The Photograph - Graham Clarke.

The Photograph - Graham Clarke - Oxford University Press - 1997

Since beginning The Art of Photography I have been trying to read one of our set texts, The Photograph by Graham Clarke. I have to say that I have read other things during this time and have had to keep coming back to this book. I did wonder whether to give up altogether, after all what is the point in reading something for the sake of it. I felt like I should not be defeated and that maybe it was so difficult to get into because it was a worthwhile read.

I found the style it is written in quite hard to get to grips with so I found myself having to re read some sections as I felt I was taking it in but not fully understanding it. I had to realise that I was not reading a novel and therefore should be approaching it in a different way.

On the positive side the book is divided into manageable chapters so the book was easy to breakdown into sections I could tackle. These included chapters on things such as ‘What is a photograph?’ and ‘How to read a photograph?’ and then goes on to talk about the various genres in photography like Landscape, The City, The Portrait and The body in Photography.

I am glad I persevered with this book as whilst it can only be described as heavy going and you must really concentrate to understand it (my low attention span was probably half the problem) I did find myself starting to agree with some of the points that Clarke was making. To be honest there is still quite a bit of the book which I feel went over my head to a certain degree, but I also think that I have got something out of reading it and so my efforts were not in vain. Maybe I will tackle it again in the future and the second time around I may find it easier to understand.