Photography is not dying and has not died. It has been an ever-changing medium since its earliest days, and while near-obsession with the technology of the day may have defined photography over the course of its existence, photography is so much more than hardware and software. Photography is communication, whether chemical or digital, tangible or ephemeral in form. Photography Beyond Technique is a compelling selection of essays and images that reveal the thoughts and methods of some of today’s most exciting contemporary photographers. These artists employ alternative, historical, or handmade processes and techniques, and they share a comprehensive view of the medium: that the choice of photographic process is just as important as the selection of subjects. While other books concentrate solely on process, or theory, or artistic intent, none focus on photography in which these decisions are considered inseparable. These 20 essays, originally presented at the annual F295 symposium and seminar series, provide a thought-provoking read for anyone interested in photography as an art form and as a medium through which to view the world. Includes: "Looking Backward, Seeing Forward: Reframing Visual History" by Robert Hirsch "Mystery, Memory, and Narrative" by Martha Casanave "Finding Confidence: Combining Process with Purpose" by Mark Osterman "Photograph, Material, and Metaphor" by Jerry Spagnoli

Finalist: Raymond Klibansky Book Prize Humanities and Social Sciences Federation of Canada (2008) Making a connection between photography and memory is almost automatic. Should it be? In Scissors, Paper, Stone Martha Langford explores the nature of memory and art. She challenges the conventional emphasis on the camera as a tool of perception by arguing that photographic works are products of the mind - picturing memory is, first and foremost, the expression of a mental process. Langford organizes the book around the conceit of the child's game scissors, paper, stone, using it to ground her discussion of the tensions between remembering and forgetting, the intersection of memory and imagination, and the relationship between memory and history. Scissors, Paper, Stone explores the great variety of photographic art produced by Canadian artists as expressions of memory. Their work, including images by Carl Beam, Carole Condé and Karl Beveridge, Donigan Cumming, Stan Denniston, Robert Houle, Robert Minden, Michael Snow, Diana Thorneycroft, Jeff Wall, and Jin-me Yoon, is presented as part of a rich interdisciplinary study of contemporary photography and how it has shaped modern memory.