Review: Caruana & Fox, Behind the Image: Research in Photography, Chapter 6: The Impact of Research, 2012

The book concludes with a rather thin chapter (half of its 15 pages are images) rehashing much of what has already been said. Research is valuable in developing a photographic practice by creating a feedback loop of reflection-practice-reflection.  The idea of journal keeping is brought up again, this time with the suggestion of maintaining a private journal in which one can record freely without the pressure of having to think about an audience.  Archives are revisited, especially personal archives, which the authors see as especially useful in providing material for future reflection (either for oneself or for an audience).  Perhaps the most valuable advice is something most of us probably already know - time creates distance and fresh perspective. As we change during the interval between seeing a set of images, so too does our perspective and our evaluative abilities.  (Apparently Ralph Eugene Meatyard used to develop his photos only once a year.  At the other extreme, Winogrand seems to have been rather uninterested in developing and printing, leaving behind 2500 undeveloped rolls, plus 4100 rolls developed but never reviewed.)


Hashem el Madani Studio Practices is introduced as a case study in archival research.  The book reveals through photos and archival material how over 50 years the Lebanese studio photographer documented a Lebanese town.  A second case study in a little less detail is that of Harry Watts’ FINDS projects, images of found sculpture distributed as a free book in the area of town where the images were captured.  The chapter closes with an exercise of writing a museum/gallery pamphlet of your own work, a project of questionable value (unless one has a showing on the calendar).

In summary this book would appear to suitable for those with little background in photography or perhaps for those with some camera/computer skills but zero background in academic work.  Even though it weighs in at 176 pages, perhaps only a quarter of this is text.  The large amount of whitespace, the numerous images, and the bite-sized paragraphs will make it appealing to students intimidated by books filled with text.

I found the repeated enjoinders to research somewhat dispiriting.  You might get the idea that any reputable photo work has to be meticulously planned, that there is little room for spontaneity, for going on walks with a camera with little to no expectation of what might be found and seeing what emerges in the camera LCD or the computer screen.  Perhaps this is simply not an approach that lends itself to research.

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