---
product_id: 49258779
title: "On Photography"
price: "3552 kr"
currency: ISK
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 8
url: https://www.desertcart.is/products/49258779-on-photography
store_origin: IS
region: Iceland
---

# Recommended academic text Classic photographic theory essays Timeless insights from the 70s On Photography

**Price:** 3552 kr
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

## Summary

> 📸 Unlock the unseen layers of every photograph with Sontag’s visionary lens!

## Quick Answers

- **What is this?** On Photography
- **How much does it cost?** 3552 kr with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.is](https://www.desertcart.is/products/49258779-on-photography)

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- Customers looking for quality international products

## Why This Product

- Free international shipping included
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## Key Features

- • **Philosophical Depth:** Challenges your perception of photography beyond technique to cultural and psychological impact.
- • **Academic Credibility:** A top-ranked, highly reviewed essential for photography students and enthusiasts alike.
- • **Compact Yet Powerful:** Concise essays that provoke deep thought without overwhelming your reading list.
- • **Cultivated Perspective:** Join a community of thinkers who appreciate photography as an art and social phenomenon.
- • **Timeless Intellectual Fuel:** Dive into Susan Sontag’s profound essays that remain relevant decades later.

## Overview

On Photography by Susan Sontag is a seminal collection of essays originally published in the 1970s, offering a profound philosophical and cultural analysis of photography. Highly rated and widely recommended in academic circles, this used book in good condition remains a must-read for anyone seeking to deepen their understanding of photography beyond mere technique.

## Description

On Photography : Sontag, Susan: desertcart.co.uk: Books

Review: Makes you think about photography in completely new ways - I'm in my first year of a photography degree and this is one of the recommended texts. Despite being released in the 70's it's still very relevant. The book is essentially a series of essays by Sontag. It's value is that Sontag knows her subject extremely well and, with reference to the great photographers, has constructed her essays in a way that really make you contemplate what photography is all about. Sontag was not a photographer herself so it's not a book of technique; it's about the interpretation and appreciation of other's work. If you're new to photographic theory as I was/am it may very well make you feel quite ignorant, as if you don't even know what a photograph really is any more. However, that's the point; to make you think. This most ubiquitous medium is now so common its almost unnoticed but the book gets under the skin of what photography is and why photographs are so appealing. It's not the easiest or lightest reading but conversely the essays are not over long. If you're studying photography or art or are simply interested in more philosophical views on the subject I'd highly recommend this to open up new ways of thinking.
Review: Image as Icon - This is the world of the 1960s and '70s when paper print photographs seemed to be everywhere and yet were in fact few and far between compared to the ubiquitous image creation and retention of the digital era. Nonetheless, the modern reader can easily comprehend the technical, psychological, social and artistic embedding of photography that Sontag offers on these pages. Highly perceptive, succinct, sensitive analysis of visual image reproduction which had come into its own during the interwar years and defined how we watched the world right up to the appearance of the digital camera at the dawn of the new millennium.

## Features

- Used Book in Good Condition

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | 13,272 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) 1 in Individual Photographer Essays 3 in Photography Criticism & Essays 86 in Essays, Journals & Letters |
| Customer Reviews | 4.5 out of 5 stars 1,366 Reviews |

## Images

![On Photography - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81kr7uTC-SL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Makes you think about photography in completely new ways
*by B***7 on 1 January 2009*

I'm in my first year of a photography degree and this is one of the recommended texts. Despite being released in the 70's it's still very relevant. The book is essentially a series of essays by Sontag. It's value is that Sontag knows her subject extremely well and, with reference to the great photographers, has constructed her essays in a way that really make you contemplate what photography is all about. Sontag was not a photographer herself so it's not a book of technique; it's about the interpretation and appreciation of other's work. If you're new to photographic theory as I was/am it may very well make you feel quite ignorant, as if you don't even know what a photograph really is any more. However, that's the point; to make you think. This most ubiquitous medium is now so common its almost unnoticed but the book gets under the skin of what photography is and why photographs are so appealing. It's not the easiest or lightest reading but conversely the essays are not over long. If you're studying photography or art or are simply interested in more philosophical views on the subject I'd highly recommend this to open up new ways of thinking.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Image as Icon
*by S***Y on 4 March 2016*

This is the world of the 1960s and '70s when paper print photographs seemed to be everywhere and yet were in fact few and far between compared to the ubiquitous image creation and retention of the digital era. Nonetheless, the modern reader can easily comprehend the technical, psychological, social and artistic embedding of photography that Sontag offers on these pages. Highly perceptive, succinct, sensitive analysis of visual image reproduction which had come into its own during the interwar years and defined how we watched the world right up to the appearance of the digital camera at the dawn of the new millennium.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ A fascinating and insightful perspective - but have dictionary and Google on hand
*by D***M on 21 December 2023*

Sontag is undoubtedly an insightful and deep thinking philosopher. As a hobby photographer, I wanted to read this, but if you’re a student photographer I believe it is a must text. She introduces the reader to an array of perspectives that turn on it’s head the often thought about concepts of ‘What is a photograph?’ And ‘Why do we take them?’ Whilst I really enjoyed the book, it at times became a real labour of love as she dragged me through some arguably torturous and unnecessary analysis, often bolstered with hugely academic speak and a plethora of sub statements wrapped in parentheses, which made some of the reading heavy going. I don’t wish to disrespect such an acclaimed academic, but at some points you do think she’s doing the “I’m a really clever Professor, let me know when I’ve lost you!” as you find yourself re-reading paragraph after paragraph whilst juggling a dictionary, and searching Google, to understand the concepts or images she’s actually discussing, all whilst scratching your head. That aside it really is an interesting book that I’d recommend to any budding photographer or indeed anyone interest in the power of making images. I’m now about to start The original ‘On Photography’ by Walter Benjamin … wish me luck … I’m going in!

## Frequently Bought Together

- On Photography
- Ways of Seeing: John Berger (Penguin Modern Classics)
- Understanding a Photograph: John Berger (Penguin Modern Classics)

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*Product available on Desertcart Iceland*
*Store origin: IS*
*Last updated: 2026-01-23*