Intro & Chapter 1

One of the sentences in the introduction sets the president for the rest of the book: "It challenges the traditional stereotype of photography". That is contemporary photography, challenging everything we thought we knew about photography, giving the audience something new. I also like the that the introduction recognizes the fact that the photographs do not necessarily fit into one chapter (one type of concept or idea). Photographs are always a combination of different ideas and categories. Often they are more obviously one type of theme, but there are always different ideas interwoven in every photo. This is true of all types of photography, but especially contemporary. I especially liked the story of Stephen Shore. The age at which he started I feel points out that contemporary photography and its art is beyond traditional photographer and camera, and is instead about concepts.

Discovering how photography began to be used for displaying ideas and themes, versus just being used to document, was very interesting to read about. From the highly theatrical and idea oriented works of Melanie Manchot to the more comedic works of Tatsumi Orimoto, there is unity in all of these different photographers in that they all push the boundaries and ideas of photography. My personal favorite is Gillian Wearing's, "Signs that say what you want them to say and not signs that say what someone else wants you to say." I already love signs and using written words in a photograph, and this concept takes it to the next level. The idea of letting a person have a voice, and say whatever they want-through a photo, is incredible. The interaction that brings with the subjects is great. This whole chapter is a great first chapter to contemporary photography.