What Photography Is Contributor(s): Elkins, James (Author) |
|
![]() |
ISBN: 0415995698 ISBN-13: 9780415995696 Publisher: Routledge OUR PRICE: $52.20 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: April 2011 |
Additional Information |
BISAC Categories: - Art - Photography - Social Science | Media Studies |
Dewey: 770.1 |
LCCN: 2010017231 |
Physical Information: 0.6" H x 5.4" W x 8.3" (0.90 lbs) 240 pages |
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
Publisher Description: In What Photography Is, James Elkins examines the strange and alluring power of photography in the same provocative and evocative manner as he explored oil painting in his best-selling What Painting Is. In the course of an extended imaginary dialogue with Roland Barthes's Camera Lucida, Elkins argues that photography is also about meaninglessness--its apparently endless capacity to show us things that we do not want or need to see--and also about pain, because extremely powerful images can sear permanently into our consciousness. Extensively illustrated with a surprising range of images, the book demonstrates that what makes photography uniquely powerful is its ability to express the difficulty--physical, psychological, emotional, and aesthetic--of the act of seeing. |