Book review: ‘See/Saw’ by Geoff Dyer

I’ve enjoyed many of Geoff Dyer’s books over the years, especially his essay collections. In particular, I’m glad a well-regarded writer is prepared to give the topic of photography the attention it deserves but doesn’t usually get. Dyer is an excellent considerer of photographs. As he explains in the introduction to this collection, “I like doing a version of close reading—close looking—using pictures instead of texts.”

The book is arranged in three sections. The first and longest section comprises introductions to, or reviews of, various photographers’ books and exhibitions. This might sound dry, but Dyer uses each introduction as an excuse to branch out into wider themes and topics. The essays are always well considered and thought provoking. It’s unfortunate but unavoidable that licensing and space constraints mean each essay is typically illustrated only by a single image, when Dyer is usually writing about entire collections, but I found it easy enough to google individual photographers’ names to see more of their work and put the essays in context.

Section two of the book comprises selected pieces from an occasional column Dyer wrote discussing individual newsworthy photographs. In section three, he writes about a number of other writers who gave photography the attention it deserves, including Walter Benjamin, Roland Barthes, Susan Sontag and John Berger.

Recommended to anyone interested in the modern world’s most important visual medium.