I Took out a number of books, that have been looked at for both this project and also my dissertation, i feel that the two things can run hand in hand, research for the dissertation falls under more research.
All of these books have been skimmed through due to time constraints, (im not the worlds fasted reader) so my short write up's are a general idea based upon my understanding of the book, they may not necessarily be reflective of the authors intentions.
This book talks about how photography sits within a society, its gives the reader an introduction into critical thinking photography wise, and how to go about informing their own work.
Although this book is old it makes some interesting points, some which may not be applicable now, some however are. Sontag suggests photographers are "enlarging and altering what is worth looking at and what we have a right to observe" she says that photographers are a "grammar and, even more importantly, an ethics of seeing. she talks about how people take photos not, only for an art form, but because they have the right to. "Recently, Photography has become also as widely practiced as sex and dancing - which means that, like every mass art form, photography is not practiced by most people as an art. It is mainly a social rite, a defence against anxiety, and a tool of power."
This is one of the most confusing books i have tried to read, and i struggles to understand it, weather thats because its translated from french (probably not the reason) or because barthes has written a photography book, where he seems to be not remotely interested in artistic photography, and the technicalities behind taking a photograph.
He is more interested in the effects of a photograph, and being photographed on people
He talks about how he can be observed without knowing it, but how more often he had been photographed, and how he knows he has been photographed. Barthes talks bout how once he knows he is being photographed he starts to pose, thus creating an image for the camera. He talks about how when he poses, he knows that he is posing, and wants you to know that he is posing.
This book provided me with the much needed information of the history of photography all the way up to the digital age, for my dissertation, (I know more about photography now than i ever did)
This book talks about how photograph is used now in the digital age, as opposed to film (more photos more often, more places) it provides information on storage and archiving, including the issues that come with different methods of storing.
This book was an interesting book for me, as a PC gamer. its a picture book, with "digital art" Video game "photographs" which is actually screenshots of computer games, that have been taken like photographs, it brings up thoughts of the uncanny valley, and how far is it before we enter the hyperreal and the images disturb us because they are too close to being lifelike.
