First Doubt: Optical Confusion in Modern Photography: Selections from the Allan Chasanoff Collection

by Joshua Chuang, Steven W. Zucker (Contributor), Allan Chasanoff (Contributor)

Many photographers have been intrigued with the baffling distortions—both subtle and disquieting—that can occur when the camera “captures” the real world. Not always intentional, some images dazzle with impossible juxtapositions or disorienting spatial orders, while others confound the viewer’s belief in the documentary promise of photography.

 

Drawn from the highly respected collection of Allan Chasanoff, the photographs in this intriguing volume confront viewers with the challenge of doubt and confusion in so-called “straight” pictures. Featured are perceptually provocative images by Manuel Alvarez Bravo, Clarence John Laughlin, Imogen Cunningham, and Lee Friedlander, among others. The book’s essays raise awareness of the interpretive nature of the lens and the interpolative nature of the medium.

Genres: Photography, Art

220 pages, Hardcover

First published October 28, 2008

Reviews

[kp · Rating 4 out of 5]

read for ARS 282 Photography I w/ Amanda Wallace

[Michael Vagnetti · Rating 4 out of 5]

An esoteric series of photographs that take a moment, or never, to resolve their subjects. The essay speaks to a way of seeing "when confusion was a catalyst for inquiry rather than a premise for understanding the world." Damning the jaded ironist, then, this can be used as a reassertion of critical looking and learning. Well-manufactured.

[Chris Sullivan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting way to collect a set of images: What is disorienting at first glance. Worth reading if you are interested in the history of photography or have a taste for slightly odd images.