Having a solid photographic culture is essential, and if you still have doubts, let me ask you this question: do you know a single pianist who is unfamiliar with the works of Bach or Chopin? There you go, you get the picture.
Having culture isn’t just something that helps you win a quiz show or shine at Trivial Pursuit; it’s a necessary tool for placing yourself in the “field of possibilities” (see this article on the subject) and opening doors for you. However, when you start to take an interest in it, you can quickly find yourself overwhelmed by the sheer volume of content available (I’ve experienced this myself) and by the quality of what is presented to us. What should you read? What is important and what is not? What are the essential references you need to know?
These questions will have as many answers as there are people you ask, each preaching more or less to their own choir, with a reliability that is never easy to measure. So, the idea behind this post is to give you the keys to building your own cultural knowledge base, knowing where to find the information. Two quick points before we start:
When it comes to technique, you are often told (Laurent is the first to say so, and I agree) that you don’t need to know everything. That you should only learn what is useful to you. Well, with culture, it’s the opposite. If one genre of photography interests you more than others (landscape photography), I still advise you to dig a little deeper and take an interest in the others. There is a lesson to be learned in every work, whether it is directly useful to you or not.
In this post, I’m going to simplify things a lot, so some shortcuts may make purists (of whom I am sometimes one, nobody’s perfect!) cringe, but the aim is to be educational rather than perfectly accurate.
A brief history of photography
(Here I will describe the major periods in the—short—history of photography. Obviously, there is a reason why entire books are devoted to this subject. I will summarize things a lot, which is normal, as that is the goal! 😊)
The history of photography can be divided into three main parts, and depending on your tastes, you may find some more interesting than others. Of course, it’s better to have an overview, even a general one, of the whole, but to get started, begin with what you like, it’s easier. So we have:
1839–1910: This is the first century of photography. At that time, it was still very limited by technology (the sensitivity of the media was 1 ISO, let’s say) and struggled to be recognized as an art form alongside painting. As a result, most of the work you will find from this period will be landscapes (which is mainly due to the fact that people were exploring the world a lot at that time and it was commercially interesting) and experiments (such as pictorialism, which attempted to elevate photography to the status of art by imitating painting). That doesn’t mean that people couldn’t have fun, retouch, and cheat with images at the time.
1910–1970: This is the period that could be called “experimentation and humanism.” It was during this period that artists took up photography and that technology began to allow for greater expressiveness (notably with higher sensitivities and the arrival of 35mm film, which was much more compact and easy to handle). . It was during this period that photographers such as Man Ray produced their greatest works, and that the Surrealist movement (to which Henri Cartier-Bresson belonged) emerged. It was also the heyday of photojournalism (until the advent of television) and humanist photography, which included photographers such as Doisneau.
1970 to the present day: the rise of contemporary photography. The 1970s marked the beginning of contemporary photography, simply because the talents who made their mark on the history of photography at that time are still alive and active today and continue to dominate the field. It was an extremely rich period, with technology gradually becoming extremely flexible, allowing for the emergence of ever-greater generations of photographers. I will just give you three names that particularly marked the period: William Eggleston, who brought color photography into the art world; Sebastião Salgado, for his baroque photojournalistic work focused on humanity; and Martin Parr, for his colorful and sarcastic photography that broke with convention.
Of course, in detail, it’s not as clear-cut as that; not all humanist photographers died suddenly in 1970 to make way for a new generation. But this gives you a fairly accurate idea of the major periods in the history of photography.
Where can you find information?
Now that we’ve set the scene, let’s see where you can find more to continue your education. There are plenty of resources, online and in print, free and paid, so choose according to your means and your learning style. Honestly, I think it’s going to be difficult to avoid reading one or two books, but there are some very well-written and educational ones out there, so don’t run away!
Books
Let’s be honest, books are the fastest and most reliable way to learn about photography. The good news is that you can read many of them for free or almost free: there are lots of second-hand books at bookstores, so consider checking them out—it costs nothing (if you need help finding where to buy photography books, I made a video on the subject 😉). The other way to read for free is so obvious that we never think of it: libraries. I was surprised to see everything my local library had to offer. It’s a great way to test the waters and see what really interests you. The other advantage is that these places leave room for chance: you often come across something you didn’t know existed, and you leave delighted.
YouTube
YouTube is full of content on photography, some of it very good and… some of it not so good. But it would be a shame to deprive yourself of this very convenient source of information: you put on the video, have a cup of tea, and voilà, you learn a lot without lifting a finger. It’s magic.
Films/documentaries
As with the bibliography, I wrote a short post (here) listing films I found interesting about photographers, trends, etc. It’s especially for lazy people (there’s no shame in that, I’m a regular member of that club), so grab some popcorn, press play, and learn lots of stuff from the comfort of your sofa. Why deprive yourself?
Again, if I had to recommend just one, I’d suggest watching Finding Vivian Maier.
The film tells the story of John Maloof, who stumbled upon Vivian Maier’s photos by chance in 2007 at an auction where he had gone to buy images for a book. He then set out to piece together her story and bring her work to light. This led to a large number of exhibitions around the world. The film recounts the story of this discovery. Vivian Maier, a mysterious unknown, is now recognized as a major street photographer of the 20th century. A resident of Chicago, Vivian Maier was inseparable from her Rolleiflex camera and took more than 100,000 photographs throughout her life (almost) without ever showing them. This is mainly what creates the fascinating mystery surrounding her character, which I will leave you to discover for yourself when you watch the film.
Exhibitions
Finally, the last place to acquire a little culture, and not the least important: photo exhibitions. This is clearly a way to educate yourself that is limited by where you live, but often you just need to dig a little to find interesting things.
Conclusion
By reading this article, you have just taken the first step on a very long journey, one that may not necessarily have an end: acquiring a photographic culture. There will always be more to discover and learn. I hope this will be useful to you in your journey and your work, and if you want a second layer, you know where to find me (it’s always around here).