A Focusing Appliance – David Hlynsky

A Focusing Appliance by David Hlynsky published by Impulse[b:] 

A panoptic thesis on contemporary photography illustrated with the artist’s photographs. An established photographer, Hlynsky has written a series of magical short chapters about visual and photographic history. A Focusing Appliance offers short lessons on scientific experimentation, artistic portraiture, surveillance, sex, nuclear bombs, personal and art history and other themes variously sober, banal, intimate, funny, technical, pedagogical, and circumstantial. With its affectionate emphasis on science and the camera lens, this book gives scope to Hlynsky’s theory of the “pareidolia” as an experience that accompanies every act of looking, and suggest that we revisit our learned expectations of photographic images. Each chapter is illustrated with colour photographs complementing the creativity of the work. This is a delightful read for all ages and interests on photography and art education.