Alexis Anne-Braun Dans cet article, je présente quelques-uns des enjeux du débat en philosophie contemporaine sur la photographie. Ce débat, comme cela a déjà été noté dans un certain nombre de publications récentes, est en fait hanté par une question sceptique, qui fut posée à la photographie dès son invention : si l’image photographique s’excepte du régime traditionnel de la représentation et si elle est bien le résultat d’une prise de vue automatique, en quel sens pouvons-nous encore dire (...) qu’elle est artistique? Il me semble que le concept goodmanien d’exemplification permet de répondre au défi lancé par le sceptique. J’essaie de montrer pourquoi. Plus encore, je m’emploie à montrer comment le concept goodmanien d’exemplification pourrait s’accommoder assez bien de la spécificité du médium photographique. (shrink)

'The Matrix Project' comprises two contexts, namely photographic work of architect Thierry Lagrange and the self-reflective trajectory that he developed during his doctorate at KULeuven. Lagrange's practice-based research developed to an autonomous artistic project, in which he studied the signification and nature of observation within a creative process. Through his multifaceted practice as an architect, photographer and researcher, Lagrange developed 'The Matrix Method'; a method that stimulates creativity within different contexts and can be implemented for example in art education. For (...) the Matrix Project, 25 years' worth of photographs was entered into a context of research and presents a new perspective on different ways of seeing in our present visual culture. (shrink)

Through engaging interviews, testimonials, and anecdotes from photographers, curators, printers, and colleagues, Object Lesson: On the Influence of Richard Benson pays homage to a legendary figure whose name is synonymous with the evolving history and philosophy of photographic reproduction. From making platinum prints for Paul Strand and books with Lee Friedlander to his own experiments with inkjet and digital offset processes, and as a teacher and dean of the Yale School of Art, by the time of his death in 2017, (...) Benson had inspired over three decades of students and artisans through his mentorship and work. In words and images, Object Lesson stands as a testament to Benson's wit, wisdom, and incomparable obsession with how photographic images render and connect us to the world. (shrink)

Cet ouvrage est l'hommage qu'une des deux filles de Jean Klein (1912-1998), Nita, comédienne et artiste, a décidé de rendre à son père, un des plus célèbres maîtres spirituels du XXe siècle, pour le centième anniversaire de sa naissance. Nita Klein a rassemblé ici de nombreux souvenirs de conversations avec Jean Klein, des inédits, des photographies autour de la question de l'art et de la spiritualité. Jean Klein a été philosophe et un maître spirituel remarquable auteur d'une oeuvre essentielle qui (...) a infuencé de nombreux enseignants contemporains comme Eric Baret, Jean-Bouchart D'Orval, Francis Lucille, Jean-Marc Mantel etc. Même si Jean Klein n'appartenait à aucune école, sa quête de la vérité a rencontré l'Advaïta Vedânta (Non-Dualité) dont il a dit lui-même que " ce n'est pas un système, une religion, une technique. Ce n'est même pas une philosophie, c'est simplement la vérité. " Mais Jean Klein était aussi violoniste (il pratiqua toute sa vie le violon) et s'intéressait à toutes les formes d'art : au théâtre, à la peinture (il était ami de Hans Hartung), à la danse (son autre fille, Malavika, est professeur de danse indienne). Il s'agit donc dans ce livre d'une rencontre entre l'intuition d'un artiste et la recherche indienne de la vérité, recherche plus orientée vers la perception globale de la Réalité que vers les certitudes offertes par le savoir. Nita Klein nous invite à découvrir comment la spiritualité authentique conduit à la création artistique ; comment, dans l'art du théâtre, l'interprétation d'un personnage, peut atteindre à la vérité, quand la personnalité du comédien consent à s'effacer. " En l'absence du "Moi", il y a seulement la vie. ", dit Jean Klein. Et pas seulement dans le théâtre, mais dans la peinture, le dessin, la danse. La Non-Dualité, avec Jean Klein, est une ouverture à la Beauté. (shrink)

