Overview

"When using a literal translation of the word, 'photograph' means 'written light'. In this book the author offers the reader/viewer a collection of 'textual illumination' in no particular order. The accompanying short short-stories-in some cases no more than a few words-are literary accessories to the visual text. Rather than mimic a technophile and focus on how each image came about (aperture setting, focal length, lens type, lm, etc.)-which may be a conventional way of augmenting photographic images-I borrow instead Roland Barthes' take on photographs, and treat what the camera captured as something that cannot be repeated. In other words, the HOW of the photograph is not as important as WHAT is made visible with light and shadow. Continuing with Barthes' ideas from 'Camera Lucida', conceptually these 'things written with light' are all 'punctum' rather than 'studium'. They represent what caught my eye over the years. Sometimes I framed my subjects consciously, at other times I only realized later the significance of a particular frame. Finally, Jean-Michel Rabaté writes that Barthes' 'Camera Lucida' was ""a very moving autobiographical disclosure of his love for his mother under the guise of a study of photography."" This collection of images is a disclosure of my love for my parents-a creative home maker and an innovative newspaper journalist-under the guise of a collection of photographs. The act of photographing taught me to look carefully at the world, and to respect, to take a second look (photography is that as well) across the scales from details to landscapes. Finally, capturing photographs is always possessive. I gladly admit to being a visual prowler in search of beauty, and to the taking of all the images in this book-with one exception, which is duly noted."

Full Product Details

9781941892213

Table of Contents

Reviews

Author Information

Mikesch W. Muecke is Associate Professor of Architecture in the College of Design at Iowa State University. He holds degrees from the University of Florida (B. Design 1989, M. Arch 1991) and Princeton University (Ph.D. 1999). Born in Germany to a journalist and a home-maker he has worked as a newspaper photographer, carpenter, and shade- tree mechanic (mostly on Citroëns and Renaults) in Europe. In 1979 he left Germany for a year to travel and work as a painter in Alberta, Canada, pick flowers and apples in an orchard in Watsonville, California, and renovate low-income apartments on the southside of Chicago. In 1980 he returned to Germany to fulfill his civil service duty to the German government by working as a maintenance man in an orphanage. During this time he lived in a commune with nine other idealists, then moved into a retired circus trailer for another two years with his then partner (now wife), the musicologist, organist, and music professor Miriam Zach. Currently he complements his academic pursuits by creating accessible designs for the elderly with Miriam-and her affiliation as Assistant Professor at the University of Florida-through their design-build company misumiwaDesign.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available