ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book presents critical approaches to photography theory with regard to debates, controversies, and questions, as well as consideration of photography theory’s direction, relevance, and purpose. It shows how the image of the atomic bomb mushroom cloud was appropriated and used by all sections of the media to such an extent that it became “an icon of desire and love” and “central to acculturating citizens to mass destruction in the postwar years”. The book discusses the “digital volatility” of image migration that has changed the conditions of spectatorship. It explores the discussion beyond a photograph of Parker as cypher for the Pease River Massacre, or for mother and child. The book provides a philosophical grounding for the topical theorizing of the ‘fractal’ and for a consideration of photography that privileges the making of photographs over the taking.
