The Genius of Photography

Accompanying the first major television history of this ever more influential artform, this landmark book explores the key events and the key images that have marked the development of photography. At the heart of the book is a quest to understand what makes a truly great photograph. What is it that makes a photograph by Nan Goldin or Henri Cartier Bresson stand out among the millions of others taken by all of us every single day? The Genius of Photography examines the evolution of photography in its wider context: social, political, economic, technological and artistic. It brings a critical perspective and a strong aesthetic sense to the subject, but above all it is primarily a narrative history.