À la croisée de la philosophie et de l’histoire de l’art, Bernard Teyssèdre a ouvert des champs de recherche très divers, ce qui a suscité l’enthousiasme de ses étudiants, mais aussi déconcerté ceux qui restaient attachés à leur pré carré disciplinaire. Présenter aujourd’hui son parcours intellectuel revient à faire redécouvrir certains de ses travaux oubliés en esthétique afin de montrer leur singularité et leur cohérence profondément hégélienne, bien que ses recherches aient pris des formes très différentes et abordés avec érudition (...) des domaines très éloignés les uns des autres. Sans oublier de situer philosophiquement des aspects moins connus de ses activités, littéraires, artistiques et aussi institutionnelles avec sa contribution déterminante au développement de la discipline esthétique et à l’introduction des arts plastiques à l’université. Ce panorama n’aurait pas été complet si n’était pas signalée la place de ses recherches en paléontologie restées longtemps secrètes et a priori fort éloignées de l’esthétique. Alors que Bernard Teyssèdre avait publié en 2007 une nouvelle édition de son Roman de l’Origine revue et augmentée (et que Thierry Savatier était sur le point de publier une nouvelle édition de L’Origine du monde, Histoire d’un tableau de Gustave Courbet ), Jean Da Silva lui apprit qu’une photographie du tableau exposé au musée d’Orsay avait circulé en France pendant une vingtaine d’années avant d’être publiée en 1953 dans des revues oubliées ; ce qui bouleversait l’idée que l’on avait encore en 2009 de la connaissance de ce tableau. S’ensuivit ensuite un jeu de piste à deux, sur le blog, par courriels et au téléphone. (shrink)

L’idée de l’article est de mettre en exergue l’approche critique et matérialiste de Benjamin à travers sa lecture de Proust. Benjamin dispose d’une série de concepts plus ou moins définis qui permettent d’établir une critique transversale des œuvres choisies dans l’histoire. La remémoration et la présentification, la peinture et la photographie, l’aura et l’expérience du choc façonnent une volonté qui produit de façon artificielle l’expérience de la durée. Or, la réussite de cette entreprise artistique dépend également de l’évolution historique (...) des moyens techniques qui sont à son service. (shrink)

La comparaison des portraits à l’huile réalisés par Romaine Brooks dans les années 20 et les photographies de Claude Cahun et sa partenaire Marcel Moore de la même époque rend visible les positions idéologiques conflictuelles que ces women of vision défendirent dans les milieux artistique et politique où les débats sur la femme moderne se sont élaborés.

Revisitant le voyage peu connu de Ernesto Che Guevara au Congo en 1965 à partir de son Journal du Congo, l’article propose une lecture décoloniale de la coopération entre Cuba et le Congo. Considérée comme un « échec » militaire, cette mission de soutien témoigne tout à la fois d’une alliance des pays du tiers-monde et d’une volonté anticoloniale et anti-impériale d’imaginer des possibles politiques alternatifs. Elle montre aussi les difficultés de faire front commun et d’implanter au Congo l’idéal marxiste (...) cubain de « l’homme nouveau ». Malgré cette situation ambivalente, analysée à partir du journal du Che et de photographies, cette expérience militaire a été un premier jalon tiers-mondiste d’affirmation de « modernités multiples », qui ne sont pas assujetties aux seules modernités occidentales, comme en témoigne une description de l’exposition artistique du Sud Global de La Havane en 1989, conçue par l’auteure comme en étroite filiation avec le rêve du Che. (shrink)

Siegfried Kracauer publie en 1960 un ouvrage trop peu pris en compte alors : Théorie du film. Nous nous proposons de resituer la pensée de son auteur en l’enracinant dans les interrogations des penseurs allemands de l’entre-deux-guerres, afin de mettre en évidence l’originalité de la posture de Kracauer en 1927, date à laquelle il publie un texte important sur la photographie. Nous éclairerons alors l’approche plus complexe qui constitue en 1960 une mise en accusation de la prétention artistique, du (...) personnage de fiction, du récit dramatique. Kracauer y voit les risques d’une trahison de la force propre à la photographie et au cinéma : celle de restituer le désordre du vivant, le flux indéterminé de la vie, de réconcilier avec l’expérience vécue dès lors qu’elle « submerge la conscience ». Au-delà du dialogue ainsi prolongé avec les interrogations de la phénoménologie, il propose une appréhension de l’expérience du film originale : un espace d’articulation contradictoire entre dicible et indicible, normativité anthropologique et transgression vitale. (shrink)

