Light Matters (Aperture Ideas)

Vicki Goldberg, one of the leading voices in the field of photography criticism, is well known for her cogent and perceptive writing, which is regularly featured in such national publications as The New York Times. First published in 2005, Light Matters gathers a selection of this remarkable author’s essays and criticism, culled from her writings published over the previous 25 years. Goldberg’s take on photography is both insightful and encompassing: her subjects range from pop imagery to war journalism, from photo-booth portraits to manipulated digital imagery, from the boredom of voyeurism to the great preponderance of tragic photographs in the news. She brings new light to the work of the medium’s “old masters,” among them Walker Evans, Lotte Jacobi and Lartigue, writing with equal acuity about contemporary trailblazers such as Bill Viola, Daido Moriyama and Bastienne Schmidt. Goldberg also tackles provocative larger issues facing the medium, such as the potentially transgressive nature of photographs, and the camera’s powerful role in a culture of commodification. Dismissing cliches and deftly negotiating the many diverging paths photography now follows, Goldberg demonstrates how to consider not just photographic images themselves, but their impact, and the meaning of that impact. Light Matters showcases a writer of great intelligence, wit and insight, whose understanding of this multifarious and evolving medium is unsurpassed.
Vicki Goldberg is the author of numerous books, including The Power of Photography: How Photographs Changed Our Lives (1991). In 1997, she received the International Center of Photography’s prestigious Infinity Award.