Seeing Things: A Kid’s Guide to Looking at Photographs by Joel Meyerowitz (review)

Venerable American photographer Meyerowitz uses thirty photographs to guide and encourage young people to think about photography. Each photograph appears on a spread opposite thoughtful text discussing the photograph or the process of taking it, often giving attention to a particular aspect or perception. For Henri Cartier-Bresson’s Behind the Gare Saint-Lazare, for instance, the author notes that the picture is funnier for the fact that the man in midair is about to fall into the puddle rather than in it already; for Gordon Parks’ Black Muslim Schoolchildren, Chicago, the text points out the importance of the photographer’s low angle, which meant that the viewer was not looking down on the children. Though the included photographs are mostly mid-twentieth century and later, a few earlier ones appear; the images are a mix of color and black and white, and they’re mostly American and European. They do fascinating double duty here as illustrations and as illustrations of Meyerowitz’s points, as he speaks concisely and uncondescendingly about light, about humor, about chaos, about patience. He blends observation of specifics that young readers will easily spot with creative contemplations that audiences can easily get on board with, a rare and valuable combination in an art book. In an age when the ubiquity of photographic images has drained them of much artistry, this will encourage young people to find the potential within the frame.