The Photograph Taken and Not Taken

Scott, Grant ORCID: 0000-0003-2882-1380 (2017) The Photograph Taken and Not Taken. Witness.

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Abstract

I recently came across a book that I first read a few years ago titled Photographs Not Taken: A Collection of Photographers Essays edited by Will Staecy that consists of a curated collection of essays written by photographers about their personal failed attempts to ‘make-a-picture’. Steacy asked each photographer to abandon the conventional tools needed to make a photograph and instead to use only words, to capture an image and its attendant memories. In each essay, the photograph has been stripped down to only the idea or concept behind the image. Photographs Not Taken features contributions by photographers such as Roger Ballen, Doug Dubois, Amy Elkins, Jim Goldberg, Emmet Gowin, Tim Hetherington, Todd Hido, Nadav Kander, Ed Kashi, Mary Ellen Mark, Sylvia Plachy, Mark Power and Alec Soth amongst others. It is a serious work, filled with serious photographers. It asks and presents some interesting points from which discussion could lead about the essence of the photographic image and the importance of the role of storytelling from a photographer’s perspective. I recommend it.

Item Type:	Article
Article Type:	Article
Subjects:	T Technology > TR Photography
Divisions:	Schools and Research Institutes > School of Creative Arts
Research Priority Areas:	Culture, Continuity, and Transformation Creative Practice and Theory
Depositing User:	Grant Scott
Date Deposited:	04 Jul 2017 10:36
Last Modified:	31 Aug 2023 09:22
URI:	https://eprints.glos.ac.uk/id/eprint/4710

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