The Authentic Amateur and the Democracy of Collecting Photographs
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12910747 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Lynn Berger (0009-0000-9536-8892, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2009 |
| Volume | 2 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 31-50 |
| Publication date | 2009-03-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Photography and Culture (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1751-4517 • E-ISSN: 1751-4525 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.2752/175145209x419390 |
| OpenAlex | W1976155554 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 7 |
| References cited | 13 |
Since the late 1970s, amateur photographs have become increasingly popular within art, the academy, and journalism, featuring in works of art and exhibitions, historical studies, on newspaper pages and in other projects. The tacit (and sometimes not so tacit) assumption underlying this increased presence is that amateur photographs are more “authentic” than the pictures taken by professional photojournalists, art photographers, or documentarians; moreover, amateur photography is often heralded as the epitome of democracy, especially when stored in a large body, or archive, of amateur photographs. This article traces the historical and ideological roots of these two credos and the way they tie into each other, going back to the invention of amateur-friendly Kodak cameras, taking into account the postmodern “representational crisis” of the 1970s and 1980s, and ending with the camera-equipped cell phones sported by American soldiers in Iraq today
Amateur · Archaeology · Art · Democracy · Epitome · Exhibition · Journalism · Literature · Media studies · Newspaper · Photography · Photojournalism · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Visual arts · History · Italian Fascism and Post-war Society · Law · Photography and Visual Culture · Visual Culture and Art Theory
The “Althea Hurst Scrapbook”. Discovering the Photographic Memories of Four African American Teachers’ European Tour in 1938
Fotografía Digital en Perspectiva
The 'Pedantic Amateur' Karlo Dieneš and the Social Role of Photography in the 1920s
The National is Personal
Tras la crisis de la Cultura Kodak
The Lost of Found Photography
Snapshots, or
| Citations per year | 0.47 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2011 - 2024 (14) |
| Highly cited | No |