How to Look At Photographs

Rating:
Summary: How to Look At Photographs
Review: David Finn touches on many key points with looking at photographs. He works with you in the book to try to create your own vision in looking at photographs. The book is very diverse, he pulls many peoples insights in this book which i enjoyed. As you read you find youself "seeing" not just looking...you grow as you read on. You will start understanding images as a form of art. Finn's information is far from boring..or dry( in which i was afraid of) The reading is very enjoyable. At the end you are places with a tool you use in your viewing of images which you can forever use and improve.

Rating:
Summary: Worst Photography Book Ever
Review: Finn has nothing to say. This is a terrible book. In no way does the author provide any insight to analyzing the content of a photograph aiding the viewer to appreciate and understand the artist's work. I cannot believe the publisher allowed this material to be published.

Rating:
Summary: Worst Photography Book Ever
Review: Finn has nothing to say. This is a terrible book. In no way does the author provide any insight to analyzing the content of a photograph aiding the viewer to appreciate and understand the artist's work. I cannot believe the publisher allowed this material to be published.

Rating:
Summary: Not helpful in the Least
Review: Too amorphous and self-referential to be helpful. The author emphasizes extreme subjectivity instead of a more useful, systematic framework for reading photographic text.

There's no room for aesthetics here. Finn implies that the act of looking is so highly personal as to preclude the use of any criteria in evaluating art. Not only an intellectual dead-end, but also a justification for mediocrity. And, no offense to Mr. Finn, but his own work appears just that: amateurish compared to the included "masters."

Skip this one and check out "Criticizing Photographs: An Introduction to Understanding Images" by Terry Barrett.