How to account for the peculiar attraction of certain photos? How to
pinpoint the specific use of images in particular contexts? Monika
Schwärzler presents a variety of photographic case studies exploring
visual phenomena from the point of media analysis, as well as
sociological, aesthetic, and psychoanalytic perspectives. The topics
range from a new reading of Thomas Struths street photographs to CERN
photos with their charged rhetoric, from the assault of photographic
close-ups to speculations on an anonymous slide collection featuring a
woman with an ever-present white handbag. The book is meant for an
audience receptive to the analytical appeal of images, prepared to go
beyond what could be taken at face value.