Beauty in Photography: Essays in Defense of Traditional Values Paperback – 1 July 2004

This is a small gem of a book. A thought provoking reflection on the effectivness of photographs. Adams' analysis of landscape photography particularly and the place of humans in all landscapes challenges many long held views. Illustrated sparingly this well designed book is one to come back to again and again for the well written strength of its essays.

An absolutely lovely book looking at several aspects of photography and discussing them in depth.Should a photographer, especially a documentary photographer manipulate and "enhance" the scene in front of him as an artist does or perhaps he already does when he chooses his viewpoint and selects a filter etc.....some things I had not thought of before, made me think.Well worth the money and an asset to the library of any photographer.

I love this book and find myself re-reading parts of it frequently. It's a fairly philosophical analysis of photography. The quality of the paper and hence the images is fairly low, but the ideas that Adams presents in a series of essays are interesting and timeless.

So glad I purchased this book, it's proved an invaluable resource for essay writing. It's written in such an easily accessible way that I've found it MUCH easier to read than Barthes or Berger. I'm sure I will dip in to this book time and time again.

A fine essay and thought provoking

I am doing a project about 'truth and beauty' in landscape photography - the book is a great source of information and advice. Highly recommended for any landscape artist / photographer.

Robert Adams is such a human and engaging writer! Add to this his wide and deep knowledge and insight into matters artistic and, in particular, photographic, and here you have a set of essays to enjoy, to be stimulated by, and to read over more than once, because Adam's writing is beautiful in itself. He has much of worth to say, not only in the realms of art and photography but about life and the values that uphold and guide each of us.

THE BOOK IN EXCELLENT CONDITION AND ON TIME.THE 3 STARS ARE FOR THE BOOK AND THE BOOK ONLY.I EXPECTED A BOOK WITH ILLUSTRATIONS AND INSTEAD THE BOOK IS AN ASSAY.THE BOOK IS NOT BIG AND THE QUALITY OF THE PAPER IS FAIR ENOUGH COMPARE TO ITS PRICE.IT IS NOT A BOOK FOR PEOPLE TO LIKE PHOTO ILLUSTRATIONS.I THINK IS FOR THE PEOPLE WHO DO A STUDY ON THE WORK OF ROBERT ADAMS.

Unabashedly devoid of post-modernist theory. Adams offers a great set of essays on why we should care about art—specifically photography as art. Often the over-theorized approach to art skips over the human experience of art. As a philosopher and an artist, I find this a real shame as it only serves to further turn the arts inward on itself, forgetting the intangible universality of the human experience of beauty, art, and creativity—not to mention the fact that it is an approach that doesn't check itself against the experienced reality of the subjective (a major flaw if you're looking to truthfully address reality). Always a pleasure to read the conversational essay style of Adams. He brings high ideas into consumable, comprehensive language, and best of all makes art enjoyable.

While don't agree with every idea Adams presents it is a book that makes me think and think again and again. If you are serious about the art of photography this is a must have. I have read it twice in a week and will read it again and again as the ideas are that important..

Poor Adams - it seems the only way to get out of his head is to think through the subjects bothering him and put it down on paper. He should take up photography or something haha.I love this book. It's short and easy and probably as concise as humanly possible, given the author's personality and education.I try to stay away from reading too much about photography. It seems Adams is way ahead of me on this issue, as he notes in the title essay. This book was recommended to me by someone whose pictures I admire for their powerful simplicity.This book now goes on the shelf with all-time "keepers". It's a good prompt to think about what exactly am I doing with a camera and how to maintain that activity for the long haul.

I bought the book as a potential aid to my photography, hoping it would broaden my mind about the subject, but I found it a little dull if I'm honest. I don't doubt the author gave plenty of time & thought to his essays, but I didn't find much to really provoke me into new visual adventures.

I found that various topics Adams discussed in his book, for instance, "What is beauty?", "How do you make art new?", "Can you photograph evil?", insightful and highly relevant even though it was written in the age of film. I read his essays again and again when I want to reflect on my photography.If I had to quote, this would be one that I love most:"Most of the pictures (in mass circulation photography magazines) suggest embarrassing strain: odd angles, extreme lenses, and eccentric darkroom techniques reveal a struggle to substitute shock and technology for sight." -Robert AdamsThat is so relevant in the age of digital photography.