The Photographer’s Eye – Composition and Design for Better Digital Photographs (Michael Freeman, 2007, Ilex)
During the recent hot weather I managed to finish off reading Michael’s book. Some sections I re-read to reenforce some of the key messages that he was putting across. Every student of the OCA TOAP course would be wise to read the book prior to commencing any of the exercises or assignments. Many of the areas covered will be discussed within this book and will add value to any of the assignments that are subsequently undertaken. My copy has numerous Post-It notes on comments or points that I will return back to from time to time – I felt they were such that they were worthy of repeat readings to make sure they were reflected in my future work. I may disagree with what/what did not work well! Art, and this includes photography, is often a subjective matter to the individual.
One of the descriptions (see Chapter 6 / Process / ‘Return’ sub-section) indicates that the windmill pictures on page 173 had been taken “27 years later to the month” from one captured previously. Clearly there was a lot of material to hand to add weight to the themes and pictorial examples. The OCA TOAP module syllabus may be heavily aligned with this book??
I was somewhat perplexed that Michael hadn’t finished off with a wrap up or summary at the end of the book. It finished afer the ‘Syntax’ section. End. Finis. I felt as though I had been left waiting for something else. Strange.
Photography – A Critical Introduction (Liz Wells, 2009, Routledge)
I’ve spent a while reading this tome – and I had to keep on coming back to it to finish it. Isn’t it dry?
This book examines photographic theory and attempts to place them in social and political contexts. There are six main chapters along with some covering the commentary and an overarching introduction; the six chapters include supporting images and external references are written by different contributors include personal popular photography, photography and commodity culture, photography and the human body, photography and finally, photography in the age of electronic imaging. It is heavily academic in nature and details the development of photographic imagery in terms of an historical, social and political context. Will this book improve your photography? No, probably not, or perhaps not in the way that you might immediately be thinking. It probably deserves another read to further absorb more nuggets of wisdom and insight (some of which I may not necessarily agree with).
The Photograph as Contemporary Art (Charlotte Cotton, 2009, Thames & Hudson)
This book certainly introduces a significant number of photographers that I was not initially familar with. In fact, I’d go as far to say that I know very few of them. It is certainly a study book – insomuch as you wouldn’t necessarily pick it up for a quick flick or with the intent to learn a knowledge ‘nugget’ in five minutes (I could be wrong though). The intent is to bring a range of contemporary photographers to the readers’ attention. It certainly did that and I have come across a number in the intervening study period – and in no particular order or importance includes Luc Delahaye, Martin Parr, Ori Gersht, Simon Norfolk, Richard Billingham, Nan Golding, Jeff Wall and William Eggleston.
Light – Science & Magic. An Introduction to Photographic Lighting (Hunter, Biver and Fuqua, 2012, Focal Press)
This is a weighty tome and not one that is easily digested. It is probably best used as a reference ‘manual’ when using external (non-available) lighting to improve the technique and remove error from the activity. Clever and creative use of lighting can considerably enhance some subject matter, indeed, the lighting approach may need to be scientific in nature. No doubt over time, these techniques would become second nature if consistently and frequently used, but until they are, then you will probably need to resort to continued study of this book.
Make sure that you read this book before attempting the Part 4 Lighting exercises. I also found David Prakel’s Basics Photography: lighting. Laussane: AVA Publishing a good supporting text for the ‘Lighting’ element of the course.
Behind the Image – Research in Photography (Fox and Caruana, 2012, Ava Publishing)
This book has been written by two UCA lecturers from the University for Creative Arts in Farnham, Surrey. It is primarily focussed at how a student in photography should embark in research in support of a photographic project (in this context, a student is someone who continues to develop their work with a purpose in mind). It still leans towards traditional film approaches even though the book release date was only 2012 – there is certainly some information on the digital world, including how blogging can be a useful addition to capturing thoughts and research material along the way. I would have expected more.
I’m not entirely sure it has taught me that much – my work experiences are a good grounding for looking at an activity and breaking down into manageable tasks – what I don’t know, I find out as best I can using colleagues, the Internet or in some cases, just going on instinct if it feels right. That being said, it’s always useful to have someone look at an approach to a specific area of work in a new way.
Whilst the book doesn’t have that much relevance to the largely technical exercises and assignments in The Art of Photography learning module, it does have a longer term use as research becomes a more important developmental area in future OCA courses; however, from my personal perspective, it is the book that has least use for the TOAP module from the mandatory reading list.
The Photograph (Graham Clarke, 1997, Oxford University Press)
This book is worth preserving with. At first, it is hard work and takes time to get going, not that it will ever arouse anything. It’s a critical review and broad history of the “photograph” and photographers. Spilt into eleven chapters, it spans the early years of the development of photography during the 19th century into the 20th century (yes, I know it is somewhat dated, but so are many other study books) and includes chapters on landscape, the “city”, portraiture, human form, documentary, photography as “fine art” and finally, photographic manipulation. The more study books you read, you keep on coming across the same photographers (in no particular order): Fox-Talbot, Daguerre, Arbus, Friedlander, Rejlander, Fenton, Weston, Adams, Stieglitz, Cameron, Brandt, Mapplethorpe, Octavius-Hill, Avedon, Lange, Moholy-Nagy, Man Ray, Cartier-Bresson, et al. See also
OCA 