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Geoff Dyer "See/Saw: Looking at Photographs" (Canongate Books)
These works are about a broad array of photographers, and a few writers writing about photography that Dyer has picked for this collection. Not that I would say I have a well-rounded feel of the world’s gallery of photographers, but it was fascinating to be introduced to artist after artist that was new to me. It was like a private and most informative showing of some of Geoff Dyer’s chosen artists.
The thing about Dyer’s writing is that it’s so beautifully descriptive that even when he’s writing about photographs that aren’t pictured, even ones that I’ve never seen, I finish his descriptions having a feel for what they must look like. Though I have easily heard that “a picture is worth a thousand words” more than a thousand times in my life, it amazes me how quickly a few hundred of Dyer’s words brought forth an image in my mind. Drawing on his vast knowledge and experience, and using his impressive intellect, it feels like he has the world at his fingertips for relating so much to the reader. John Berger, a man who would know, once said the following of Dyer. “The author has an encyclopedic knowledge of the history of photography …. Dyer has written a book that cunningly resists the downsizing of the human that is endemic to information culture.”
He constantly illustrated so many connections with other photographers and art movements and showed how a photographer’s work fits into the overall history of the form. Even though I lived through it, I wasn’t as aware as I should have been, that color photography didn’t really dominate photography until some key gallery and museum showings in the 1970s. Dyer introduces so many thoughts and theories about photography that I felt like I had started to explore a world that was ever-expanding, but then he would mention people speaking about the importance of all that wasn’t in a photograph. Or related how photographer Garry Winogrand said that a photograph had no narrative ability because a viewer can’t even tell if a man is taking his hat off or putting it on.
In SEE/SAW, Dyer passed on and shared so much information and enthusiasm for photography that he changed my outlook. As Zadie Smith said of him, “[Dyer’s humor is] what separates him from Berger and Lawrence and Sontag”. It’s what makes these essays not just an education, but a joy.” It’s always such a pleasure to find such a rich world within a book.
These works are about a broad array of photographers, and a few writers writing about photography that Dyer has picked for this collection. Not that I would say I have a well-rounded feel of the world’s gallery of photographers, but it was fascinating to be introduced to artist after artist that was new to me. It was like a private and most informative showing of some of Geoff Dyer’s chosen artists.
The thing about Dyer’s writing is that it’s so beautifully descriptive that even when he’s writing about photographs that aren’t pictured, even ones that I’ve never seen, I finish his descriptions having a feel for what they must look like. Though I have easily heard that “a picture is worth a thousand words” more than a thousand times in my life, it amazes me how quickly a few hundred of Dyer’s words brought forth an image in my mind. Drawing on his vast knowledge and experience, and using his impressive intellect, it feels like he has the world at his fingertips for relating so much to the reader. John Berger, a man who would know, once said the following of Dyer. “The author has an encyclopedic knowledge of the history of photography …. Dyer has written a book that cunningly resists the downsizing of the human that is endemic to information culture.”
He constantly illustrated so many connections with other photographers and art movements and showed how a photographer’s work fits into the overall history of the form. Even though I lived through it, I wasn’t as aware as I should have been, that color photography didn’t really dominate photography until some key gallery and museum showings in the 1970s. Dyer introduces so many thoughts and theories about photography that I felt like I had started to explore a world that was ever-expanding, but then he would mention people speaking about the importance of all that wasn’t in a photograph. Or related how photographer Garry Winogrand said that a photograph had no narrative ability because a viewer can’t even tell if a man is taking his hat off or putting it on.
In SEE/SAW, Dyer passed on and shared so much information and enthusiasm for photography that he changed my outlook. As Zadie Smith said of him, “[Dyer’s humor is] what separates him from Berger and Lawrence and Sontag”. It’s what makes these essays not just an education, but a joy.” It’s always such a pleasure to find such a rich world within a book.
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