Reviews and Comments

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“Our perceptions of the natural world are of course both real and illusory. The certainty of what is reality and what is illusion, however, is knowable only from points of reference that we accept as defining those two states. ” ― Bede Morris

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'Images: illusion and reality' is a book about the history of photography in terms of the arts and sciences. It is very interesting to see how many aspects of photography started in the 19th century. This includes the invention of photography, the creation of different photographic techniques, work on colour photography, and even holography. It was a very creative time.

I very much enjoyed the way in which the scientific and the artistic sides of photography were included - and indeed the way in which the arts and the sciences overlap. They are not distinct fields. they include each other in their approaches and methods.

The book contains the thoughts of Bede Morris and Arthur Birch of the Australian Academy of Science.

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“What peer review group would have recommended funding Nièpce in 1815 to do research on a method for producing pictures from elements of electromagnetic radiation, if he had claimed this research would lead to an analysis of the composition of the stars, a description of the internal machinery of cells, the form and structure of microbes and molecules, a method for diagnosing pregnancy by sound and cancers by radioactive imaging and, for good measure, the establishment of a motion picture industry, computerized tomographic brain scans, television and instantaneous news reports from around the world by satellite projection? Nièpce could never have been funded through a peer review system — all he had was a dream, an inspiration, a passion and a conviction. These sorts of things are for artists; they are not the stuff of discovery and certainly not a basis on which to fund research.” ― Bede Morris

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The book was published in 1986, close to the 150th anniversary of the invention of photography. Now (2023) we are approaching photography's 200th anniversary.

It is quite an experience to look at photographs that are almost 200 years old. Photographs made by sunlight, reflected from the people and places long ago.

It is more powerful than something painted. Something painted has been interpreted by human mind and hand. The photographs have been painting by light itself. What you see is what it really was

This book can be recommended for it's blending of the Arts and the Sciences and the view that our perception is partly real and partly illusory. These views make for an open and inspiring approach to the topic of photography.

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“Photography is now such a universally available technique that every camera enthusiast has become a potential artist and every photograph, a potential masterpiece, As a technology and art form, photography has had a pervasive effect on human civilization, influencing social evolution, education, science, culture and commerce as well as the artistic and aesthetic Interpretation of the world.” ― Bede Morris

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I would recommend exploring the photographs in this book before reading about them. If you look at them and spend time with them, the impact will be personal rather than relying on what has been said. The photographs should really speak for themselves.

The text in the book contains some useful information about each photographer, but also a great deal of interpretation about what the photograph might mean.

There are also a lot of references to other photographs, or the contact sheets from which the photographs were chosen, none of these are included, so the reader has no way of understanding the selection.

I would have liked more technical information about each photograph, camera, exposure, etc to gain a better understanding of the choices made.

“If someone were to ask me why I’d written what I’d written – I’d explain in a logical coherent manner. I would not display a picture or painting as an answer to the question. Why therefore, should I be obliged to explain why I painted what I painted – or elucidate in words what the painting means? It’s not that one cannot speak about the visual Arts – but the visual Arts should not rely on linguistic concepts in the form of lengthy explanations. The visual Arts are their own explanation. ” ― Ngak'chang Rinpoche, from ‘Tracts of the Sun’

This is a book of photographic inspiration. Each photographer has their own approach to photography and each has something to say about what inspires them. For the aspiring photographer this means that whatever style captures your imagination, you'll find that someone has something helpful to say.

I particularly liked

“I go out to take a walk, I see something, I take a picture. I take photographs. I have avoided profound explanations of what I do.”
— Saul Leiter

For its simplicity

I also appreciated what Henry Carroll said at the end of the book

"Yet if we think about it, photography hasn’t changed all that much, because its most magical quality, that thing separating it from all other art forms, remains the same: whether taken on film or with a phone, whether hanging in a gallery or saved on a computer, a photograph is captured light. For that reason, the ghost of photography’s enigmatic origins will continue to haunt every film grain, every pixel and every line of code for a long time to come."

The idea that all photographs are made from light reflected from their subject makes for an immediate connection with the subject and the photographer, regardess of then the photograph was taken.