(Part 2) Best photography criticism & essays books according to redditors

I'm not a historian, but I do live in Rochester NY (home of Kodak and the George Eastman photography museum), and I'm a semi-pro photographer. So I've seen and studied a lot of historic photos.

If you want some cool reading on the subject, the book Camera by Todd Gustavson is a good choice. He's the curator of camera technology at the Eastman museum. And if you're ever in this area, a trip to the museum is always a good time.

As a big champion of Vollmann, I'll be the first to admit he's not written a perfect book. But he's also never written a terrible book. His excessive page numbers, sentimentality, editorial sloppiness, genre-splicing, and often baroque voice put a lot of people off. The difficult thing is that Vollmann's massive output (which has slowed down a bit in recent years, but see my note further down) only creates something extraordinary when you start to put the pieces together. So while his books may not be the most tight and shimmering on the surface, read just two or three of them and you'll start to get a sense of his glacial vision.

With that said, here my suggestions for five books, any three of which will give you an idea of what he's all about:

• Europe Central (2007) - Sprawling WWII historical novel, won the National Book Award, probably his most accessible piece. What it offers the reader: a brilliant story, a genuine appreciation for Vollmann's writing at its tightest, and an understanding of how he reads history (which can be followed up with his Seven Dreams septology about the making of North America).
  
  
• You Bright and Risen Angels (1987) - His first novel, which Vollmann himself sub-titled a "cartoon." What it offers the reader: Vollmann's politics and perspective on revolutionary means. A little like Pynchon, difficult, excessive, but lots of fun and a lot of heart once you break its shell. Nothing else like it.
  
  
• Rainbow Stories (1989) - Features some of Vollmann's best writing from the demimonde of San Fran in the 80s. Stories of neo-Nazis, prostitutes, and serial killers. Styles range from urban non-fiction to historical fiction to sci-fi to Victorian gothic. What it offers the reader: entertainment, a good idea of Vollmann's complex network, philosophy, and treatment of characters.
  
  
• An Afghanistan Picture Show (1992) - Technically his first book, and a young man's book if there ever was one, it's Vollmann's account of his travels with the Muhajadeen in Afghanistan in the early 80s. What it offers the reader: Messy and anticlimactic journalism, a breathtaking "Alaska" digression, a background of the political and humanitarian idealism that has shaped all of his work.
  
  
• Rising Up and Rising Down: An Essay on Violence and Urgent Means (2004) - And by 'essay' he means 3000-page 7-volume treatise. Read abridged version (800 pages), and feel free the skip around. What it offers the reader: extensive journalism and historical research putting forth a theory. It presents a rigorous and systematic calculus for when violent means are acceptable. It is truly a useful book.
  
  
  Like I said, any three of those five books will help you build an appreciation for what many critics have dismissed as an insanely misguided and cynical and boring and narcissistic career. He's definitely an author one must learn to forgive in order to appreciate.
  
  He's about to release a photography/art book called The Book of Dolores -- self-portraits of himself as his female alter ego, Dolores. Bold move for a hideously aging man in his fifties. But even reading the companion essays to Dolores (he shamelessly incorporates excepts from his novel about a drag queen that he has yet to publish), you get a sense that Vollmann knows his work will outlast him in some form, and it matters little to him now if he is ridiculed as the most sad and pathetic writer of his generation.

I would say a single book addressing the topics you are integrating would be difficult to find but either multiple books or a collection of essays and book chapters would be a good approach.

• Crowley and Hawhee's Ancient Rhetorics for Contemporary Students is an introduction and move for historical contextualization and working through the movement of the field. (Classical Rhetoric, Philosophy, and English Composition approach)
  
• Palczewski, Ice, and Fritch's Rhetoric in Civic Life provides some very basic ties to classical rhetoric and looks at the move to rhetorical criticism in contemporary rhetorical studies. (Communication Studies approach) (Link to first edition; the edition this comment is based on)
  
• Miller's The Norton Book of Composition Studies has essays that address the English and Communication Studies divide but situates rhetoric as an important study regardless of the discipline that thinks owns it.
  
• Eyman's Digital Rhetoric: Theory, Method, Practice gives a broad history of rhetoric and transitions this history into digital humanities. (Publisher's website link that has the full text of this book)
  
• Losh, Alexander, Cannon, & Cannon's Understanding Rhetoric: A Graphic Guide to Writing provides some significant background for constructing thoughts and arguments and situating what rhetoric is and what it can be.
  
• Dickinson, Blair, and Ott's Places of Public Memory is a fantastic edited collection with essays situating monuments and memorials.
  
• In a similar line to Dickinson et al., you could look at Hariman and Lucaites's No Caption Needed text to examine visual rhetoric as well or even their more recent text The Public Image.
  
