Jan Kjellin reviewed The Command to Look by William Mortensen
Review of 'The Command to Look' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Even though I've shelved this as a book on photography (both virtually on Goodreads and physically in my bookshelf), it seems I might need a special section for this one. Quite possibly, I might need to place this with my two books on La Vey's satanism, [b:The Satanic Bible|82333|The Satanic Bible|Anton Szandor LaVey|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1435430607s/82333.jpg|1039648] and [b:The Satanic Rituals|123947|The Satanic Rituals|Anton Szandor LaVey|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348076510s/123947.jpg|119352]. Overall, classification of books isn't always as obvious as one usually thinks, and a book like this one isn't so much a book on photography as it is a book on the psychological forces behind or inside photographies. Just like Anton La Vey (who was heavily influenced by "The Command To Look") didn't create the Church of Satan as a church, but rather as a means to apply those same forces in real, everyday life.
Rant aside, wehat I meant to say was that this was very inspiring on …
Even though I've shelved this as a book on photography (both virtually on Goodreads and physically in my bookshelf), it seems I might need a special section for this one. Quite possibly, I might need to place this with my two books on La Vey's satanism, [b:The Satanic Bible|82333|The Satanic Bible|Anton Szandor LaVey|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1435430607s/82333.jpg|1039648] and [b:The Satanic Rituals|123947|The Satanic Rituals|Anton Szandor LaVey|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348076510s/123947.jpg|119352]. Overall, classification of books isn't always as obvious as one usually thinks, and a book like this one isn't so much a book on photography as it is a book on the psychological forces behind or inside photographies. Just like Anton La Vey (who was heavily influenced by "The Command To Look") didn't create the Church of Satan as a church, but rather as a means to apply those same forces in real, everyday life.
Rant aside, wehat I meant to say was that this was very inspiring on so many levels - not just to me as a photographer.
And maybe that's what makes me like this book so much. That it provides rules or laws or maybe just simply a way to do things, whatever they might be. For now, though, I'll try to apply it to the activity it was meant to be a guide to: Photography.