Photographers in fiction

I’ve just finished reading Tatjana Soli’s amazing novel The Lotus Eaters which tells the story of a female press photographer documenting the Vietnam war. As so often, I’m something of a latecomer as the book was published in 2010 and won the James Tait Black memorial award for fiction the same year. Photographers Helen Adams, Sam Darrow and his Vietnamese assistant Linh are compelling, credible characters in a story that explores themes of ambition, betrayal and obsession set against a backdrop of fear, deprivation and constant danger. Thoroughly recommended.

And it’s got me thinking that I’d like to read more novels — and see more films — with photographers as central characters. For me, the combination of creativity, technical savvy and working under extraordinary pressure makes the photography-based novel a compelling read. Here are a couple of others I’ve enjoyed.

William Boyd’s 2015 novel Sweet Caress is a fictional autobiography loosely based on the life of Lee Miller whose career spanned the twentieth century and practically every genre of photography including portraiture, art photography, surrealism and war reporting. Like all Boyd’s work, the book is highly readable with a rich tapestry of historical detail supporting the main narrative. It is essentially the story of a life well and fully lived and the choice of career in photography contributes significantly to making that fulfilment possible. By the way, Anthony Penrose, Lee Miller’s son, produced a wonderful book about his mother and her work called The Lives of Lee Miller (1985) — it is generously illustrated with Miller’s photos and a real feast for fans of her work (and life).

Photography is portrayed as both sexy (light) and serious (weighty) in Milan Kundera’s 1984 philosophical novel The Unbearable Lightness of Being. Initially a camera is used by the three central characters in their loveplay but subsequently becomes a powerful political weapon when one of the characters ventures onto the streets to photograph Soviet tanks arriving in Prague in August 1968 with the intention of getting images out of the country to let the world know what is happening. There is an excellent 1988 film of this book directed by Philip Kaufman and starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Juliette Binoche, Lena Olin and a Praktica LTL.

So, those are my current top picks for photographers in fiction. I’m sure there must be some more recent winners that I’m not aware of. Do you have favourites that you’d like to recommend? I’d also be interested in non-technical biographies or autobiographies.

Happy reading and watching!

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