Ce livre n'est pas un guide sur le Colorado. C'est à une expédition dans les mots et les images des couleurs que nous vous invitons, voyage qui nous emmènera dans les continents européen et américain - de sorte qu'il sera tout de même question du Colorado. Plébiscitée par nos sociétés contemporaines, la couleur permet à chacun de sentir les vertus sociales, ethniques mais aussi artistiques de la diversité. D'une manière parfois abrupte, la couleur révèle la nature de nos relations aux (...) autres et à nous-mêmes : les couleurs sont-elles juxtaposées, harmonieusement combinées ou se recouvrent-elles au contraire les unes les autres? Sont-elles séparées ou mélangées? Si la couleur nous fascine tant, c'est aussi parce qu'elle conforte l'un de nos fantasmes esthétiques les plus tenaces : la possibilité d'un mimétisme parfait de l'art. Dans un monde où tout est coloré, ou le devient, quel sens le noir et blanc de l'écriture peut-il bien prendre, quel rôle peut-il encore jouer? S'accaparant les possibilités colorées de médias comme la peinture, le cinéma, ou encore la photographie, les mots se servent des couleurs, avec toute l'ambivalence de l'expression : ils en profitent, ils les modifient, parfois ils les abîment aussi. Parler de la couleur n'est jamais seulement métaphorique. La littérature n'évince pas la couleur, elle lui offre des lignes directrices, qu'elles soient fuite ou découverte, lui permettant de faire fi des frontières tant réelles qu'imaginaires. Se découvrent ainsi, au gré des oeuvres, des "lignes de couleurs" où se renégocient quelques-uns des tropismes de l'être humain. (shrink)

Résumé Que cela soit dans l’approche d’Arthur Danto ou dans celle de Jean Baudrillard, le pop’art américain a souvent été assimilé à une reproduction à l’identique par la peinture d’images empruntées au flux médiatique de la culture de masse. En donnant « droit de cité » dans le domaine du Grand-Art à des photographies de presse, des images publicitaires ou bien à celles de comics bon marché, le pop’art américain aurait ouvert la voie à une expression artistique enfin libérée de (...) toutes normes, y compris celles de l’exigence ou de l’authenticité qui pouvaient encore animer les déjà trop vieilles avant-gardes modernistes. Il aurait ainsi favorisé une prolifération sans limite des possibles ou bien une équivalence généralisée de tous les systèmes de signes visuels. À l’encontre de ces approches, nous nous proposons de montrer que cette révolution du pop’art américain n’est pas tant la recherche d’une indiscernabilité que celle d’un meilleur discernement. (shrink)

This is a critical survey of writing on the philosophy of photography.

The everyday practice of photography by millions of amateur photographers - the family snapshots, the holiday prints, the wedding portraits - may seem to be a spontaneous and highly personal activity. But Bourdieu and his associates show that few cultural activities are more structured and systematic than the social uses of this ordinary art. This perceptive and wide-ranging analysis of the practice of photography brings out the logic implicit in this cultural field. The norms which define the occasions and the (...) objects of photography serve to display the socially differentiated functions of, and attitudes towards, the photographic image and act. For some social groups, photography is primarily a means of preserving the present and reproducing the euphoric moments of collective celebration, whereas for other groups it is the occasion of an aesthetic judgement, in which photos are endowed with the dignity of works of art. (shrink)

Unlike the numerous texts devoted to the subject of Film Theory, this collection contains essays specifically about the art form of Still Photography and the ...

According to Roger Scruton, it is not possible for photographs to be representational art. Most responses to Scruton’s scepticism are versions of the claim that Scruton disregards the extent to which intentionality features in photography; but these cannot force him to give up his notion of the ideal photograph. My approach is to argue that Scruton has misconstrued the role of causation in his discussion of photography. I claim that although Scruton insists that the ideal photograph is defined by its (...) ‘merely causal’ provenance, in fact he fails to take the causal provenance of photographs seriously enough. To replace Scruton’s notion of the ideal photograph, I offer a substantive account of the causal provenance of photographs, centred on the distinctive role of ‘the photographic event’. I conclude that, with a proper understanding of the photographic process, we have good reason to re-open the question of photography as a representational art. (shrink)

Arthur Danto's quarter century as art critic for The Nation was crucial, as photography had, by the 1980s and '90s, become very much in vogue in the New York artworld that was his beat. Readers familiar with the corpus of Danto's writing might infer from the discussion that his interest in photography is peripheral to his larger investigation into the ontology of artworks. Consideration of the distinction between stills and natural drawings, or of Kantian ethical concerns, appears foreign to his (...) well‐known consideration of Warhol's 1964 Brillo Box. Danto's consideration of photography reveals that art does essentially involve craft, but it is a craft involving sensitivity to, and dexterity in relation to, aspects of a realm of human interaction, rather than necessarily to materials. Further research may be directed toward refining this new craft and, especially, toward the development of pedagogical techniques suitable to it. (shrink)

