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Reframing Photography: Theory and Practice
In an accessible yet complex way, Rebekah Modrak and Bill Anthes explore photographic theory, history and technique to bring photographic education up to date with contemporary photographic practice. Reframing Photography is a broad and inclusive rethinking of photography that will inspire readers to think about the medium across time periods, across traditional themes, and through varied materials.
Intended for both beginners and advanced students, for art and non-art majors, and for practicing artists, Reframing Photography compellingly presents four concerns common to all photographic practices: vision, light/shadow, reproduction, and editing. Each part includes a thoughtful essay, providing a broad cultural context for each topic alongside discussion of examples from across history and genres. Essays introduce the work of artists working with diverse subjects and a variety of processes (straight photography, social documentary, digital, mixed media, conceptual, etc.) examine artists' conceptual and technical choices, describe cultural implications and artistic influences, and analyze how these concerns interrelate. "How-to" sections complement each essay with descriptions and step-by-step instruction of a fascinating range of related photographic equipment, materials and methods through concise explanations and clear diagrams.
Intended for both beginners and advanced students, for art and non-art majors, and for practicing artists, Reframing Photography compellingly presents four concerns common to all photographic practices: vision, light/shadow, reproduction, and editing. Each part includes a thoughtful essay, providing a broad cultural context for each topic alongside discussion of examples from across history and genres. Essays introduce the work of artists working with diverse subjects and a variety of processes (straight photography, social documentary, digital, mixed media, conceptual, etc.) examine artists' conceptual and technical choices, describe cultural implications and artistic influences, and analyze how these concerns interrelate. "How-to" sections complement each essay with descriptions and step-by-step instruction of a fascinating range of related photographic equipment, materials and methods through concise explanations and clear diagrams.
- GenresPhotographyArt
560 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2010
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About the author
Rebekah Modrak
6 books15 followersRebekah Modrak is an artist and writer analyzing consumer culture and representation from unusual perspectives. She is co-editor of Radical Humility: Essays on Ordinary Acts in which twenty people (a philosopher, a psychologist, a cook, a journalist, a librarian, a marketing scholar, a lawyer ...) consider humility as a countermeasure to Trump's golden escalator. She's co-editor of Trouble in Censorville: The Far Right's Assault on Public Education and the Teachers Who Are Fighting Back. Alison Bechdel writes, of Trouble in Censorville, "Their powerful testimony is enraging—these vicious attacks are not what they signed up for. But it’s also profoundly uplifting, a vision of courage, resistance, and grace under fire that is a model for us all in these dark times." Modrak has also written articles for publications such as New Art Examiner, Media-N, The Conversation, Afterimage, Ms. Magazine, and Infinite Mile. She is Professor in the Stamps School of Art & Design at the University of Michigan. She lives in Ann Arbor where runs a local food truck series.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 31, 2012
Reframing Photography, the 560-page encyclopedic book on the subject includes everything about photography and then some. The book is for students, teachers and those in the self-taught orbit who want to do it themselves with a little help.
Like those instruction manuals that come with your new camera, the book is a little overwhelming — although unlike those barely-English manuals, this book is written! There are fabulous essays written by the two authors, Rebekah Modrak and Bill Anthes, in each of the four subject parts, and they live up to the encyclopedia: dense, with history, science, and an interweaving of anecdotes of present day usage that reverberate with photography’s past (my favorite is the comparison of Janet Cardiff’s audio or video walks with the idea of the camera obscura, which works pretty well I think — Cardiff does turn the world inside out and upside down, giving you her image, sounds, movement, which you must translate back into your own world to make sense of.)
The book has learned from the Internet’s way of doing business. The horizontal layout includes two “sidebar” columns on each page, one to show images referred to in the text and the other for footnotes, which are like what you might get online in a hyper-linked word — more useful information about the subject.
Reframing, like the encyclopedia or dictionary, is not a linear read. You want something about the how human vision works and what information about the eye and sight has meant for photography? There’s a comprehensive essay by Rebekah Modrak that covers all that. Maybe you want to jump right in to the “how to” chapters. There’s one on framing that deals with compositional issues. It will tell you how to make a pinhole camera, and steps you through the various cameras available and what they do. Other “how to” chapters deal with lighting, reproducing and printing and editing and evaluating.
Speaking of the Internet, the book has a large and very useful website with video tutorials with images and discussion from the book only not as dense. And one great segment online is author Modrak’s curated artist’s gallery, with short documentary films of young contemporary practitioners pushing the boundaries of art and photography talking about their work. (Among those featured are Artie Vierkant, a UPenn graduate, and Christobal Mendoza, who showed collaborative work recently at Grizzly Grizzly.)
One of the great things about the book — which took seven years to write — is its underlying premise — that everybody uses photography now, and that for some artists, photography is one, but not the only tool in their studio. The authors, artist Rebekah Modrak and art historian Bill Anthes, understand that the future of fine art photography might look considerably different than a simple show of framed works hung on a wall. And because of that open interpretation of the field, the book embraces every possible use of the tool and discusses it with open mind. There seem to be no biases here, just a lot of great facts rounded up and some smart thoughtful commentary — with lots of pictures.
Like those instruction manuals that come with your new camera, the book is a little overwhelming — although unlike those barely-English manuals, this book is written! There are fabulous essays written by the two authors, Rebekah Modrak and Bill Anthes, in each of the four subject parts, and they live up to the encyclopedia: dense, with history, science, and an interweaving of anecdotes of present day usage that reverberate with photography’s past (my favorite is the comparison of Janet Cardiff’s audio or video walks with the idea of the camera obscura, which works pretty well I think — Cardiff does turn the world inside out and upside down, giving you her image, sounds, movement, which you must translate back into your own world to make sense of.)
The book has learned from the Internet’s way of doing business. The horizontal layout includes two “sidebar” columns on each page, one to show images referred to in the text and the other for footnotes, which are like what you might get online in a hyper-linked word — more useful information about the subject.
Reframing, like the encyclopedia or dictionary, is not a linear read. You want something about the how human vision works and what information about the eye and sight has meant for photography? There’s a comprehensive essay by Rebekah Modrak that covers all that. Maybe you want to jump right in to the “how to” chapters. There’s one on framing that deals with compositional issues. It will tell you how to make a pinhole camera, and steps you through the various cameras available and what they do. Other “how to” chapters deal with lighting, reproducing and printing and editing and evaluating.
Speaking of the Internet, the book has a large and very useful website with video tutorials with images and discussion from the book only not as dense. And one great segment online is author Modrak’s curated artist’s gallery, with short documentary films of young contemporary practitioners pushing the boundaries of art and photography talking about their work. (Among those featured are Artie Vierkant, a UPenn graduate, and Christobal Mendoza, who showed collaborative work recently at Grizzly Grizzly.)
One of the great things about the book — which took seven years to write — is its underlying premise — that everybody uses photography now, and that for some artists, photography is one, but not the only tool in their studio. The authors, artist Rebekah Modrak and art historian Bill Anthes, understand that the future of fine art photography might look considerably different than a simple show of framed works hung on a wall. And because of that open interpretation of the field, the book embraces every possible use of the tool and discusses it with open mind. There seem to be no biases here, just a lot of great facts rounded up and some smart thoughtful commentary — with lots of pictures.
December 18, 2015
As a pedagogical tool this text has become invaluable in my teaching, it's also a beautiful book well illustrated and very inspirational. No shortage too of real academic references, I cannot recommend this book enough!
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November 21, 2020I had to read this for my Art Studio class. *shrug*
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews