Seizing the Light: A Social & Aesthetic History of Photography
Seizing the Light: A Social & Aesthetic History of Photography
4th Edition
About the Book
Covering major events, practitioners, works, and social effects of photographic practice, author Robert Hirsch provides a concise and discerning chronological account of photography, drawing on influential examples. This fundamental starting place shows a multiplicity of makers, inventors, issues, and applications, exploring the artistic, critical, and social aspects of the creative thinking process.
New topics include the rise of AI, mobile and drone photography, surveillance camera, image manipulation, protest and social justice photography, and the role of social media in photography.
Table of Contents
Critic’s Reviews
“The definitive history of photography book, Seizing the Light: A Social and Aesthetic History of Photography delivers the fascinating story of how photography as an art form came into being, and its continued development, maturity, and transformation…Written in an accessible style, it is perfect for students newly engaging with the practice of photography and for experienced photographers wanting to contextualize their own work.” – Silvershotz
“The pleasure then is in being able to marvel at how expertly and coherently Hirsch relates this centuries’ long tale, with the reader never being overwhelmed with abstruse jargon, or dumped at a station along the journey and expected to fend for oneself amongst the towering giants of photographic history with no idea how you got there. Hirsch walks you confidently through this fascinating story, educating and informing at all times, while also making links to happenings in the wider world outside photography. With a beautiful way of highlighting pivotal moments in the history of the medium, the text remains accessible for the complete novice, while offering enough substance (and well-judged citing of important practitioners) to provide a starting point for further research in specific topics that may interest the student. (…) As such, anyone interested in why the world around us is the way it is, could certainly learn something in this book and thus it’s easy to recommend.” – Justin Carey, Shutter Hub
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