It seems odd to say that photography is not a mode of representation. For a photograph has in common with a painting the property by which the painting represents the world, the property of sharing, in some sense, the appearance of its subject. Indeed, it is sometimes thought that since a photograph more effectively shares the appearance of its subject than a typical painting, photography is a better mode of representation. Photography might even be thought of as having replaced painting (...) as a mode of visual representation. Painters have felt that if the aim of painting is really to reproduce the appearances of things, then painting must give way to whatever means are available to reproduce an appearance more accurately. It has therefore been said that painting aims to record the appearances of things only so as to capture the experience of observing them and that the accurate copying of appearances will normally be at variance with this aim. Here we have the seeds of expressionism and the origin of the view that painting is somehow purer when it is abstract and closer to its essence as an art. Roger Scruton is the author of Art and Imagination, The Aesthetics of Architecture, The Meaning of Conservatism, From Descartes to Wittgenstein, and The Politics of Culture and Other Essays. (shrink)

A partir de la reprise par Nietzsche des analyses de Paul Bourget dans les Essais de psychologie contemporaine, l'auteur analyse la notion de décadence telle qu'elle s'applique, selon Nietzsche, dans l'art conçu d'un point de vue psychologique et physiologique. De l'œuvre de Wagner, envisagée physiologiquement dans Le cas Wagner, l'analyse de Nietzsche glisse vers la personne du Maître. L'analyse de cette notion capitale reliée à certaines problématiques centrales de l'œuvre permet de préciser la pensée du dernier Nietzsche. Starting from Nietzsche's (...) rehandling Paul Bourget's analyses in the Essais de psychologie contemporaine, the author analyzes the concept of decadence as applied, according to Nietzsche, to art conceived from a psychological and physiological point of view. From Wagner's work, studied physiologically in The Wagner Case, Nietzsche's analysis slides towards the character and personality of the Master. The analysis of this major notion, linked as it is to some very essential problematics inherent to the work, enables one to study much more precisely the thought of the late Nietzsche. (shrink)

What is photography? Is it primarily a source of knowledge about the world or an art? Many have said the former, because it records the world automatically, others the latter because it embodies human subjectivity. Can it photography be both or must we choose? In On Photography: A Philosophical Inquiry Diarmuid Costello examines these fascinating questions and more. In so doing he introduces some of the fundamental topics and debates about the nature of photography, with the help of photographic images (...) from Paul Strand, Lee Friedlander, James Welling, Jeff Wall, and Gerhard Richter, among others. Tracing the roots of thinking about photography from its discovery, through Nineteenth Century debates about its standing as art, to Twentieth Century Modernism and post-War cultural criticism, Costello identifies the emergence of a powerful "orthodox" view of photography. The features that make photographs compelling documents are precisely those that put pressure on its standing as art; though they provide a wealth of empirical information, they cannot have the unifying vision we look for in art. He draws on the reflections of photographers and theorists, including Paul Strand, Edward Weston, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Siegfried Kracauer, Andre Bazin and Stanley Cavell to illustrate this fundamental tension. The view comes to fruition in the work of Roger Scruton and Kendall Walton. Whether pure photography is capable of representing fictions, or always presents a transparent window onto the real world becomes the key question. Recently, the orthodox view has come under increasing pressure from a new generation of philosophers who reject the contrast between machine and hand made images that underwrites it. He concludes by examining photographic agency in a digital age. Written in a clear and engaging style, On Photography: A Philosophical Inquiry is essential reading for anyone interested in the philosophy of photography, aesthetics, art, and visual studies. (shrink)

What is photography? Is it primarily a source of knowledge about the world or an art? Many have said the former, because it records the world automatically, others the latter because it embodies human subjectivity. Can it photography be both or must we choose? In _On Photography: A Philosophical Inquiry_ Diarmuid Costello examines these fascinating questions and more. In so doing he introduces some of the fundamental topics and debates about the nature of photography, with the help of photographic images (...) from Paul Strand, Lee Friedlander, James Welling, Jeff Wall, and Gerhard Richter, among others. Tracing the roots of thinking about photography from its discovery, through nineteenth-century debates about its standing as art, to twentieth-century Modernism and post-War cultural criticism, Costello identifies the emergence of a powerful "orthodox" view of photography. The features that make photographs compelling documents are precisely those that put pressure on its standing as art; though they provide a wealth of empirical information, they cannot have the unifying vision we look for in art. He draws on the reflections of photographers and theorists, including Paul Strand, Edward Weston, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Siegfried Kracauer, Andre Bazin and Stanley Cavell to illustrate this fundamental tension. The view comes to fruition in the work of Roger Scruton and Kendall Walton. Whether pure photography is capable of representing fictions, or always presents a transparent window onto the real world becomes the key question. Recently, the orthodox view has come under increasing pressure from a new generation of philosophers who reject the contrast between machine and hand made images that underwrites it. He concludes by examining photographic agency in a digital age. Written in a clear and engaging style, _On Photography: A Philosophical Inquiry_ is essential reading for anyone interested in the philosophy of photography, aesthetics, art, and visual studies. (shrink)

