Hi Zachary, I just subscribed to your newsletter. Thank you for recommending Brian Dillon’s book. I’ve been looking for inspiration when it comes to writing and looking at photographs (or art). This looks to be a good one!
Hi Stella, And I to yours! I hope you enjoy Dillon's book. He has a really nice way of writing about photographs. Sometimes I find art writing writes around a work of art rather than toward it—which can work, but often ignores the subject too much for my liking. Dillon doesn't do this. He says that writing about photographs taught him how to look and, if I'm remembering correctly, how to write criticism. You can see that careful kind of attention in his other books too. I hope you like it!
Oo also even more apt: The Wilderness by Sandra Lim (or The Curious Thing, both are great and are filled with amazingly poignant and slightly disturbing sentences)
I will definitely safe this. So many interesting books. I already put Dillon’s “Suppose a sentence” in my shopping cart! Thank you for putting this together. Happy new year!
Definitely keen to check out a few of these books. How to you keep these parts that you like saved? Are your writing them down in a notebook, or did you go back to the books to pull quotes for this post? I’ve read a lot that has affected me at the time then been forgotten. I’d like to figure out a good way of storing those bits of insight.
I don't have a flawless (or consistent) system. I use post-its a fair bit. And I often write things down in the back of notebooks. And I underline. And sometimes I just remember reading things. The Heti was like that. I went back and found it. I'm trying to get better at keeping a journal so maybe I will put things like this there.
Hi Zachary, I just subscribed to your newsletter. Thank you for recommending Brian Dillon’s book. I’ve been looking for inspiration when it comes to writing and looking at photographs (or art). This looks to be a good one!
Hi Stella, And I to yours! I hope you enjoy Dillon's book. He has a really nice way of writing about photographs. Sometimes I find art writing writes around a work of art rather than toward it—which can work, but often ignores the subject too much for my liking. Dillon doesn't do this. He says that writing about photographs taught him how to look and, if I'm remembering correctly, how to write criticism. You can see that careful kind of attention in his other books too. I hope you like it!
Some gems in here! When We Cease is an amazing book, and a bunch of these are on my to-read list. Keep writing!
Unsolicited book rec: Almost Invisible by Mark Strand. No further explanation, just read it, you'll love it :)
Oo also even more apt: The Wilderness by Sandra Lim (or The Curious Thing, both are great and are filled with amazingly poignant and slightly disturbing sentences)
Hahah Thanks Miles! All added to my list. Hope you are doing well.
Thank you for this!
Thanks for reading it!
I will definitely safe this. So many interesting books. I already put Dillon’s “Suppose a sentence” in my shopping cart! Thank you for putting this together. Happy new year!
Oh good! It's a great book. I think you would like Affinities too. Many great essays about photography. Happy new year!
Definitely keen to check out a few of these books. How to you keep these parts that you like saved? Are your writing them down in a notebook, or did you go back to the books to pull quotes for this post? I’ve read a lot that has affected me at the time then been forgotten. I’d like to figure out a good way of storing those bits of insight.
I don't have a flawless (or consistent) system. I use post-its a fair bit. And I often write things down in the back of notebooks. And I underline. And sometimes I just remember reading things. The Heti was like that. I went back and found it. I'm trying to get better at keeping a journal so maybe I will put things like this there.