Book excerpt: The Photography Handbook provides an introduction to the principles of photographic practice and theory and offers guidelines for the systematic study of photographic media. It explores the history of lens-based picture making and examines the mediums' characteristics, scope and limitations. Equipping the reader with a vocabulary for photographic phenomena and helping develop visual awareness and visual literacy, The Photography Handbook will enable students to familiarize themselves with current theoretical viewpoints and to evolve critical frameworks for their own photographic practice. The Photography Handbook includes: * an analysis of photographic theory * an introduction to conceptual skills necessary for photography * the historical background and rationale for photographic representation * the camera as a documentary tool * interviews with editors, photographers, picture editors and readers * the effect of new technologies on photographic practice and an exploration of the shift from analogue to digital imagery * over seventy images.