Take a journey through the history of the photographic medium, from the origins of the modern optic gaze to social platforms where images are shared. It is a history of representational desires, narcissism, documentation, and personal archiving. The book expands on notions of time, space, and the self, the control of power, and culture and society, as these evolve alongside the uses of photography. Throughout his study, Jurgenson successfully quotes and juxtaposes relevant philosophers and photographers. In a rich context, he navigates the reader through the evolution of the photographic medium to its present social embodiment.

With a sharp, uplifting pace, the author presents the ways in which image making and image sharing affect authentic relationships with the present moment, as documented by software cameras and experienced with nostalgia. New ways of storytelling arise with streams of photos, and time perception and the processing speed of information require immediacy. The eye becomes a camera that is constantly working, turning experiences into images, then numbers, and finally algorithmic metrics. Jurgenson reveals these digital cultural practices as a new way of seeing, raising questions about informational stimulations, social visibility and invisibility, and augmented digital states versus not augmented physical innocence.

This book is a must-read for all of us who use a camera and care about how the creation of our own images shapes the definition of ourselves and, by extension, our world. It is also a great recommendation for all interested in the complex effects and repercussions that social networks in general have on our culture. Jurgenson’s book deserves its own spot in an imaginary book library dedicated to contemporary photography practices. This reference book should be well received by social media theorists, cultural critics, visual anthropologists, and photography students.

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