In this paper I examine the ethics of street photography. I firstly discuss the close-up ‘in-your-face’ style street photography made famous by American photographer, Bruce Gilden. In close-up street photography, the proximity of the camera to the subject and the element of surprise work in tandem to produce a striking and evocative picture. Close-up street photography is shown to be ethically contentious on wellbeing-related and autonomy-related grounds. I next examine the more orthodox ‘respectable distance’ kind of street photography. In orthodox (...) street photography, the photographer positions the camera some distance away from a nonconsenting subject that may or may not be aware a picture is to be taken. The main ethical problem with this form of street photography relates to the subject’s vanity and sense of self. When street photographers produce and publish images without the consent of subjects, they express their own creative freedom at the expense of the subject’s right to editorial control. I discuss the scope and potentially demanding practical implications of a right to editorial control. To conclude, I offer a workable solution to the ethical dilemma facing street photographers and discuss the implications of smart phones and photo-sharing social media platforms. (shrink)

Is there anything peculiarly "photographic" about photography—something which sets it apart from all other ways of making pictures? If there is, how important is it to our understanding of photographs? Are photographs so unlike other sorts of pictures as to require unique methods of interpretation and standards of evaluation? These questions may sound artificial, made up especially for the purpose of theorizing. But they have in fact been asked and answered not only by critics and photographers but by laymen. Furthermore, (...) for most of this century the majority of critics and laymen alike have tended to answer these questions in the same way: that photographs and paintings differ in an important way and require different methods in interpretation precisely because photographs and paintings come into being in different ways. These answers are interesting because, even within the rather restricted classes of critics, photographers, and theorists, they are held in common by a wide variety of people who otherwise disagree strongly with each other—by people who think that photographs are inferior to paintings and people who believe they are superior; by people who think that photographs ought to be "objective" and those who believe they should be "subjective"; by those who believe that it is impossible for photographers to "create" anything and by those who believe that they should at least try. Joel Snyder teaches criticism and history of photography at the University of Chicago and is presently compiling a book of his own photographs. His contributions to Critical Inquiry include "Picturing Vision" and "Reflexions on Las Meninas: Paradox Lost", written with Ted Cohen in the Winter 1980 issue. Neil Walsh Allen produces educational audio-visual materials and has designed eight permanent exhibits on the history and applications of photography for the Smithsonian Institution. (shrink)

This paper explores auto-photography as a form of research practice in the area of identity and self-esteem research. It allows researchers to capture and articulate the ways identity guides human action and thought. It involves the generation and examination of the static images that participants themselves believe best represent them. Auto-photography is an important tool for building bridges with marginalized groups in the research process, since it offers researchers a way to let participants speak for themselves. Furthermore, by using this (...) method researchers can avoid exclusive reliance on survey questionnaires and other such research instruments that may be culturally biased. I present two research projects using auto-photography: one involving adolescent Latina girls and one involving Indian women. Based on the experience of these projects, I discuss auto-photography's importance in identity and self-esteem research. Finally, I discuss some of the benefits and challenges of working with this method. (shrink)

How do we know what an amoeba looks like? How can doctors see the details of our skeletons and internal organs? All of these things are made possible through the innovations of photography. The author provides a primer on the applications of photography to science as she explores the multiple facets of this complex relationship.

Not too long after photography’s grand debut in 1839, physician and inventor Oliver Wendell Holmes described the new technology as a “mirror with a memory.” What might this phrase mean for the question of African Americans and their relationship to the vicissitudes of photography and the vagaries of memory in particular? Through readings of works of art and social activism that make use of lynching photographs, this essay considers ways in which photography has functioned as a technology of memory for (...) African Americans, what the essay calls critical black memory, and proffers a mode of historical interpretation that both plays upon and questions photography’s documentary capacity.The essay makes two claims specifically. First, the mechanical reproduction of lynching by way of the photograph has been central to the recounting and reconstitution of black political cultures throughout the Jim Crow and post-Civil Rights era. From the usage of lynching photography in pamphlets by early twentieth-century anti-lynching activists, to posters created by mid-century civil rights organizations, to their deployment in contemporary art and popular culture, this archive has been a constitutive element of black visuality more broadly. Second, African American engagements with photography as a “site of memory” suggest a mode of historical interpretation in which African Americans simultaneously critique the “truth-claims” of photography while they mobilize the medium’s documentary capacity to intervene in the classification and subjugation of black life. (shrink)

