The Photograph and the Collection

A museum or gallery's holdings of photographs will very often form its single largest collection. But the images a visitor experiences there are not always readily understandable. In fact, understanding a photograph can be every bit as challenging as reading a painting. And yet the potential of images for communication, learning and involvement is huge - and largely untapped. The Photograph and The Collection brings together a rich variety of perspectives which explore the four key processes of creation, preservation, analysis and presentation. Many focus on the photograph album - itself a "curated experience" - and they span the analogue and the digital, the published and the private. This substantial 660-page book - lavishly illustrated with more than 200 colour photographs - aims to be a helpful and stimulating guide to maximising the power and effectiveness of photographic collections