Book Review: The Death of Photography
The Death of Photography by Andrew Smale
‘The Death of Photography’ is an essay about the perceived death of film photography, and the suitability of film photography as medium for fine artists. It deals with the attitudes film photographers face from the ever increasing digital world, and how going back to basics with manual film cameras can be truly liberating. As you would probably guess the majority of this information is based around the impact of the Holga and its ‘no frills’ feature set. Andrew then goes even more back to basics by discussing pinhole photography. Towards the end of the book there is an excellent guide to semi-stand developing with Rodinal.
The presentation of the book is nice, with each page being adorned with a black and white image shot with either a Holga or Zero Image pinhole camera. The images help to space out the essay and add visual interest.
Due to the personal nature of the essay, not everyone will agree with the content but I feel it is a worthy read. I often found myself agreeing with the points being raised; although I am biased due to my passion for film photography.
Buy the book at Lulu.com
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