Winter Reading

Self flagalation is reading John Tagg. Let your mind wander from the text for a micro second then begin again. Demanding. Density that requires a fist full of sticky book marks. Perserverance is rewarded, insight is comprehensive. Thus I plodded through this text in a mere eight weeks. Highly recommended.

Here is a link to the University of Minnesota Press that will explain Tagg's assertions.

Barthes "Camera Lucida" reflections on photography is equally demanding but is a third the amount of text required by John Tagg. The chapters are short digestible chunks of idea, but as with Tagg take along Webster to clarify the vocabulary of this great philosopher.

In summery I would have to say that I have just finished a large meal of thought. The complexities of which may be slow to digest and put into practice, but at the end of the day I feel that my photographic work is bound to improve. My improvement will be in three areas; choice of subject, framing of subject and the editing process. Editing will be the area that will reveal
the greatest percentage of improvement, this I know.

This link and the one above is to a succinct yet concise over view of the ideas set forth by Barthes in this volume- the book in ten minutes.