LONDON.- British photographer and academic Henry Bond's first book on photo theory was published in 2009 by The MIT Press—the academic press of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass., USA. The book—'Lacan at the Scene'—received many positive notices including an endorsement from the formidable philosopher Slavoj Žižek.
For his second book, 'The Gaze of the Lens'—publication date: 01 September, 2011—Bond has chosen to publish with Amazon KDP—
Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing—a digital self-publishing platform.
So why the switch? Bond's decision to publish with Kindle was driven by two key factors:
KDP's contract offers authors a 70% royalty on sales, as compared with the standard royalty on sales offered by The MIT Press of 5%. The more generous royalty enabled the author to offer the book for sale at a price-point appropriate to the hard-pressed undergraduate for whom a $3 download might seem reasonable—or at least viable—when compared to the familiar $13-15-a-copy traditionally charged for such books.
Second—and crucially—the Kindle's DRM—Digital Rights Management—offers authors at least a shot at protecting their copyright: Bond's 2009 book 'Lacan at the Scene' has been repeatedly pirated and made available for free download in PDF format from sites such as Scribd, Easystore, and MegaUpload. Hence, with the academic publisher unable to stem the tide of transgressors flouting international copyright laws with impunity, Bond has turned to the burgeoning e-reader.
SYNOPSIS
Henry Bond's series of 100 meticulously formulated concise observations and statements on photography build a rich psychological picture of the photographer and the photographed—and the dynamics between them: whether it be in the photo studio, on the street, or in private in our domestic spaces. Bond presents a philosophy of photography which activates, reconfigures, qualifies, and occasionally contradicts assertions made a diverse range of thinkers and practitioners including Rankin, Stieg Larsson, Antonioni, Charles Baudelaire, J.G. Ballard, Raymond Chandler, Walter Benjamin, Jacques Lacan, Georg Hegel, Slavoj Žižek, and many others.
Bond's insights encourage us to look beyond our received ideas, in order to reveal a terrain that is both thrilling and unsettling; in the past, Bond has led us through desolate crime scenes in order to interpret the small details present there, in this new series of thoughts, he asks us to redouble our awareness of the photographs all around us.
This book will be of interest to researchers and students of photography, and all those reflecting on how much the camera has changed our behaviour and the complexion of everyday life.
BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIAL
Henry Bond's first monograph on photo theory 'Lacan at the Scene' was published by The MIT Press, in 2009. In the 1990s, Bond was involved in London's 'YBA' scene of contemporary art; between 1990-1995, he worked with Liam Gillick on their 'Documents Series' and collaborated with others including Sam Taylor-Wood OBE. Bond is Senior Lecturer in Photography in the School of Fine Art of the Faculty of Art, Design & Architecture, Kingston University, London; his photographs have been exhibited the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Tate Modern London; Hayward Gallery, London; and Fotomuseum, Winterthur, among other venues.
EDITORIAL REVIEWS
On Bond's 2009, 'Lacan at the Scene':
'Henry Bond's outstanding Book...' –Slavoj Žižek, from the Foreword.
It seems insufficient to judge photographer Henry Bond’s book 'Lacan at the Scene' as being merely good or bad, when what it is, really, is audacious … his sensibility enthralls. –Parul Segal, Time Out, New York.
Bond has a knack for drawing unexpected insights from the smallest elements, for uncovering truths in his material, hidden in plain sight. –Adam Atkinson, M/C Reviews.
His approach evokes a kind of aesthetic pleasure, which unsettles even as it satisfies. –Margaret Kinsman, Philosophy of Photography.
