Approaching Photography: An Introduction to Understanding Photographs

Fully updated and revised, this seminal book explains and illustrates what photographs are, how they were made and used in the past and, more particularly, what their place is in the creative arts and visual communications world of today.

Paul Hill looks at photographs as modes of expression and explores the diversity of approaches taken when creating photographs and what these mean for a photographer's practice and purpose. It emphasises the importance of contextualisation to the understanding of the medium, diving into the ideas behind the images and how the camera transforms and influences how we see the world. With an impressive collection of 200 full colour images from professional practitioners and artists, it invites us to consider the foundations of photography's past and the digital revolution's impact on the creation and dissemination of photographs today.

Essential reading for all students of photography, it is an invaluable guide for those who want to make a career in photography, covering most areas of photographic practice from photojournalism to fine art to personal essay.

Paul Hill. After he worked as a newspaper reporter, climbing instructor and freelance photojournalist for The Guardian, The Observer and the BBC, amongst many others, he became Course Leader of the Creative Photography course at Trent Polytechnic in 1976, the same year as he set up The Photographers' Place, the first residential photo workshop in Europe. He has published several books on photography, including Dialogue with Photography (with Thomas Cooper) and was awarded an MBE in 1994. A recipient of the Royal Photographic Society's Education Award, he became a professor in 1995 at De Montfort University where he ran one of the first postgraduate courses in photography in the UK.