Bloom J. Photography at Bay: Interviews, Essays, and Reviews

University of New Mexico Press, 1993. — 388 p.This engaging collection of interviews and critical writings represents a search for a broader definition of the photographic medium as one connected to cultural streams, political dialogue, art ideas, and biographic expression. John Bloom, a writer, critic, and artist from the Bay Area, examines. the photographic goings-on in his city from the early 1980s up through 1991 and finds a remarkable range of activity. This period coincides with San Francisco's emergence from relative provinciality to international recognition of its importance as a primary site of photographic innovation and institutional support. The variety of exhibitions that took place is impressive, and Bloom frequently had the occasion to interview the artists and curators involved. The author has a notable talent for getting historians and artists to reveal something substantial about their work, its prominent ideas and evolution, and therefore these interviews especially make for lively reading. At the same time as Bloom emerges as an insightful and intelligent commentator on both historical and contemporary photography, San Francisco emerges as a kind of center of photographic activity in the U.S. during the 1980s. This book is essential reading for anyone interested in photography and what can be gleaned from it about our culture and history.