The Pleasure Principle
A collection of street photographs, The Pleasure Principle this is Davison’s first foray into the world of book design. 25 photographs are accompanied by an essay entitled ‘Photography: An Economy of Seeing’ which examines the subjective nature of photography, some excerpts of which feature below.
“There is always a concerted effort to make mannequins appear as human as possible, seductive and desirable. Seen from this perspective, it makes sense to fall in love with the objects they display. The desire we feel is not simply to own new clothes, but to have the opportunity to redesign out own image and fall in love with it once again. The clothes in the window should help with that. That is their promise.”
“[T]he primary purpose of the camera need not be to record. [The camera] has the power to demonstrate the photographer’s subjectivity; and, in fact, it does this invariably, whether the photographer is aware of it or not.”
Michael Lindsey Davison, The Pleasure Principle, 2012