Geoff Dyer Shows How Modern Culture Shaped Photography
The author’s latest book,
See/Saw: Looking at Photographs, condenses over 100 years of history into selected moments
In his introduction to
The Ongoing Moment (2005), Geoff Dyer fulsomely admits he doesn’t own a camera, before cheerfully embarking upon a masterful essay comparing the great photographs of the American Century. As someone who has spent the last four years writing a novel about a dead photographer while knowing nothing about the technical aspects of the medium, I found this admission a massive morale boost. Dyer has the distinctive ability to be simultaneously incisive and agile with his subjects – he paces through timeless questions and judiciously selected moments effortlessly.
Geoff Dyer is telling me about his Covid-19 vaccination. âAbout two or three weeks ago, suddenly the whole vaccine thing exploded, and I was inundated. It was like when I used to get invited to literary festivals â suddenly I was inundated with invitations to have a vaccine!â
Dyer has just published his third photography book, See/Saw: Looking at Photographs (after The Ongoing Moment and The Street Philosophy of Garry Winogrand). Reading this book is, simply put, a pleasurable experience, recalling Wildeâs image of the critic as artist. In writing criticism, I ask, is it important for him to achieve an aesthetic quality?