On Photography
Failed to add items
Add to basket failed.
Add to wishlist failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
On Photography
Buy Now for £14.99
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Jennifer Van Dyck
-
By:
-
Susan Sontag
About this listen
First published in 1973, this is a study of the force of photographic images, which are continually inserted between experience and reality. Sontag here develops further the concept of "transparency". When anything can be photographed, and photography has destroyed the boundaries and definitions of art, a viewer can approach a photograph freely, with no expectations of discovering what it means. This collection of six lucid and invigorating essays, with the most famous being "In Plato's Cave", make up a deep exploration of how the image has affected society.
©2003 Susan Sontag (P)2011 Audible, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
Critic reviews
Photography , an interesting view.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This most important photograph book is for anyone involved or interested in photography and its place in the world both as snap shot and art, which nowadays covers about everyone living in the world. It explains how and why photography remains the most powerful and relevant medium in the world today, which is why bit will remain so as long as people stay addicted to images.
Luckily the video camera and polaroid had been invented at the time of its writing On Photography so Sontag was able to discuss the instant imagery that is possible today on everyones phone. Its a shame Susan Sontag's not alive to give her thoughts on digital photography but as the nature of taking photographs has not changed with the new technology so On Photography has not dated.
For the last 30 years I re visit this book every few years and I am so grateful that I will now be able to listen to it too as well read it. Thanks Audible
Still The Absolute Photography Bible
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Interesting book on photography
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A Meditation On Photography
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Monumental
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
What did you like most about On Photography?
I have known about this book for decades but have avoided it as I always through it to be too much like a text book and highbrow. To be frank I would say that this is not a book to be read by a beginner in photography but if you do want to read why photography is a welcomed art and is valued then this book is the one to read.it is well written though it can get somewhat tied up in jargon and I do wish it was in more plain english. But it is inspiring and interesting and when I started to read I really did wish to want to continue.
I have been a photographer for over 40 years and I know most of the well known and some less well known photographers but the book throws new light on the photographers I thought I knew and explains. like an artists painting, what the point of the image is and its impact.
I have this in both hardback and Audile versions and Will continue to delve into the book. On the downside, besides the cover there are no images in the book so when the book was initially published in the 1970s it would have been somewhat difficult to research the images and photographs Susan Sontag refers to. Now with the internet its a doddle and in so in may ways helps you appreciate even more the essays of the author.
Who was your favorite character and why?
N/AWhat does Jennifer Van Dyck bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?
She makes me imagine she is Susan Sontag.Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
Nope, its a text book!!!Any additional comments?
Shame there can be no images!!An excellent essay on photography
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The classic book on photography
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
What made the experience of listening to On Photography the most enjoyable?
This is a must read book for those interested in photography. This is not a book to listen to that will tell you how to improve your photography. This is a book that relays the style and the setting out of photographers and their work. This is of interest but I found the narrator somewhat aggravating with no real passion for what she was reading.What do you think the narrator could have done better?
Bring more passion into the reading of the subject!Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
NoAny additional comments?
I've given it three stars, which should of been a 5 as this is an important book in terms of photographic backgroundhard going
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
It took me a while to get through though because it is such dense subject matter and I needed to take it a little at a time.
Great to hear this in audio.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Also I think it was edited by a computer,so it misses crucial words in a sentence.
Dire
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.