On Photography

February 20, 2020 - Comment

First published in 1973, this is a study of the force of photographic images, which are continually inserted between experience and reality. Sontag here develops further the concept of “transparency”. When anything can be photographed, and photography has destroyed the boundaries and definitions of art, a viewer can approach a photograph freely, with no expectations

Buy Now! £16.44Amazon.co.uk Price
(as of April 19, 2020 1:00 pm GMT+0000 - Details)

First published in 1973, this is a study of the force of photographic images, which are continually inserted between experience and reality. Sontag here develops further the concept of “transparency”. When anything can be photographed, and photography has destroyed the boundaries and definitions of art, a viewer can approach a photograph freely, with no expectations of discovering what it means. This collection of six lucid and invigorating essays, with the most famous being “In Plato’s Cave”, make up a deep exploration of how the image has affected society.

Bestsellers 2021

Auto Amazon Links: No products found.

Comments

Anonymous says:

Classic text on photography to read again and again. … Classic text on photography to read again and again. If you want think think more about photography and what it means and how it works aesthetically and in society this is a must.

Anonymous says:

A fascinating book. A fascinating book, that is incredibly prescient. Much of what Sontag says applies to today’s culture of images. While she didn’t foresee the massive proliferation of images that exist today – notably the self-referential nature of a lot of photography – her insights are spot on. Sontag was writing in the 1970s, when photography – especially color photography – was becoming more commonplace, and she nails many of the cultural and sociological aspects of photographs. A must read for anyone who…

Anonymous says:

Image as Icon This is the world of the 1960s and ’70s when paper print photographs seemed to be everywhere and yet were in fact few and far between compared to the ubiquitous image creation and retention of the digital era. Nonetheless, the modern reader can easily comprehend the technical, psychological, social and artistic embedding of photography that Sontag offers on these pages. Highly perceptive, succinct, sensitive analysis of visual image reproduction which had come into its own during the interwar…

Comments are disabled for this post.

The owner of this website is a participant in the Amazon EU Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.co.uk.