The World’s Most Amazing 100% Awesome Photography Theory

A recent British trend has been the growth in HE photography courses with a concurrent emphasis on industry skills and commercial career outcomes (Edge 2009). And, although pedagogic approaches to practical material have adapted, the theoretical material can be seen to be patchy at best. Calls for a re-examination have indeed been made (Haeffner 2008, Newbury 2009, Edge 2009, Bate 2009), but little has been offered that is not simply a rearticulation of the already dominant theoretical models. Rather than relying on the well-trodden models that promote either photographer as visionary or an emphasis on meaning generation, it is proposed that photography theory should look to the breadth of approaches found in film studies, particularly in relation to commercial production. The two areas for development particularly advocated here are genre studies and industry analysis in terms of production and distribution. Since most commercially-bound photographers work within industrial structures and constraints, both of these approaches would facilitate an understanding of creativity and innovation in this context. This would open up areas of photographic study that have thus far been largely ignored by academics and would facilitate a closer relationship and dialogue between theory and practice in the educational context