“…unlike Kodak’s 1888 catch phrase, great photography is anything but straightforward. Perhaps a better slogan would be: ‘It’s not what you click, but how you tick.’”
The introduction to ‘Image Makers, Image Takers’ starts and ends with the contradiction against Kodak’s 1888 phrase ‘you push the button and we do the rest.’ Instead it explores the idea that Photography has developed far beyond this and actually is an art where much care should be taken. Since the accessibility of taking a photograph, made possible by the founder of Kodak, George Eastman, Photography has been seen to be an effortless act. Josef Albers argues in the introduction, “Such a way of looking at Photography…is the lowest level possible and should not be our way of approaching and understanding Photography.” With thirty-three interviews to back this argument one of the messages of this book is to learn the true act of seeing. It portrays how complex a photograph can be, the ideas that are created behind the image, the technicality an image can be constructed with and the beauty of the final frame.
There is a broad variety of interviews which explore what motivates and inspires contemporary Photographers. It also takes a look at the people behind the scenes who edit, curate, publish and basically hold this creative industry together. In particular ‘Image Makers, Image Takers’ tackles the idea of ‘seeing’ and the relationship it has with the Photographer and viewer. It is a constant pursuit to look beyond the representational view of a subject. As quoted from the introduction, “The eye – of both Photographer and viewer – should be trained like any other muscle in the body.”
There is an abundance of sincerity and depth to the interviews which is the core to what makes this book so successful. The beauty of ‘Image Makers, Image Takers’ is that you can jump from one interview to another without having to read it categorically. Although separated into the sections of Art, Fashion and Advertising, Documentary and Portraiture the interviews all have one running message; the importance of having your own way of expressing how you see the world.
In each interview every Photographer articulates how important personal projects are to an artist. It is a way of voicing how you see the world, how you feel about certain subjects. It also gets your priorities straight; you should want your art to be successful in your eyes before it is successful in anyone else’s. This also means if you don’t become a ‘great’ Photographer it doesn’t mean you have failed because your work is fulfilling to you.
This book is tremendously inspiring, with a very insightful approach into gaining an understanding of how some of the best Photographers in the world produce their pieces. Therefore it is very difficult to think of an aspect of the book I would change as it is already a brilliant resource into professional Photography. However I felt there could have been a section on current art students at college. It would have been interesting to read about what other students had to say; and whether if they have the same doubts or confidences. That way instead of just having established artists you would also have another aspect which is the art students perspective.
‘Image Makers, Image Takers’ is aimed for creatively driven people to get an understanding of this industry and in some way to gain a small access into how the mind of a professional artist ticks. ‘Image Makers, Image Takers’ is a book I would fully recommend to any artist who wants to be inspired and motivated, and who also wants a greater understanding into the world of professional Photography.
Publication Notes
Title: ‘Image Makers, Image Takers’
(The essential guide to photography by those in the know)
Author: Anne-Celine Jaeger
Publisher: Thames & Hudson
Word Count:
545
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