100 Ideas that Changed Photography

I was disappointed in this book. It is obvious that it is one of a series of many books (100 ideas that changed architecture, etc.) and that the editor handed the job to a writer who knows little about photography. To follow the format of the series, the author presented some ideas that radically changed photography, like the Gum Bichromate Process, Roll Film, Halftone process, Polaroid, Kodachrome film, etc.But to fill out the requirement for 100 ideas, the author really scraped the bottom of the barrel for topics, like Backgrounds, Leisure Travel, Sequences, Outskirts, Enclaves, Theoretical turns, the Photographer's Eye (who comes up with this stuff anyway?)Much of it is padded out, like this sentence: "The darkroom, as its name indicates, is a place where light can be excluded so that a photographer can process light-sensitive film as well as prints and enlargements."Finally, the book is riddled with errors. Here are just a few:Page 130 shows a Leica A and identifies it as the first SLR. It was not an SLR. It was, in fact, the first rangefinder camera.Page 174 says that the Polaroid SX-70 produced a damp print that you had to wave in the air to make it dry. This is incorrect. Polaroid SX-70 prints were sealed in a plastic sleeve and completely dry to the touch while they developed. I know. I worked in a camera shop in 1972 and sold many of these cameras.On page 78, she repeats the myth that Alexander Gardner faked civil war photographs. More recent scholarly research indicates that he did not fake them.Other reviewers have picked up on other errors.The book provides a good overview of many of photography's important advancements, but don't expect it to go into much depth. Sadly, many other important advancements have been left out, as other reviewers have noted.

As a photography teacher for over 30 years and a new instructor for a 'art appreciation through photography' course, this book is invaluable for summarizing and condensing almost 200 years of information into a volume that is concise, thoughtful and thought provoking. I am considering making this the textbook for the next course, simply because for a novice it really tells the story of how photography evolved and is still a major influence worldwide. For a professional, it is a great quick reference.

i've been a working photographer my entire adult life (since 1980), i fond this to be a wonderful book. it's a really simple book, just list of ideas. but what a list--what an impact--a single medium has on the history of culture. as a book, it provokes more questions than answers--that'sexactly why i liked it so much. no matter how much you think you know, there's always more to learn.

I found this book dissapointing from the the first page opened. This was "idea" nr. 62, The SLR. The head images is of a Leica model A, a rangefinder camera. The two main early SLRs, the Graflex by Folmer in Rochester NY and the Kine Exacta by Ihage in Dresden were not mentioned and The Hasselblad, which followed from TLRs which are mentioned.Every page I read had similar, 'though not so glaring, errorsMost of the subjects were of interest, but very poorly researched. One crucial development in photography was Vogel's dye sensitisation to give orthochromatic and later panchromatic sensitivity and made practical colour photography possibleTo write this review saddens me as the idea of the book is good, but the finished product has been rushed to print without expert proofing and critique. If a second edition is made I hope these errors and corrected and that it is 101 idea to incude Vogel's workJohn Austin

This book is a great teaching tool, helping me plan and write classes along the way.

Good as a glossary or starting point for brief outlines of events. Would need more information for most educational purposes.

i Love it

Very interesting book. Pictures are amazing. Summaries of the ideas are very good. Spend a lot of time reading many topic further in the internet. Recommend for everybody to have sense of the history, techniques and trends in photography. Really amazing.

Interesting book, but I wouldn’t buy it again...

Good editorial notion, but disappointed with shallowness and jumbled nature of much of the content - a disappointment from this author, whose 'Photography - a cultural history' is first-rate. I suspect dodgy editing and the constraints of a formulaic packaging which got in the way of authorial integrity. However, she's shaky on the technical history with a page on lenses that tells you almost nothing, and fails to reference the crowd of photographers using super-long lenses shown on the page. And there's that embarrassing blooper of using a Leica A to illustrate a spread on the SLR, even referring to it as the first commercially successful SLR.

Mary has chosen well in her selection of 100 ideas. All had a significant impact or were at a turning point in the history of photography. Her books are always good and this one is a great overview for the both the public and the professionals.

Bite-sized ideas are often too little to satisfy; these are bite-sized but entirely satisfying!

I know we are in a technological revolution - but if you like 3D information that you can touch and feel - get this book.