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Photography Photography: A Critical Introduction was the first introductory textbook to examine key debates in photographic theory and place them in their social and political contexts, and is now established as one of the leading textbooks in its field

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Photography Photography: A Critical Introduction was the first introductory textbook to examine key debates in photographic theory and place them in their social and political contexts, and is now established as one of the leading textbooks in its field. Written especially for students in further and higher education and for introductory college courses, this fully revised edition provides a coherent introduction to the nature of photographic seeing. Individual chapters cover: • • • • Key debates in photographic theory and history Documentary photography and photojournalism Personal and popular photography Photography and the human body • Photography and commodity culture • Photography as art. This revised and updated fifth edition includes: • New case studies on topics such as: materialism and embodiment, the commodification of human experience, and an extended discussion of landscape as genre. • 99 photographs and images, featuring work from: Bill Brandt, Susan Derges, Rineke Dijkstra, Fran Herbello, Hannah Höch, Karen Knorr, Dorothea Lange, Chrystel Lebas, Susan Meiselas, Lee Miller, Martin Parr, Ingrid Pollard, Jacob Riis, Alexander Rodchenko, Andres Serrano, Cindy Sherman and Jeff Wall. • Fully updated resource information, including guides to public archives and useful websites. • A full glossary of terms and a comprehensive bibliography. Liz Wells is Professor in Photographic Culture in the Faculty of Arts, Plymouth University. Contributors: Michelle Henning, Patricia Holland, Derrick Price, Anandi Ramamurthy and Liz Wells. Praise for previous editions: ‘A brilliantly designed book. It provides a much-needed conceptual perspective, so lacking in other histories of photography, and with the new material on photojournalism [the book] is even stronger. Ulrich Keller, University of California at Santa Barbara ‘Bravo to Liz Wells for putting together such a comprehensive critical introduction. Lucid, smart and well illustrated, this will be a “must read” for every serious student of the medium.’ Deborah Bright, Professor of Photography and Art History, Rhode Island School of Design ‘An essential purchase. It raises awareness of the main contemporary issues related to photographic practice.’ Howard Riley, Swansea Institute of Higher Education ‘A timely revision of a great book. It is invaluable in setting the stage for critical research in photography. . . . A substantial contribution to the critical study of photography.’ Professor Lynne Bentley-Kemp, Rochester Institute of Technology ‘Precisely the kind of book I have been yearning to see appear for a long time. Carefully structured, it fulfils the need for a critical theory text for FE, HE and introductory college courses.’ Nicky West, University of Northumbria at Newcastle ‘Ideal for stimulating discussions on the critical use of photographic images and their evaluation. It is ideal for teaching this part of my BTEC Media and BTEC Art and Design courses.’ Ken Absalom, Gwent Tertiary College ‘Well structured – each chapter is thorough and relevant. The quality of the finish is superb – lovely photos and good use of margin notes.’ Richard Swales, Roade School, Northampton Photography A Critical Introduction Fifth Edition EDITED BY LIZ WELLS This fifth edition published 2015 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 1996, 2000, 2004, 2009, 2015 Liz Wells and contributors The right of Liz Wells to be identified as author of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. First edition published by Routledge 1996 Fourth edition published by Routledge 2009 Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Photography : a critical introduction / edited by Liz Wells. – Fifth edition. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Photography. I. Wells, Liz, 1948– TR145.P48 2015 770–dc23 2014031957 ISBN: (hbk) 978–0-415–85428–3 ISBN: (pbk) 978–0–415–85429–0 ISBN: (ebk) 978–1–315–72737–0 Typeset in Bembo and Frutiger by Florence Production Ltd, Stoodleigh, Devon, UK Contents Notes on contributors Editor’s preface Acknowledgements Illustration acknowledgements Introduction 1 Thinking about photography: debates, historically and now xi xiii xv xvi 1 9 DERRICK PRICE AND LIZ WELLS Introduction 11 Aesthetics and technologies 13 The impact of new technologies 13 Art and technology 14 The photograph as document 18 Photography and the modern 21 The postmodern 24 Aesthetics in an era of digital imaging 25 Contemporary debates 28 What is theory? 