First published 2025
Michael Collins opens his camera bag and pulls out a stack of abandoned photographs. The subjects stare back at him from decades past, their names and stories erased by time. Collins has spent years behind the lens, but now he turns his attention to photography itself. What makes certain images stick in our memory while others fade? He moves between his darkroom and gallery spaces, studying everything from basic studio portraits to sweeping panoramic shots. Collins traces how these everyday photographic forms developed within art history. He even attempts an unusual portrait series featuring gorillas as subjects. Through each linked essay, Collins works to decode why photography continues to grip our imagination. His investigation reveals the hidden depths in photographic genres most people overlook or take for granted.
Genres: biography, art, non-fiction, photography, art-history
Vibes: intimate, lyrical, thought-provoking
Tropes: deconstruction, investigation
Period: 20th-century, 21st-century
192 pages · Hardcover · Notting Hill Editions