Reading Photographs is a clear and inspiring introduction to theories of representation and visual analysis and how they can be applied to photography. Introducing the development of photography and different approaches to reading images, the book looks at elements such as identity, gaze, psychoanalysis, voyeurism and aesthetics.Striking visual examples are used to illustrate the text and engaging case studies delve deeper into issues raised within each chapter, with brief activity points to allow the reader to apply relevant theories to their own practice.

Reading Photographs is a clear and inspiring introduction to theories of representation and visual analysis and how they can be applied to photography. Introducing the development of photography and different approaches to reading images, the book looks at elements such as identity, gaze, psychoanalysis, voyeurism and aesthetics.Striking visual examples are used to illustrate the text and engaging case studies delve deeper into issues raised within each chapter, with brief activity points to allow the reader to apply relevant theories to their own practice.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: What is a photograph?Invention: the marriage of chemistry and opticsTime and lightUses and applicationsThe camera: an evolutionCase study: Chuck CloseChapter 2: Reading the signsWhere do meanings come from?Language: words, sounds and imagesSemiotics: the study of signsIdeology: ideas, practices and beliefsCase study: Anthony BarrettChapter 3: Truth and liesWhat is ‘real’?Representation and realityFacts and fictionCase study: Thomas HoepkerChapter 4: IdentityPeople and portraitsSignifying identityLookingThe bodyCase study: Marc GarangerChapter 5: Big Brother is watching youThe modern worldThe bad, the mad and the ‘other’Surveillance society: the PanopticonWho is looking at whom?Public spaces – private livesCase study: Shizuka YokomizoChapter 6: AestheticsBut is it art?Photography cannot be artWhat is art?Photography as art – the history of an ideaInto postmodernism Case study: Richard BillinghamConclusionBibliographyReferencesIndexPicture creditsAcknowledgements