The Picture Not Taken: On Life and Photography

In the vein of Rebecca Solnit and Susan Sontag, an exquisitely written, ecologically minded collection of essays by a noted photographer and writer—covering everything from the equipment of photography to the difficulties of perception itself.In an age when most of us carry a device seemingly capable of freeze-framing the world, Benjamin Swett writes with refreshing clarity on the way of the true photographer. The Picture Not Taken combines cultural criticism with personal revelation to examine how the lived experience of photography can endow the mundane with meaning while bringing attention to the beauty of both the natural world and the world we build.Having photographed trees of Manhattan, Shaker dwellings, and the landscapes of upstate New York, award-winning photographer and writer Swett brings an ecological sensitivity to these expansive and profound meditations on how to document the world around us. The essays in The Picture Not Taken take us from Coney Island in the early 70s to Paris and Prado at the turn of the last century. By turns literary criticism, art history, and memoir, they draw from writers such as Eric Sanderson, Max Frisch, and John Berger to uncover truths about a life spent in pursuit of art.In essays such as “The Picture Not Taken,” “The Beauty of the Camera,” and “My Father’s Green Album” Swett gives us a picture of photography over generations and how we can or should relate to the mechanical devices so often fetishized by those interested in the subject. In “What I wanted to Tell You About the Wind” we understand photography’s importance in understanding our place in larger environmental and social systems; and in “VR” and “Some Observations in the Galapagos” Swett challenges us to think through problems of perception and knowing central to the experience of photography, looking to the past and into our future for answers. In the vein of Rebecca Solnit and Susan Sontag, an exquisitely written, ecologically minded collection of essays by a noted photographer and writercovering everything from the equipment of photography to the difficulties of perception itself. In an age when most of us carry a device seemingly capable of freeze-framing the world, Benjamin Swett writes with refreshing clarity on the way of the true photographer. The Picture Not Taken combines cultural criticism with personal revelation to examine how the lived experience of photography can endow the mundane with meaning while bringing attention to the beauty of both the natural world and the world we build.Having photographed trees of Manhattan, Shaker dwellings, and the landscapes of upstate New York, award-winning photographer and writer Swett brings an ecological sensitivity to these expansive and profound meditations on how to document the world around us.The essays in The Picture Not Taken take us from Coney Island in the early 70s to Paris and Prado at the turn of the last century. By turns literary criticism, art history, and memoir, they draw from writers such as Eric Sanderson, Max Frisch, and John Berger to uncover truths about a life spent in pursuit of art.In essays such as The Picture Not Taken, The Beauty of the Camera, and My Fathers Green Album Swett gives us a picture of photography over generations and how we can or should relate to the mechanical devices so often fetishized by those interested in the subject. In What I wanted to Tell You About the Wind we understand photographys importance in understanding our place in larger environmental and social systems; and in VR and Some Observations in the Galapagos Swett challenges us to think through problems of perception and knowing central to the experience of photography, looking to the past and into our future for answers.Poignant and deftly crafted, The Picture Not Taken brings to mind the fearless ambition of Annie Dillard and the grand scope of Rebecca Solnits Field Guide to Getting Lost. Swetts writing will appeal to readers who have enjoyed Geoff Dyers work, and Susan Sontags writing on photography. An ecologically minded collection of essays in the vein of Rebecca Solnit and Susan Sontag, covering everything from the equipment of photography to the difficulties of perception itself. In The Picture Not Taken, the photographer and writer Benjamin Swett considers the intersections between photography, memory, the natural world, and the course of life in essays on subjects that include family snapshots, images of racial violence, the shape of abiding love, and the experience of unforseen and irremediable loss. In these beautifully written, deeply affecting pages, Swett moves with a wonderful improvisatory freedom among his chosen themes. The Picture Not Taken is a book of transfixing pieces that possesses the intensity and integrity and heft of the wholly new.