Jerry L. Thompson, A CHE SERVE LA FOTOGRAFIA, 2015

Photography, writes Jerry Thompson, is important for the way it works, not only as a medium but also as a instrument of knowledge. In fact, if we understand what photography is and how it works, we can how we conceive things and the world in general. On this basis, Thompson introduces and develops a lucid meditation on the photographic medium and about how it manages to describe the world in a concrete and profound way.

“How photography works”: this is the theme of Jerry Thompson’s brilliant book. If once the photographs were considered revolutionary for their ability to illuminate the world, today they have become prestigious aesthetic objects. In opposition to this breakthrough, Thompson philosophically reflects by directing himself towards a new sense of necessity and purpose. This book is a splendid recovery of the original raison d’etre – of revelation and knowledge – of the work of the camera.

Alan Trachtenberg, Yale University