At Face Value and Beyond

How to account for the peculiar attraction of certain photos? How to pinpoint the specific use of images in particular contexts? Monika Schwarzler presents a variety of photographic case studies exploring visual phenomena from the point of media analysis, as well as sociological, aesthetic, and psychoanalytic perspectives. The topics range from a new reading of Thomas Struths street photographs to CERN photos with their charged rhetoric, from the assault of photographic close-ups to speculations on an anonymous slide collection featuring a woman with an ever-present white handbag. The book is meant for an audience receptive to the analytical appeal of images, prepared to go beyond what could be taken at face value.