Photography As Art — Why Photographs Work
Fifty-two pick-up is easy to play with George Barr’s most recent book. Whether you read it chronologically or let it fall open to a new image each time, Why Photographs Work — 52 Great Images: Who Made Them, What Makes Them Special and Why (Rockynook) will entertain, enlighten, and inspire. Through his own research, experiences, and referrals, Barr has selected fifty-two images and written brief essays about each one to satisfy what he sees as a void in available resources for aspiring serious photographers. He says in the introduction, “This is the book I wish had been available [when he started] to explain great photographs, to point out what works and how these images are planned and composed, how tones should be printed, how subjects explored.”
In addition to his own essay, each image is accompanied by a monograph from the artist, then a brief biography of that artist, and finally some technical details concerning equipment used, post production altering, and printing. However, one of the photographers chose not to share any technical information and one of the artists did not use a camera to produce the image.
Like Mr. Barr, this reviewer has a personal preference towards images that have not been altered with post production software to the point that the editing becomes the subject and leaves the original image as only a memory. I like to show viewers what I saw through the viewfinder. That being said, Barr boldly includes work of photographers that have altered images to, as he says, “…open readers to new ideas of photographs that are not ‘traditional’ or ‘straight.’” A noteworthy example of manipulated images is a mosaic made up of nineteen images taken with a cell phone camera.
Three images that got my attention quickly and became immediate favorites are shown in this review. First, “Precipitation” by Gordon Lewis represents an unstaged, extemporaneous moment. While testing a new camera, an interesting subject walks into the frame. What may appear to be shadows are repairs in the wall made with a darker-toned cement. The viewer is treated here to an image straight from the camera with only cropping and slight sharpening in post.
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