1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910461353303321

Autore

Elkins James <1955->

Titolo

What photography is [[electronic resource] /] / James Elkins

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New York, : Routledge, 2011

ISBN

0-203-88648-8

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (241 p.)

Disciplina

770.1

Soggetti

Photography, Artistic

Photography - Philosophy

Electronic books.

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references.

Nota di contenuto

Writing -- Selenite, ice, salt -- From the Green River to the Brunswick peninsula -- A drop of water, World Trade center dust -- The rapatronic camera -- Lingqi.

Sommario/riassunto

In What Photography Is, James Elkins examines the strange and alluring power of photography in the same provocative and evocative manner as he explored oil painting in his best-selling What Painting Is. In the course of an extended imaginary dialogue with Roland Barthes's Camera Lucida, Elkins argues that photography is also about meaninglessness--its apparently endless capacity to show us things that we do not want or need to see--and also about pain, because extremely powerful images can sear permanently into our consciousness. Extensively illustrated with a surprising range of images, the book demonstrates that what makes photography uniquely powerful is its ability to express the difficulty--physical, psychological, emotional, and aesthetic--of the act of seeing.