The aim of this article is two-folded. First, I wish to situate Baudelaire in the midst of 19th-century media, bring attention to the way he explored the new media of his day, and suggest that he developed his own media aesthetics. Second, I wish to examine Baudelaire’s relation to photography more specifically, emphasizing his love of commonplaces and clichés. I begin by contextualizing Baudelaire’s notorious attack on photography in the Salon de 1859 and then examine three poems in light of (...) the photographic culture of Baudelaire’s day. Central here is the experiment on the notion of identity that was carried out with the spread of portrait photography: the notation of a unique identity was undermined, processes of multiplication were explored, and the poetic discourse of the “soul” was radically changed. (shrink)

Photography Theory in Historical Perspective: Case Studies from Contemporary Art aims to contribute to the understanding of the multifaceted and complex character of the photographic medium by dealing with various case studies selected from ...

In Photography and Japan, Karen Fraser argues that the diversity of styles, subjects, and functions of Japanese photography precludes easy categorization along nationalized lines. Instead, she shows that the development of photography within Japan is best understood by examining its close relationship with the country’s dramatic cultural, political, and social history. Photography and Japan covers 150 years of photography, a period in which Japan has experienced some of the most significant events in modern history and made a remarkable transformation from (...) an isolated, feudal country into an industrialized, modern world power—a transformation that included a striking rise and fall as an imperial power during the first half of the twentieth century and a miraculous economic recovery in the decades following the devastation of World War II. The history of photography has paralleled these events, becoming inextricably linked with notions of modernity and cultural change. Through thematic chapters that focus on photography’s role in negotiating cultural identity, war, and the documentation of urban life, Photography and Japan introduces many images that will be unfamiliar to Western viewers and provides a broadened context for those photos that are better known. (shrink)

Even as art theory and analytic philosophy have failed to connect in their studies of photography, the two disciplines have joined in tying conceptions of the specific character of photography to ideas about automaticity and agency.1 In rough caricature, the philosopher reasons: “An item is a work of art only insofar as it is the product of agency, so a photograph is not an art work insofar it is not the product of artistic agency. After all, in Lady Eastlake's colorful (...) words, the ‘obedience of the machine’ in photography is no ‘picturesque agent.’”2 This much is accepted both by philosophers who go on to conclude that photography is not an art and also by those who defend the contrary.3 The reasoning on the side of theory and criticism often goes, again in caricature, as follows: “Art works sometimes result from a suppression of agency, and the distinctive ‘obedience of the machine’ in photography is no ‘picturesque agent,’ so the automatism of the photographic machine shapes the distinctive profile of photographic art.” The triadic assemblage of the medium, automatism, and agency is clearly more than a trope in writing on photography; it regulates and structures reasoning about photography, even as it sends that reasoning off in remarkably divergent directions in different disciplines. In the spirit of the nudge towards convergence that this special issue represents, this afterword develops some thoughts that are sparked by and that offer a friendly challenge to the preceding papers. In brief, the triad that controls thinking about photography across disciplines depends on some rather demanding conceptions of agency and automatism. As it turns out, less demanding conceptions of agency and automatism pave the way to a new and more modest conception of the specificity of photography as an art medium. If our common ground is what keeps us apart, perhaps we should find some new common ground? (shrink)

Firstly, this contribution proposes to address synthographies – images generated through Text-to-image technologies – by deepening the epistemological shift related to the possibility of transposing the image-creation process from the analogue arts to the notational ones (or, by drawing on Nelson Goodman's terminology, from the “autographic” to the “allographic” forms of art). Secondly, the paper highlights how synthographies can be considered partly autographic and partly allographic, since the linguistic prompts constitute only the notational aspect of the generated images. Furthermore, this (...) contribution argues that the recent critiques around such images, which referenced aspects related to the absence of authorial presence and mechanicality, characterised the history of photography since its beginning. Finally, the contribution explores how the possibility to create synthographies that are almost indistinguishable from photographies easily might further separate the interaction between the detective and the depictive functions to the advantage of the latter, erasing what remains of the visual reliability and documental value of images. (shrink)

