Photographs Not Taken: A Collection of Photographers' Essays

by Will Steacy

Photographs Not Taken is a collection of photographers’ essays about failed attempts to make a picture. Editor Will Steacy asked each photographer to abandon the conventional tools needed to make a photograph—camera, lens, film—and instead make a photograph using words, to capture the image (and its attendant memories) that never made it through the lens. In each essay, the photograph has been stripped down to its barest and most primitive the idea behind it. This collection provides a unique and original interpretation of the experience of photographing, and allows the reader into a world rarely the image making process itself. Photographs Not Taken features contributions Peter Van Agtmael, Dave Anderson, Timothy Archibald, Roger Ballen, Thomas Bangsted, Juliana Beasley, Nina Berman, Elinor Carucci, Kelli Connell, Paul D’Amato, Tim Davis, KayLynn Deveney, Doug Dubois, Rian Dundon, Amy Elkins, Jim Goldberg, Emmet Gowin, Gregory Halpern, Tim Hetherington, Todd Hido, Rob Hornstra, Eirik Johnson, Chris Jordan, Nadav Kander, Ed Kashi, Misty Keasler, Lisa Kereszi, Erika Larsen, Shane Lavalette, Deana Lawson, Joshua Lutz, David Maisel, Mary Ellen Mark, Laura McPhee, Michael Meads, Andrew Moore, Richard Mosse, Zwelethu Mthethwa, Laurel Nakadate, Ed Panar, Christian Patterson, Andrew Phelps, Sylvia Plachy, Mark Power, Peter Riesett, Simon Roberts, Joseph Rodriguez, Stefan Ruiz, Matt Salacuse, Alessandra Sanguinetti, Aaron Schuman, Jamel Shabazz, Alec Soth, Amy Stein, and others.

Genres: Photography

136 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 27, 2012

Reviews

[Donald Crane · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book consists of 62 essays by professional photographers about photographs they did not take when the opportunity arose. All pretty interesting if you like taking photographs and strive to continually improve your skills.

The one missed opportunity that I always remember took place in early Norvember ten or more years ago. I had dropped my wife off at Springfield College in Springfield, Massachusetts, for a day-long session to learn how to teach Zumba. Since she would be occupied for the day, I decided to spend the day in North Adams, MA, at Mass. MOCA, packing along my digital SLR to take photos of exhibitions in the museum.

I drove north to Greenfield - about a half hour - and then headed on Route 2 west towards North Adams, taking me over the northern part of the Berkshires. As I climbed towards Route 2's high point in the Berkshires, traffic winnowed to nothing and the ground was covered with 2-3 inches of sticky wet snow, the road was unplowed, and it felt incredibly remote - which is saying something considering the remoteness of where I live. As I neared the height of land, with snow sticking to all the trees and covering the ground and the road, there was a town boundary sign saying "Entering Florida."

I immediately thought it would make an ironic photo, but was concerned about stopping with no visibility of what might be coming east from the other side of the hill. There was no place to simply pull over without risking getting stuck in the snow. As I crested the hill, there was a building off to the right, clearly not occupied and whose entrance was not plowed, and I just didn't act quickly enough to stop and walk back to get that photo. And I continue to regret it to this day.

[Kris · Rating 5 out of 5]

good for an aspiring photojournalist who worries about being good enough this did not help my fear