplished talent in person into book form. The Aperture Foundation deserves credit for attempting to do so with The Photography Workshop Series (which, as of the end of 2022 consisted […]
Camera Lucida by Roland Barthes

Camera Lucida

Camera Lucida, Roland Barthes I doubt if any book about photography has been more thoroughly dissected than Camera Lucida. I have no illusion that I can add anything significant to the body of work on this small volume. It is a safe bet to say that for every one of the 119 pages in Roland […]
Beauty in Photography

Is Robert Adams the finest writer on photography?

Beauty in Photography, Robert Adams, Aperture The measure of a great essay is that after one reads it, there is simply nothing more to say. That is my reaction to Robert Adams’ Beauty in Photography. I have read it and re-read it. I want to comment on it, but frankly, I find it difficult to […]

Interview: Philip Gefter and Buzz Hartshorn

I enjoyed Philip Gefter’s collection of essays “Photography After Frank.” So, when I saw this interview by Gefter of Willis “Buzz” Hartshorn, the director of the International Center of Photography, I knew I would want to re-post it. I’m not familiar with Hartshorn, but I’m aware of the ICP and the interview was conducted shortly […]
August Sander portrait: My Wife in Joy and Sorrow

The Saddest Picture. Ever.

I can’t get this picture out of my head. I’ve thought about it for years and it always tears at my heart. For those who are unfamiliar with it, it’s called “Meine Frau in Freud und Leid” (My Wife in Joy and Sorrow) and it was taken in 1911 by August Sander. It shows Anna […]
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