Why It Does Not Have To Be In Focus

Excellent read to understand the current trend in photography.

A book Ive been meaning to grab and have by my side for a long while - a great one for quick reads - randomly pick a page - an essential for a young Photography student Id say - it reads how the old 'Art Book' should have for me - a bit more insightful about the artists - and contains alot of the contemporary practitioners which will come up in most Art Students / Photographers investigations and researches............(also alot of my fave artists in there). Each page gives you nice thoughtful starters about the artists work and helps also to fill any gaps you might have in recent developments in the Photography world in a fun and insightful way - will not date for a while as most the artists carefully chosen are either very influential or very contemporary still (its now Jan 2017).........

I bought this because I felt - as an enthusiast and practitioner within the classical tradition - I needed to make a serious attempt to understand 'contemporary' photography. I have to say that I'm still at something of a loss to understand - not so much the explanation(s) - but why many (certainly not all) of the photographs, and photographers, in the book are considered - by some - to have any significance, or interest. Still, the book does it's very best, with good illustrations and a very impressive, wide and varied selection of photographers to explain the approaches and ideas involved.

Jackie Higgins has chosen 100 key photographs, mostly contemporary, just to describe what the art of photography can be: a lot of possibilities that deal with techniques and ways of seeing. To each picture are dedicated two pages with brief notes about the author, the historic and artistic context, quotes and a short outline of the image. Most of the analysis are deep enough. Even if the book lacks some very important photographic experiences (Peter Bialobrzeski, Franco Fontana) it is highly recommended.

The book is carefully laid-out with colour codings for each section on every page, but essentially is a visual reminder of a hundred pictures by as many photographers, not fully explaining in any depth why the images succeed -- if they do.

Excellent book, just as expected, relevant to all lovers of photography but particularly photographic students.