Georges Didi-Huberman's study is concerned with epistemological and ethical questions that arise from visual representations of the Shoah, while Michael Fried's is concerned with the ontological possibilities explored by contemporary art photography. The books have two things in common: an argument against postmodern skepticism, and an insistence that photography has become a field in which questions of history, truth, and authenticity are being explored with particular acuity. Rather than reject even the possibility that photographs have something to tell us about (...) the Shoah, Didi-Huberman shows that they can offer important insights into the difficulties and the possibilities of apprehending some aspects of the past.Fried shows that contemporary photographic work has taken on the ambitions of high modernism by accepting the challenge of “to-be-seenness.” Photography as a “historical practice” does not escape from the difficulties of evidence and of the “constructed” nature of historical understanding; photography functions neither as a pure trace of the past, nor as a mere invitation to spectacle. (shrink)

Media philosopher Vilém Flusser proposed a revolutionary new way of thinking about photography.

English summary: The authors invited eighteen artists and theorists to reflect on what is meant by contemporary photography and contemporary art. Historical issues or paradigmatic problems? The articulation of these eighteen points of view, sometimes radically different, can have a fruitful view on issues, concepts, assumptions, and current issues on the subject. French text. French description: Francois Soulages et Marc Tamisier ont invite dix-huit artistes et theoriciens a reflechir sur ce qu'ils entendent par photographie contemporaine et par art contemporain. (...) Questions historiques ou bien problemes paradigmatiques? L'articulation de ces dix-huit points de vue, parfois radicalement differents, permet d'avoir un panorama fecond sur les problematiques, concepts, presupposes et enjeux actuels sur le sujet. L'enjeu premier serait-il l'" art-contemporain " qui ne se reduirait pas alors a l'art qui serait contemporain. Que serait, alors, la " photographie-contemporaine " a l'ere du numerique? L'enjeu ultime est bien le/notre contemporain! (shrink)

In Photography and Anthropology, Christopher Pinney presents a provocative and readable account of the strikingly parallel histories of the two disciplines, as well as a polemical narrative and overview of the use of photography by anthropologists from the 1840s to the present. Walter Benjamin suggested that photography “make[s] the difference between technology and magic visible as a thoroughly historical variable,” and Pinney here explores photography as a divinatory practice that prompted anthropologists to capture the “primitive” lives of those they studied. (...) Early anthropology celebrated photography as a physical record, whose authority and permanence promised an escape from the lack of certainty in speech. But later anthropologists faulted photography for failing to capture movement and process. Anthropology as a practice of “being there” has thus found itself entwined in an intimate engagement with photography as metaphor for the collection of evidence. Through numerous examples from the annals of anthropological photography, Photography and Anthropology examines the history of anthropology’s enchantment with photography alongside the anthropological theory of photography and documentation. (shrink)

Digital photography is sweeping the country, and it’s easy to see why. You can take pictures of anything, do it quickly, see instantly what you got, save only the stuff you like, and share your pictures as prints, on the Web, as a slideshow, or even on things like mugs and mousepads. A digital camera and the appropriate software let you Take wide-angle or closeup shots, indoors or out Know immediately whether you got what you wanted Delete shots you don’t (...) like and retake them Improve your images on your computer Combine images into a montage Customize your pictures by adding special visual effects Digital photography is fun, but whether you’re an old hand at taking digital pictures or still picking out your first camera, there are plenty of times when you know what you want to do and just want to figure out how to do it, right now. That’s exactly what Digital Photography Just the Steps For Dummies helps you do. It’s designed so you can quickly find the task you want to perform and follow step-by-step instructions to get the job done, right now. Loaded with full-color photos to show you what you can do, Digital Photography Just the Steps For Dummies helps you Choose the camera, lenses, and flash equipment that are best for the type of photography you want to do Compose good pictures regardless of your subject Scan and digitize existing photos so you can enhance or repair them Change the size or format of an image Adjust color, brightness, contrast, sharpness, and other attributes of a digital image Repair tears, creases, or scratches in a scanned photo, remove red-eye, and restore a faded image Use layers to alter an image, add text, or change the background Photograph items you want to sell online to show them at their best Sort and organize photos on your computer Print picture albums, make photo T-shirts, create a slideshow, or burn a video CD When you’re looking for a clear set of instructions so you can get results right away, you want a Just the Steps For Dummies book. With Digital Photography Just the Steps For Dummies, you’ll find everything quickly comes into focus! (shrink)

The increasing use of digital image recording devices, whether they are digital cameras or mobile phone cameras, has democratised clinical photography in the UK. However, when non-professional clinical photographers take photographs of patients the issues of consent and confidentiality are either ignored or given scant attention.Whatever the status of the clinician, the taking of clinical photographs must be practised within the context of a professional etiquette. Best practice recognises the need for informed consent and the constraints associated with confidentiality. Against (...) the background of the poverty of the current discourse of these issues, as presented during the Valentine GMC Fitness to Practice1 hearing, the paper considers the need for orthopraxy in the use of clinical photography. (shrink)

_Fugitive Images: From Photography to Video_ Edited by Patrice Petro Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1995 ISBN 0-253-20890-4 314 pp.

