Description

‘Wide-ranging and eclectic’ TLS
‘Seductively curious’ Observer
‘A visual and intellectual journey’ Herald

See/Saw is an illuminating history of how photographs frame and change our perspectives. Starting from single images by the world’s most important photographers – from Eugene Atget to Alex Webb – Geoff Dyer shows us how to read a photograph, as he takes us through a series of close readings that are by turns moving, funny, prescient and surprising.

Publisher Review

In these seductively curious essays, Dyer scrutinises images and photographers, unearthing hidden truths and a sense of the uncanny * * Observer, Book of the Day * * Fascinating . . . Dyer is not merely a fine prose stylist but a writer of knowingly stylish prose . . . This is both a beautifully written and a beautiful book -- Stuart Kelly * * Scotsman * * The acclaimed essayist and novelist is also one of the world's greatest writers on photography . . . Reading this book is, simply put, a pleasurable experience * * Irish Times * * Fascinating . . . The reader is taken on a visual and intellectual journey, so that once you have read Dyer's words, you return to the photograph he describes, seeing it afresh and in ways that you might never had considered . . . Compelling * * Herald * * A beautifully written book on photography * * Scotland on Sunday * * Wide-ranging and eclectic . . . Dyer is at his best when he stays close to the images, teasing out their meanings with astute observations or poetic readings . . . Fascinating . . . Insightful * * TLS * * Dyer turns his erudite eye on some of the most important photographers of the past 150 years in his latest collection of essays . . . Dyer follows in the footsteps of John Berger and Susan Sontag with this guide on how to "read a photograph", decoding and deciphering images by August Sander, Dayanita Singh, William Eggleston and Vivian Maier, among others * * Art Newspaper * * A marvel . . . There is a great chewy joy to reading Dyer - in See/Saw, cheeky stretched conceits are applied to tasty ideas as he operates surgically on the heart of a concept with an apposite quote from someone relevant or learned. He has a talent for contracting the long and insightful into the short and insightful . . . Fascinating * * Dublin Review of Books * * Dyer is a brilliant writer fascinated by photography and the ideas that pulse through it . . . What makes Dyer's prose so readable is not simply that he is a knowledgeable and astute critic, but that he is able to shape sophisticated ideas into engaging prose . . . Beautifully presented, this is an insightful collection of articles that deepens our understanding of the subtle power of photography * * Black and White Photography Review * * Thoroughly affecting . . . See/Saw is a collection best dipped into and savoured in short bursts . . . [A] diverse catalogue of pathos, humour and intrigue . . . Throughout this collection he proves to be a master weaver of information and stories . . . See/Saw demonstrates that words, much like the photographs they are describing, can lead to elongation and excavation of our own experiences. In Dyer's hands, short glances become deep gazes and snap encounters become lingering memories * * SOURCE Magazine * *