A photographic memoir charts the fascinating and interesting life of an abstract and contemporary fine-art photographer, finds Amy Davies
£40, Bodleian Library, hardcover, 240 pages, ISBN: 9781851246090
We see a lot of books here at Amateur Photographer, and it’s safe to say that while many of them are excellent, it’s rare for one to give such pause for thought as Dark Room.
At first glance, the abstract photography of Garry Fabian Miller might not be to everyone’s tastes, but to sit down and absorb the book, front-toback, is a fantastic experience that is hard to beat. Taking the form of a memoir, Garry charts his photographic career from its early days right up to the present. He has become recognised internationally for his ‘camera-less’ work, made in the darkroom, where he sometimes spends many hours in complete darkness.
It’s with some careful irony that Garry notes that his lifetime spent working with the now-discontinued Cibachrome is likely to have contributed to his diagnosis of cancer, just as he was preparing to leave the darkroom behind for the final time. A devastating revelation that shows how much art can mean to the individual.
Throughout this deeply personal book, Garry writes compellingly of his process, with his why accompa