28 Photography theory 30 Critical reflections on realism 32 Reading images 35 Photography reconsidered 39 Theory, criticism, practice 41 v C O N T E N T S Case study: Image analysis: the example of Migrant Mother 44 Histories of photography 55 Which founding father? 57 The photograph as image 58 History in focus 60 Photography and social history 63 Social history and photography 63 The photograph as testament 64 Categorical photography 66 Institutions and contexts 70 Museums and archives 71 2 Surveyors and surveyed: photography out and about 75 DERRICK PRICE Introduction 77 Documentary and photojournalism: issues and definitions 79 Documentary photography 79 Photojournalism 80 Photography and war 81 Documentary and authenticity 90 Defining the real in the digital age 92 Surveys and social facts 96 Victorian surveys and investigations 96 Photographing workers 98 Photography and colonialism 102 The construction of documentary 106 Picturing ourselves 107 The Farm Security Administration (FSA) 111 Discussion: Drum 114 Documentary: new cultures, new spaces 117 Photography on the streets 117 Theory and the critique of documentary 123 Cultural politics and everyday life 125 The real world in colour 127 Documentary and photojournalism in the global age 129 3 ‘Sweet it is to scan . . .’: personal photographs and popular photography P AT R I C I A H O L L A N D Introduction 135 Private lives and personal pictures: users and readers 137 vi 133 C O N T E N T S In and beyond the charmed circle of home 140 The public and the private in personal photography 140 Beyond the domestic 143 Fiction and fantasy 145 Portraits and albums 146 Informality and intimacy 152 The working classes picture themselves 153 Kodak and the mass market: the Kodak path 159 The supersnap in Kodaland 164 Paths unholy and deeds without a name? 168 Re-viewing the archive 168 Post-family and post-photography? The digital world and the end of privacy 178 And in the galleries . . . 187 4 The subject as object: photography and the human body 189 MICHELLE HENNING Introduction 191 The photographic body in crisis 191 Embodying social difference 196 Photography and identification 196 Objects of desire and disgust 201 Objectification, fetishism, voyeurism 201 The celebrity body 203 Pornography and sexual imagery 206 Class and representations of the body 209 Technological bodies 211 The camera as mechanical eye 211 Interventions and scientific images 215 The body as machine 216 Digital imaging and the malleable body 221 Case study: Materialism and embodiment 222 The body in transition 225 Photography, birth and death 225 Summary 230 5 Spectacles and illusions: photography and commodity culture 231 ANANDI RAMAMURTHY Introduction: the society of the spectacle 233 Photographic portraiture and commodity culture 235 Photojournalism, glamour and the paparazzi 237 Stock photography, image banks and corporate media 241 vii C O N T E N T S Commodity spectacles in advertising photography 246 The grammar of the ad 253 Case study: The commodification of human experience – Coca Cola’s Open Happiness campaign 253 The transfer and contestation of meaning 256 Hegemony in photographic representation 257 Photomontage: concealing social relations 258 The fetishisation of labour relations 260 The gaze and gendered representations 263 Fashion photography 266 Case study: Tourism, fashion and ‘the Other’ 271 The context of the image 280 Image worlds 281 Case study: Benetton, Toscani and the limits of advertising 283 6 On and beyond the white walls: photography as art LIZ WELLS Introduction 291 Photography as art 292 Early debates and practices 295 The complex relations between photography and art 295 Realism and systems of representation 296 Photography extending art 298 Photography claiming a place in the gallery 300 The modern era 304 Modernism and Modern Art 304 Modern photography 307 Photo-eye: new ways of seeing 308 Case study: Art, design, politics: Soviet Constructivism 309 Emphasis on form 312 American formalism 313 Case study: Art movements and intellectual currencies: Surrealism 315 Late twentieth-century perspectives 319 Conceptual art and the photographic 319 Photography and the postmodern 322 Women’s photography 326 Questions of identity 328 Identity and the multi-cultural 329 Case study: Landscape as genre 331 Photography within the institution 344 Appraising the contemporary 346 Curators, collectors and festivals 349 viii 289 C O N T E N T S The gallery as context 350 Blurring the boundaries 351 Afterword 355 Glossary From analogue to digital 359 367 Photography archives Bibliography 369 375 Index 401 ix This page intentionally left blank Contributors Michelle Henning is Senior Lecturer in Media Studies, specialising in Photography and Visual Culture in