the photograph as contemporary art

by Charlotte Cotton

a response to the Introduction

Highlighting eight different genres within the medium of photography, Cotton designates a chapter to each one, even though she later states that photographic art does not necessarily fit into a particular category, but multiple. Beginning this book with photographs taken primarily after 1960, Cotton focuses on two forerunners of colour photography, William Eggleston and Stephen Shore, and provides a brief history of the acknowledgement of their work and its transformative affect on the art form. Assuming her readers possess a basic knowledge on the history of early photography in black and white, she jumps right into contemporary art, deciphering what photographs mean, their focal point or lack thereof, relationships, documentary, staged pieces or copy-cats, etc. Cotton's introduction proposes a book to address them all.