A discussion of the pioneers of the first decades of photography, along with essays on early collectors and patents.

Digital photography is contributing to the renegotiation of the public and private divide and to the transformation of privacy and intimacy, especially with the convergence of digital cameras, mobile phones, and web sites. This convergence contributes to the redefinition of public and private and to the transformation of their boundaries, which have always been subject to historical and geographical change. Taking pictures or filming videos of strangers in public places and showing them in webs like Flickr or YouTube, or making (...) self-portraits available to strangers in instant messenger, social network sites, or photo blogs are becoming a current practice for a growing number of Internet users. Both are examples of the intertwining of online and offline practices, experiences, and meanings that challenge the traditional concepts of the public and the private. Uses of digital images play a role in the way people perform being a stranger and in the way they relate to strangers, online and offline. The mere claims about the privatization of the public space or the public disclosure of intimacy do not account for all these practices, situations, and attitudes, as they are not a simple translation of behaviors and codes from one realm to the other. (shrink)

What is ubiquitous photography? The article addresses this question and argues that ubiquity signals something more than the proliferation and dispersal of photography into everyday life. Moving beyond the question of digitization and of new or digital media, the premise of the argument is that ubiquitous photography is inseparable from the claims and innovations associated with the wider field of ubiquitous computing. Here, photography and the photographic are realigned within the terms of the technoscience industries and their quest to generate (...) ambient intelligent environments, automated systems such as face recognition technology (FRT), animated artefacts and augmented reality (AR). Employing a feminist approach to technoscience, the article offers a gendered, genealogical and interventionist critique of photography’s ‘everywhere’ status. (shrink)

This article discusses pilot data for a major research project into the discursive construction of identity in three-generation families living in border communities where each generation has experienced fundamental changes in their socio-political environment. The oral data on which the analysis is based were triggered by photographs from the communities in question, and are being analysed with discourse-analytical procedures. The article demonstrates how an innovative method of using symbolically-charged photography as triggers for oral narratives can solve a major dilemma for (...) discourse analysts interested in oral data. It also demonstrates the processes of identity construction under highly conflictual circumstances. Using examples mainly taken from the narratives of three individuals from three different generations, living in a town on the border between the former GDR and West Germany, the article discusses the discursive means of coming to terms with different kinds of difficulties encountered by each generation in constructing for themselves an identity in the new Germany. (shrink)

From as early as 1839, artists began exploring photography's enormous potential for storytelling and often went to great lengths to create pictures for the camera.

Along with discussions of other contemporary photographers, this extensively illustrated volume demonstrates the influence of settler societies on landscape photography, in which skilled photographers captured the fascination with and the ...

From Ansel Adams to Carleton Watkins, Diane Arbus to Weegee, Richard Avedon to James VanDerZee, American photographers have recorded their vast, multicultural nation in images that, for more than a hundred years, have come to define the USA. In Photography and the USA, Mick Gidley explores not only the medium of photography and the efforts to capture key events and moments through photographs, but also the many ways in which the medium has played a formative role in American culture. Photography (...) and the USA encompasses the major movements, figures and works that are crucial to understanding American photography, but also pays attention to more obscure aspects of photography’s history. Focusing on works that reveal many different facets of America, its landscapes and its people, Gidley explores the ambiguities of American history and culture. We encounter images that range from an anti-lynching demo in 1934 to Dorothea Lange’s poster “All races serve the crops in California;” an early photographic view of Niagara Falls against the painstaking detail of Edward Weston’s Pepper, No. 30; a fireman’s fight in the San Francisco earthquake of 1906 to the Ground Zero images of 2001 by Joel Meyerowitz; an 1890s “Wanted” image to Elliot Erwitt’s shot of the Nixon–Kruschchev “Kitchen Debate.” Organizing his narrative around the themes of history, technology, the document and the emblem, Mick Gidley not only presents a history of photography, but also reveals the complexities inherent in reading photographs themselves. A concise yet comprehensive overview of photography in the United States, this book is an excellent introduction to the subject for American Studies or visual arts students, or for anyone interested in US history or culture. (shrink)