The digital eye : photographic art in the electronic age /

This excellent, compact guide by Wolf (Univ. of Washington) is an insightful introduction to the past quarter-century of digital and electronic imaging in the photographic arts. In the introductory essay to this well-illustrated survey of works by more than 50 artists, Wolf posits simultaneous beginnings for the technologies that underlie photography and computing and directs readers' attention to the intersections of technology and visual culture. Her straightforward characterization of analog as a transcription of nature and digital as an encryption into code provides the framework for considering recent directions in creative photography. Wolf outlines several broad areas of artistic concern and highlights the creative processes of culling, combining, constructing, and coding within the fields of cultural, social, and aesthetic values. This book makes clear the shifting emphasis from the durable fiction that has been photography's version of representation and its relation to "the real," to the narrowing distance between reality and imagination. Illustrated works are from a diverse selection of artists. The volume takes significant notice of little-recognized pioneers including Esther Parada and Paul Berger. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-level undergraduates and above; general readers. E. Baden Warren Wilson College