  I don't know that any one of these texts would be necessary for students to purchase but a smattering of readings from them may be worth pulling into the course. Additionally, essays from significant scholars or journals (similar to what Miller's book has) that are reasonably up-to-date would probably go further than any textbook can. Although for understanding the Greek tradition or classical rhetoric, some of the tried-and-true texts such as Crowley and Hawhee's are a good place to turn.
  
  edit: added links to make it easier for me to find these things when I return to this post.

Essays on the Pencil of Nature

Copy, Archive, Signature

The Art of Interruption

The Disciplinary Frame

Thinking Photography

Maybe it's your library?

Before Birth: A week-by-week guide to your baby's development during pregnancy by Julie Currin MD

A Child Is Born by Lennart Nilsson

In the Womb: Witness the Journey from Conception to Birth through Astonishing 3D Images by Peter Tallack

From Conception to Birth: A Life Unfolds by Alexander Tsiaras

Windows to the Womb: Revealing the Conscious Baby from Conception to Birth by David Chamberlain

The Miraculous World of Your Unborn Baby : A Week-by-Week Guide to Your Pregnancy by Nikki Bradford

The Dance of Life: The New Science of How a Single Cell Becomes a Human Being by Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz and Roger Highfield

The Science of Pregnancy: The Complete Illustrated Guide From Conception to Birth

Here you go

You can buy anything with the KISS logo on it. Urinal cakes? Waffle maker? Baby pacifier? They got you. I'd recommend maybe one of the books;

Ace Frehley: No Regrets

Paul Stanley: Face The Music

Are my two favorites.

There is also a pretty cool photo art book that came out semi-recently that my wife bought me awhile back for a gift https://www.amazon.com/dp/0847860124/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_i_lRBXDb5982H09

Check out Through Soviet Jewish Eyes: Photography, War, and the Holocaust (Rutgers University Press, 2011) by David Shneer, a professor of history and religious studies at the University of Colorado, Boulder. In it, he discusses the work of Jewish photographers who worked with the Red Army to document concentration camps they came across.

I don't remember how I came across this one but my current favorite: Darcy Padilla's Family Love. It's powerful, heartbreaking, and haunting. I just wish I understood French. The photos speak for themselves, though. Just be ready for a ride.

For straight reading, I like William Steacy's Photographs not Taken. It's somewhat comforting to know that it's not just you -- everyone misses out on that perfect photo.

And finally Robert Capa's Slightly Out of Focus.

> The art of photography seems more like an opaque "black art" that some folks just "get" than a result of methodical, meticulous practice and experimentation.

not at all, well some sure, but if you actually look into a lot of the art world side of things it's pretty interesting and there is some really great work to be found

for a single book get

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Photography-Definitive-History-Tom-Ang/dp/1409346455/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1510967412&sr=8-8&keywords=tom+ang

It sounds perfect for what you are looking for. It's an easy read and touches on so many topics from tech, art, history, gear, and people.

There are also a ton of other books like magnum contact sheets that may be of interest but I feel it focuses far more on a single genre rather than giving you an entire brief history lesson on photography.

as for learning I would also recommend you reading "the photographers eye" you can find the pdf online pretty easily

Once you get the basics down with some of these other suggestions, I'd recommend going a slightly different direction and reading a book about the history of photography. The best one I've read is Seizing the Light by Robert Hirsch. Learning about the success and struggles of the best that have come before you will broaden your perspective on the artform and probably steer your work in a whole new direction.

That's a totally valid question. Nothing prickish at all. This style of deadpan photography can seem boring, gray, dull, pointless, and inaccessible. Using the language of 'fine art' within a photograph (that tricycle in the first image is no accident) can seem pretentious, elitist, and pointless. Between these two barriers, I have no idea how to explain this type of work here. I did find the artists statement interesting. If you are curious, you might be interested in The Photograph as Contemporary Art. The chapter on deadpan photography is particularly relevant to this set of images.

Miller Display Light Italic, with the letterspacing a bit tightened. See this comparison

Edit I’m not sure if the cover was changed for the rerelease of the book. If it wasn’t changed, then I’m definitely wrong… the book was apparently first published in 1977 but Miller wasn’t released until ~1997

yeah, that and Bystander

I started reading http://www.amazon.com/Digital-Photography-Composition-Lifestyles-Paperback/dp/0470647612/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1346857068&sr=8-1&keywords=composition+photo+dummies two days ago. It may be for beginners (which I totally am anyway) but quite insightful and easy to read. Well that's my 2 cents.

I'll reccommend a few books chock full of essays that I found useful...it might take awhile to pick through them but there are some real gems.
Photography: A Critical Introduction , The Photography Reader , On Photography , Camera Lucida: Reflections on Photography