false 37601 1 If, by 1725, all the chemical and optical necessities for the practice of photography already existed, why wasn't the art form invented until 1839? Geoffrey Batchen, an associate professor of art history and author of <I>Burning with Desire</I>, has an interesting answer: people simply weren't ready for it. Along with a blossoming in literature, philosophy, music, and science, the 18th century was also host to a whole new way of thinking about nature and landscape. The camera obscura, a portable box equipped with a lens or a mirror, was a popular tool that people used to first capture views and then trace them. The ability to reproduce a scene--however imperfectly--whet people's appetites for more exact methods, leading first to what Batchen calls the "proto-photographers," and then sometime later to the invention of Louis Daguerre's daguerrotype and Henry Fox Talbot's photography in the same year. <P> Batchen's history lesson is filled with eccentric characters and fascinating insights into passions and obsessions of the Age of Enlightenment. The book becomes controversial, however, in Batchen's assertion that the early photographers, rather than trying to capture reality, were, in fact, attempting to decontruct it--long before Jacques Derrida created the theory of deconstruction. Whether or not you end up agreeing with Batchen, <I>Burning with Desire</I> is a unique look at photography's roots, one sure to engender heated discussion among enthusiasts of the art form. 37444 1999 Burning with Desire: The Conception of Photography total:16|5:9|4:6|3:1|2:0|1:0| 16 72 30 5 4 0 false false Sat Jul 04 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Jan 08 22:53:06 -0800 2009 Sat Jul 04 12:51:27 -0700 2009
"Photography as such has no identity. Its status as a technology varies with the power relations which invest it. Its nature as a practice depends on the institutions and agents which define it and set it to work. I...more...]]> 5 0 false false Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Fri Apr 11 16:38:05 -0700 2008 Fri Apr 11 17:29:44 -0700 2008 4 0 false false Wed May 13 22:13:12 -0700 2009 Tue Jul 17 07:40:19 -0700 2007 Wed May 13 22:13:12 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Thu Mar 08 12:53:07 -0800 2007 Wed Feb 06 21:37:47 -0800 2008 5 0 false false Sat Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2006 Fri Aug 01 14:04:52 -0700 2008 Fri Aug 01 14:05:52 -0700 2008 0 0 false false Wed Oct 28 09:36:37 -0700 2009 Wed Oct 28 09:36:37 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Wed Jul 29 10:11:17 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 29 10:11:17 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Sun Jul 19 10:48:54 -0700 2009 Sun Jul 19 10:48:54 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Sun Jul 05 15:21:59 -0700 2009 Sun Jul 05 15:21:59 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Mon May 04 20:17:13 -0700 2009 Mon May 04 20:17:13 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Wed Apr 15 08:29:20 -0700 2009 Wed Apr 15 08:29:20 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Thu May 07 17:43:12 -0700 2009 Tue Apr 14 21:28:16 -0700 2009 Thu May 07 17:43:12 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Thu Mar 26 11:41:06 -0700 2009 Thu Mar 26 11:41:06 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Tue Feb 24 15:26:13 -0800 2009 Tue Feb 24 15:26:13 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Fri Feb 13 23:20:39 -0800 2009 Fri Feb 13 23:20:39 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Fri Feb 06 17:50:59 -0800 2009 Fri Feb 06 17:50:59 -0800 2009 5 0 false false Thu Jan 22 07:41:25 -0800 2009 Thu Jan 22 07:41:25 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Mon Jan 19 15:29:56 -0800 2009 Thu May 28 15:35:58 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Sun Nov 16 11:43:20 -0800 2008 Sun Nov 16 11:43:22 -0800 2008 5 0 false false Wed Nov 12 14:43:43 -0800 2008 Wed Nov 12 14:43:43 -0800 2008 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=37601