The Photography Book Phenomenon

Douglas Crimp begins his essay by delivering a story about a librarian, Julia Van Haaftan and how she was interested in the photography organization at the Art and Architecture Division of the New York Public Library. In addition, Crimp delivers his most enlightening and meaningful point by explaining how Julia Van Haaftan is also now a “director of the Photographic Collections Documentation Project”. She discovered several lost books and photographs, which she researched, re-categorizing, and placed them under the photography or art category in the photographic collection. I found this section of the essay entertaining because it demonstrates that the history books can get lost

The pictures in the book enhanced my appreciation for the book because it gave me a detailed description of certain parts. For example, it was very exciting to see how much the monster destroyed Conor’s grandma’s house, but it was very sad to see how Conor dropped his mother into a hole even if it was a nightmare. The pictures were very different compared to more modern day art because it was all black and white. Nonetheless the black and white color scheme portrayed the dark theme of the book and gave me a better understanding on what was going in

Books have been the main source of obtaining information and discovering a world of knowledge, imagination, and exploration throughout all periods of time.

For this essay the works of Robert Draper, author of “Why Photos Matter,” and Fred Ritchen, author of “Photography Changes the Way News is Reported,” will be analyzed. Though both deal with the topic of photography, their take on the matter is very different. While Ritchen is a photographer who writes on “what professional photographers will be doing in the future,” Draper is a writer for the National Geographic writing on how the photographers of the magazine share “a hunger for the unknown.” Both writers, however, write on the topic of photographers having a deeper understanding of their subjects, Ritchen due to research and practice, and Draper because the photographers “sit [with] their subjects, just listening to them.” In both essays the need for a deeper understanding of the

Books open your perspective about life, they give you different perspectives and points of view. They carry knowledge and it

While Postman points out the literal meaning of photography is “writing with light”; the two are from completely different universes when it comes to public discourse (p. 71). Unlike typography, photography cannot offer assertions, make propositions and offers no commentary. As long as it is not an altered photograph, it has no choice but to be true (p. 73). Thus, the photograph is only able to capture a moment in time and does not have the ability to comment on that moment. Our author contends, where language presents the world as an idea, the photographs only option is to show the world as an object (p. 72). Whereas in language, the correct context requires consideration of what is said before and after, in photography there is no before and after, only the snapshot of time. Therefore, by its very nature photography is context-free (p. 73). As photography immersed itself in the American culture author, Daniel Boorstin called this “the graphic revolution.” Postman is unequivocal on the point that the traditional forms of information, news, and even reality itself received an impairment by this new focus on images. For examples, he cites billboards, posters and advertisements. He points to magazines Life, Look and several newspapers. The picture was the focal point, and the writing was forced to take a less dominate roll and sometimes done away with altogether (p.

The original thought that photos were far superior to other visual aids have been re-evaluated in consideration of graphic artwork. The invention of photography initially provided the belief that a photo was simply a reproduction of the original. The progression of improved photographic equipment supplied the photographer with the choice of what to include or exclude from a picture. As an example, Jacob Riis transferred his belief of a sturdy, upstanding family with high morals into his photos by taking pictures of families in their apartments. However, his photo labeled “Five Cents A Spot” reflect an alternate picture of men and women packed in one apartment supported his viewpoint of the people’s poverty. Considering the subject matter of his reports it is a small wonder that his photos were not connected with a direct bias for both article and

I didn’t recognize many of the authors, although my favorite quote was from Wendell Minor, “A picture book is a mini mobile art gallery”. I liked this quote because it very cute, and true. Each page has a new picture for you too look at and carry around without going to the most prestigious gallery to see painting and pictures.

There is a beauty in books. Each book opens up your mind to a world unknown. Each page of a book makes you think to yourself "what's going to happen next?". Books give you thoughts and opinions. Books teach you things you never knew. They allow you to escape reality and enter someone else's world. Books

Before starting this project, I knew very little about photography, photographers, or exactly how much impact photographical images have had on our society. I have never taken a photography class, or researched too in depth about specific pictures or photographers. This project has allowed me to delve deeper into the world of photography in order to understand just how much influence pictures can have over society’s beliefs, emotions, and understandings’. I have have chosen two highly influential photographers, Diane Arbus and Dorothea Lange, who I have found to both resonate with me and perfectly capture human emotions in way that moves others.

The violent markings of the photo album and its images, however, produce an equally powerful message that jars the memory as it disrupts and distorts the photographic chronicle of her life and that of her family and friends. The result is a complex visual experience that addresses the use of images in producing knowledge and making history.

Between the use of film or digital photography, film is the more effective method when looking for originality and creativity. With the adoption of digital photography, the younger generations, as well as the older and more current photographers are becoming lazy. These groups must recognize that the art of the photograph is being jeopardized by the digital camera and the camera phone. For the current photographers as well as amateur photographers, this essay will serve as testimony to film as well as other chemical methods, and how they shouldn’t be ignored, but preferred. The digital era has had a massive impact on the art world and all of its mediums, but for photography this impact has resulted in the removal of the human from the photograph making process. This intimate process is what makes it an art form. All of films imperfections and unique qualities, as well as its monetary value and scarcity are just a few factors that have made it so precious. To replace this entire process with a microchip is offensive and undermines the importance of the process that is needed to make a photograph. Anyone can take a picture but you must make a photograph, and this skill is being simplified to a digital camera. The impact of the digital era on photography has hindered the process of making a photograph; painting the art form obsolete in today’s society.

(Bellis, 2009) Nevertheless, the main selling point of digital cameras was the convenient way that they could be stored. Every exposure is almost instantly saved to a removable disk drive, which remarkably expired the use of darkroom processing. It was convenient, less time was needed to produce an image, making it particularly appealing to journalism. The photograph has since then become an instant process. Combined with the invention of the Internet, and booming industry of personal computers, the newer technology would expire its predecessor. There are billions of photographs on the Internet, comprising the largest most diverse photo collection ever assembled. We have access to imagery from all over the world, using key words and hash tags to catalogue imagery and content; we can see what is happening without being there. The introduction of digital photography has enabled photographers to record terabits of imagery which can be stored in minute places, meaning the coverage that we have of the modern world is greater than ever. Unlike the formats that Henri Cartier-Bresson used, where each roll of film, or negative slide needed storing in a large physical place, under controlled conditions, an archive of objects. Automation came with digital photography, its combination of digital components allowed the camera to automatically detect light qualities, and

Benjamin’s death in 1940 at the age of 48, is rumored to be a suicide when the Naza’s took office, but is still a mystery. His ideas and concepts however, would live on for decades to come. Much of what he wrote about when discussing art came essentially after the development of photography and film. In his work, “Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction,” Benjamin addresses his perception of the changes in art and the aesthetic experience congruent with societal changes. He writes with concern of how the great artworks are viewed after the introduction of photography and film. His idea of mechanical reproduction changed the art world as society knew it, particularly in how the public views artwork and the value of that work as more and more people are able to own, view and discuss it. This paper will specifically look at aspects of Benjamin’s groundbreaking essay and how educators can relate his ideas to the practices in their art classrooms.

Susan Sontag said photographs sends across the harmlessness and helplessness of the human life steering into their own ruin. Furthermore the bond connecting photography with departure from life tortures the human race. (Sontag 1977:64)