philosophical texts related to photography

[andres4ndr3s]

It may not be what you are looking for but here it goes, I think it's interesting anyway: Cartier-Bresson once said that the only book he would recomend about photography was "Zen in the Art of Archery" written by Eugen Herrigel. He is a philosopher who went to Japan to learn zen archery and speaks about his experience. Most of what HCB says about the way he shoots is very close to what this book is about.

 

[gavinlg]

Susan Sontags 'on photography' is meant to be good.

 

[benlees]

Geoffry Batchen is great, as mentioned above. Very skilled at condensing and analyzing what's been going on in photo theory since the beginning...

 

[arcimboldo]

Thank you very much! Sometimes I think aphog is dying, but the RFF is really alive.

 

[rxmd]

Susan Sontags 'on photography' is meant to be good.

The key words being "meant to be"? 😀

 

[Roger Hicks]

The key words being "meant to be"? 😀

This reminded me of something Dorothy Parker once said:

"This is not a book to be cast aside lightly. It should be hurled with great force."

Cheers,

R.

 

[Roger Hicks]

Is there an english translation of that? Just checked Amazon etc to no avail.

Not that I know of. Sorry. The delay in replying has been caused by the woefully slow server lately.

Cheers,

R.

 

[cz23]

Bill Jay's Negative / Positive. Here's an excerpt printed in LensWork.

I can't imagine any photographer needing more.

John

 

[Jamie123]

This reminded me of something Dorothy Parker once said:

"This is not a book to be cast aside lightly. It should be hurled with great force."

True, but in order to hurl something with great force you first have to get a proper grasp on it 😉

 

[Roger Hicks]

True, but in order to hurl something with great force you first have to get a proper grasp on it 😉

VERY good!

Cheers,

R.

 

[benlees]

I have the Fried book and also find it quite frustrating. He has an overt bent towards "tableau" photographers and tends to focus (I'm guessing) on what curators like.

Saying that, Jeff Walls' Selected articles and Interviews is also worth checking out.

 

[Jamie123]

I have the Fried book and also find it quite frustrating. He has an overt bent towards "tableau" photographers and tends to focus (I'm guessing) on what curators like.

Saying that, Jeff Walls' Selected articles and Interviews is also worth checking out.

Yes, I totally agree, Wall has done some excellent writing (and talking) about photography.

As for Fried's bent towards 'tableau' photographs, to be fair, that's sort of what the book is about, i.e. the emergence of the 'tableau form' in photography and the impact this has had on establishing photography as an art form. Therefore it is also understandeable that he focuses on the most successful of those photographers as they have arguably had the most impact.
It is also understandeable that Fried, who's been mostly concerned with easel paintings from different periods of time and the relationship between the viewer and the painting, is especially drawn to 'tableau' photographs.

Even though his book is named 'Why photogrpahy matters as art as never before'' I would've liked it more if he had written the whole thing like an obituary.
Reading how he describes this move to the large format that began more than 20 years ago I was constantly hoping to read 'Now that that's done, let's move on.' 🙂

 

[grandallj]

I'm not sure I'd call it "philosophical," but I like "The Ongoing Moment" by Geoff Dyer. Dyer discusses repetition and refinement of themes and concepts in photography and his writing is quite engaging.