the School of Art, Design and Media at the University of Brighton (since 2013). She also holds the post of Senior Visiting Research Fellow in the Digital Cultures Research Centre at the University of the West of England, where she was Associate Professor in Media and Culture until 2013. She is the author of Museums, Media and Cultural Theory (Routledge 2006) Museum Media (Blackwell 2014) and numerous essays on photography, museums, digital culture, media history and cultural theory. She also works as an artist and photographer. Patricia Holland is a writer, lecturer and researcher specialising in television, photography and popular imagery. Her interest in domestic photography and popular imagery goes back to the 1980s, when she collaborated with photographer Jo Spence to produce Family Snaps: The Meanings of Domestic Photography (Virago 1991). She is also the author of Picturing Childhood (I.B. Tauris 2006). She has contributed to several Readers on photography, television and cultural studies and is the author of The Angry Buzz: ‘This Week’ and Current Affairs Television (I.B.Tauris 2006) and Broadcasting and the NHS in the Thatcherite 1980s: The Challenge to Public Service (Palgrave Macmillan 2013). Derrick Price is a writer who has published extensively on photography, landscape and visual culture. He worked for many years in arts education, most recently as Associate Dean of the Faculty of Art, Media and Design at the University of the West of England. An active participant in cultural projects he is a member of the Board of Management of Ffotogallery, Cardiff, and Chair of the Council of Management, Watershed Media Centre, Bristol. He is currently writing a book on the landscape and culture of industrial South Wales. Anandi Ramamurthy is Senior Lecturer in Media and Cultural Studies, University of Central Lancashire where she teaches on BA Film and Media and MA Photography in the School of Journalism and Media. She is the author of Imperial Persuaders: Images of Africa and Asian in British Advertising (Manchester University Press 2003) and Black Star: Britain’s Asian Youth Movements (Pluto 2013). She is co-editor of Visual Culture in Britain at the End of Empire (Ashgate 2006) and Colonial Advertising and Commodity Racism (Lit Verlag 2013). She is the founder of www.tandana.org, a web-based archive of visual ephemera relating to the Asian Youth Movements in Britain. xi C O N T R I B U T O R S Liz Wells is Professor in Photographic Culture, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Plymouth University, UK. Publications on landscape include Land Matters, Landscape Photography, Culture and Identity (2011). She edited The Photography Reader (2003), and is a co-editor for photographies, Routledge journals. She has contributed numerous essays on people and place to photographers’ monographs and exhibition catalogues. Recent exhibitions as curator include Light Touch (Maryland Arts Place for Baltimore Washington International Airport, Feb–June 2014); FUTURELAND NOW (Laing Gallery, Newcastle, Sept 2012–Jan 2013); Sense of Place, European Landscape Photography (BOZAR, Brussels, June–Sept 2012); Landscapes of Exploration, recent British art from Antarctica (UK venues: Plymouth, Feb–Mar 2012; Cambridge, Oct–Nov 2013; Bournemouth, Jan–Feb 2015). xii E d i t o r ’s p r e f a c e This book aimed to remedy the absence of a good, coherent introduction to issues in photography theory, and resulted from the frustrations of teaching without the benefit of a succinct introductory textbook. There were a number of published histories of photography which defined the field according to various agendas, although almost invariably with an emphasis upon great photographers, historically and now. Fewer publications critically engaged with debates about the nature of photographic seeing. Most were collections of essays pitched at a level that assumed familiarity with contemporary cultural issues and debates which students new to this field of enquiry may not yet have had. The genesis of this book was complex. The first edition resulted initially from a discussion between myself and Rebecca Barden, then Media editor at Routledge, in which she solicited suggestions for publications which would support the current curriculum. Responding subsequently to her invitation to put forward a developed book proposal, two factors were immediately clear: first, that the attempt to be relatively comprehensive could best be tackled through a collective approach. Thus, a team of writers was assembled right from the start of the project. Second, it quickly became apparent that the project was, in effect, impossible. Photography is ubiquitous. As a result, there are no clear boundaries. It follows that there cannot be precise agreement as to what a ‘comprehensive’ introduction and overview should encompass, prioritise or exclude. After much consideration, we focused on issues and areas of practice that, given our experience as lecturers in a number of different UK university institutions, we knew feature frequently. That we worked to a large extent in relation to an established curriculum did not mean that the project has been either straightforward or easy. On the contrary, the intention to introduce and explore issues reasonably fully, taking account of what critics have had to say on various aspects of photographic practices, involved investigating and drawing upon a wide and diverse range of resources. The overall response to the first edition was positive. Comments included some useful suggestions, many of which we incorporated within the second, revised edition which, in response to feedback, included a new chapter on the body in photography. This chapter, taken as a whole, stands as an example of the range of debates that may become engaged when the content or subject matter of images is taken as a starting point. In this respect it contrasts in particular with chapters 2 and 6, in which the focus is on a specific genre, or an arena, of practice. The third edition was updated and included colour plates. It was translated and published in Greek in 2008. The fourth edition was further amended and xiii E D I T O R ’ S P R E F A C E incorporated colour illustrations throughout. A Chinese version was published in 2012. More radically, in this fifth edition we have dropped the final chapter. When we first planned the book there were key debates raging as to the import, impact and likely future developments for the digital in photography. These debates questioned some of what had previously been taken for granted in photographic documentation. Previous editions have included a final chapter, titled ‘Photography in the age of electronic imaging’ (intended as a reference to Walter Benjamin’s famous article on ‘The Work of Art in an Era of Mechanical Reproduction’ and, indeed, to debates of the early twentieth century on the social implications of the mass reproduction and circulation of photographic imagery. At the time of our first edition, there were discussions as to the implications of a shift from analogue to digital imaging – for reference, two of the diagrams that illustrated this discussion follow the Glossary in this edition. Now this is past history, the digital is completely integrated within photographic procedures and, more particularly, is no longer a matter of theoretical challenge or debate, although aspects of the virtual, of the centrality of online space continue to pre-occupy. For these reasons – the transcendence of questioning the import of the advent of the digital, along with the realisation that there are many questions to be asked about the social implications of visual media within virtual (global) space – led us to decide to integrate all discussion of the digital within the other chapters with which, at least in editions 3 and 4 of the publication, a considerable degree of overlap had developed. As editor, further researching this book over the twenty years since the first edition has led to further questions, as well as to engaging discoveries. The tension between looking, thinking, investigation and discovery is one of the pleasures of academic research. Repeatedly revising the book has offered opportunities to revisit and further clarify various points as well as to reflect on recent critical developments in historical research and theoretical engagements. Given the number of publications on photography that have appeared in the last two decades, we have enhanced discussion of further references. This book aims to be relevant, and of interest, to students of photography, graphics, fine art, art and design history, journalism, media studies, communication and cultural studies. We hope that it proves both useful and enjoyable. xiv Acknowledgements This book could not have been produced without the support of a number of people. First and foremost I should like to thank Michelle Henning, Patricia Holland, Derrick Price and Anandi Ramamurthy, without whom the book would not have been possible. I would also like to thank Martin Lister for his key contribution to earlier editions of the book. The project has been a difficult one but nonetheless a happy one, due to the quality of the team which I have had the good fortune to be in a position to assemble. I should like to thank Rebecca Barden for first commissioning this book: in addition, Natalie Foster, Sheni Kruger, Emma Hudson and others at Routledge for their support. I should like to thank colleagues, especially Kate Isherwood, and students who, over the years and in some instances without realising, h...