"His work is insightful and provocative, linking ideas from a number of disciplines while he asks readers to consider the moral and ethical frameworks within which decisions are made about the publciation of disturbing photos."--"Journal of Mass Media Ethics"

What compels us to look at shocking photographs or, alternatively, to look away? Should the media use disturbing images to inform, at the risk of offending? How is our sense of politics, morality, and culture affected when we are exposed to gruesome images of accidents and disasters, murder and execution, grief and death?

In Body Horror, John Taylor addresses these questions by examining how the media presents unsettling pictures, especially those of dead and injured "foreigners." Drawing on recent experiences in the Gulf, Bosnia and Rwanda, Taylor argues that documentary photography, for all the horror it reproduces, ultimately defines a democracy.

Fully aware of the voyeuristic aspects of photojournalism, Taylor probes the difficulty of applying moral imperatives when separating the utility of showing images of suffering and violence from the risk of either insulting or gratifying public sensibilities. A compelling documentary of photography's cultural and political power, Body Horror analyzes the moral responsibility attached to publishing and bearing witness to photographs of violence, and the historical amnesia that arises when such imagery remains unseen.

James Ravilious (1939-1999) trained as an artist, like his father Eric, but a Cartier-Bresson exhibition converted him to photography, which he taught himself. In 1972, a move to his wife Robin's homeland - a very rural, unspoilt part of North Devon - inspired him. It also produced the perfect job: recording daily life in that traditional bit of old England before it was modernised. He devoted himself to this for more than seventeen years. The results, over 75,000 black and white negatives in the Beaford Archive, form what Barry Lane, Secretary General of the Royal Photographic Society, called `a unique body of work, unparalleled at least in this country for its scale and quality' James was a friendly, modest man with a very unintrusive approach. Because of this, and because of the length of the project, he was able to make a uniquely detailed portrait, intimate and sympathetic, of a whole way of life in one small piece of countryside: its landscapes, its seasons, its people, their hardships and their pleasures. His respect for his subjects is manifest in his work. He never sentimentalised their lives. It was vital to him that his record should be completely honest. But it is not merely social history. It is also the work of someone who composed with the eye of an artist, and who often looked at his world with artists such as Breughel, Claude Lorrain, Thomas Bewick and Samuel Palmer in mind.

In Mont Blanc Lines, photographer and alpinist Alex Buisse has travelled the Mont Blanc massif to capture images of all the major mountain faces and to trace the classic climbing and skiing lines. As well as Mont Blanc itself, also featured are other Alpine icons, including the north faces of the Grandes Jorasses and the Droites, the Aiguille du Midi, and the Grand Capucin. Whether on the ground in crampons or on skis, or in the air by ultralight or paraglider, he has captured the majesty of the range so that he can tell the story of these classic lines and present them to us in the most stunning way possible. Mont Blanc Lines features images taken during over a decade of mountaineering while Alex worked as a professional photographer based in Chamonix. Alex Buisse's story of these iconic mountain faces is mixed with the stories of climbers who have experienced great moments there. As a bonus feature, also included are the legendary faces of the Matterhorn and the Eiger North Face in Switzerland.

Bestselling author and photographer Gray Malin’s new collection of aerial beach photography, highlighting coastal locations from around the worldA return to Gray Malin’s famed aerial beach photography, Coastal celebrates the beaches of the United States, from the East Coast to the West and Hawaii, as well as some international beaches. This book includes stunning, never-before-published photographs from the luminous waters of Maui to the pebbled beaches of Northern Michigan to the idyllic shores of Nantucket. Fans of Malin’s previous book, Beaches, will love this new installment as he takes you on a journey to the secluded, the celebrated, and the enchanting beaches of the United States.Featured Locations:Midwest: Lake Michigan; ChicagoNortheast: Maine; Cape Cod; New Jersey; Rhode Island; Block Island; The Hamptons; Martha’s Vineyard; Nantucket; BostonSoutheast: Miami; Palm Beach; Sea Island; JupiterSouthern California: Venice; Santa Monica; San Diego; Laguna Beach; Newport Beach; Malibu; Manhattan BeachNorthern California: San Francisco; Big Sur; Monterey; Carmel; Pebble Beach; Lake TahoeHawaii: Oahu; Big Island; Kauai; Maui International: Australia; New Zealand; St. Barths; Bora Bora; Thailand

There have been major advances in therapeutic photography since Del's first book in 2013, and the recent lockdowns have accelerated the field further.

Defining photography is impossible. Revealing it is another matter, and that's what The Concise Focal Encyclopedia of Photography does, with each turn of the page. History: The technical origins and evolution of photography are half of the story. The other half consists of the ways that cultural forces have transformed photography into a constellation of practices more diverse than any other mode of representation. Photographers can tell a more in-depth story through a photo like Dorothea Lange's "Migrant Mother than a journalist ever could with the written word alone. Major themes and practitioners: Over 25 entries, many with supporting illustrations, examine the figures, trends, and ideas that have contributed most heavily to the history and current state of photography. Contemporary issues: The issues influencing photography today are more complex than at any other time in its history. Questions of ethics, desire, perception, digitization, and commercialization all vie for attention. Hear what the experts have to say about crucial issues such as whether or not the images we take today will last the test of time, and if so, how? When material is covered this skillfully, "concise is no compromise. The Concise Focal Encyclopedia of Photography is packed with useful information, compelling ideas, and - best of all - pure pleasure.

In The Rhetoric of Photography in Modern Japanese Literature, Atsuko Sakaki closely examines photography-inspired texts by four Japanese novelists: Tanizaki Jun'ichiro (1886-1965), Abe Kobo (1924-93), Horie Toshiyuki (b. 1964) and Kanai Mieko (b. 1947). As connoisseurs, practitioners or critics of this visual medium, these authors look beyond photographs' status as images that document and verify empirical incidents and existences, articulating instead the physical process of photographic production and photographs' material presence in human lives. This book offers insight into the engagement with photography in Japanese literary texts as a means of bringing forgotten subject-object dynamics to light. It calls for a fundamental reconfiguration of the parameters of modern print culture and its presumption of the transparency of agents of representation.

When was photography invented, in 1826 with the first permanent photograph? If we depart from the technologically oriented accounts and consider photography as a philosophical discourse an alternative history appears, one which examines the human impulse to reconstruct the photographic or "the evoking of light". It's significance throughout the history of ideas is explored via the Platonic Dialogues, Iamblichus' theurgic writings, and Marsilio Ficino's texts. This alternative history is not a replacement of other narratives of photographic history but rather offers a way of rethinking photography's ontological instability.

"Snaps of Scotland" is a picture book of everything you have seen, but do not have remember, or perhaps have never seen before. The six hundred pictures in this book focus on the natural world that can be seen in Scotland. It will create curiosity in the young, amuse, those in their middle years, and rekindle memories for those, that are more advanced in their lives.