TR185 .B331 2010
The pleasures of good photographs : essays / by Gerry Badger.
Aperture ideas: writers and artists on photography [series].
New York : Aperture, 2010.
Gerry Badger is the 2011 Infinity Award Winner for Writing.
Gerry Badger is an architect, photographer, curator and writer. His work is in a number of public and private collections, including the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; the Arts Council of Great Britain Collection, London; the Bibiliothèque Nationale, Paris; and the Museum of Modern Art, New York.
My initial reaction to Gerry Badger winning the award for writing was has he not won this award before? I was amazed that Gerry had never won before and therefore I checked the list. . .The list of previous winners of the Infinity Award for Writing:
2010: Luc Sante
2009: Aveek Sen
2008: Bill Jay
2007: David Levi Strauss
2006: Geoff Dyer
2005: Vince Aletti
2004: Susan Sontag
2003: Sara Stevenson
2002: Ariella Azoulay
2001: Eugenia Parry
2000: Andy Grundberg
1999: John Morris
1998: Robert Coles
1997: Vicki Goldberg
1996: A.D. Coleman
1995: Deborah Willis
1994: Maria Morris Hambourg and Pierre Apraxine
1993: Arthur C. Danto
1992: Alan Trachtenberg
1991: Anna Fárová
1990: Max Kozloff
1989: John Szarkowski
1988: Peter Galassi
. . .impressive list. . . .and he wasn’t on it. It was true. Gerry had never won before! Which seemed extraordinary to me.
Gerry Badger is the famous author with Martin Parr who is responsible for “The Photobook: A History Volume I and II” (TR15.P37) – with Volume III to follow soon – which has been dictating good taste in photographic book collecting for some time. These books are absolute essential requirements for any respectable photographic book library so much so that it is as if a photobook mafia is at work. Gerry Badger is also the author of the handy manual called “Collecting Photography” (TR6.5 .B33 2003) and the exploration of post-war British photography “Through the Looking Glass: Photographic art in Britain 1945-1989” (TR57.B37 .T57 1989) as well as the explorative work “In Focus: Eugene Atget, Photographs from the J. Paul Getty Museum” (TR140.A84 .B33 2001). Coming out next month – March 2011 – is his latest masterpiece “The Genius of Photography” produced in conjunction with the BBC television series of the same name.
The ICP library has been on journey with Gerry’s book as he gave a insightful lecture to our library committee last June:
Library Committee #26 Thursday, June 10, 2010
International Center of Photography Museum
Guest speaker Gerry Badger, one of photography’s most eminent historians and critics, discussed his favorite photobooks and celebrated the newly published The Pleasure of Good Photographs by signing copies for the Committee.
The Pleasures of Good Photographs is a collection of essays that is an intellectual and aesthetic romp through the world of photography. It is a delight to read. It may not be Gerry’s best book in my opinion, the competition from his other volumes is tough after all, but it is certainly a worthy choice and a book which is of award winning calibre. In “The Pleasures” Badger offers insight into some of his favorite images, artists, photobooks and themes in a highly readable and accessible collection of essays. It is both a work of scholarship and enthusiastic wit that shall now reside quite comfortably in the canon of photographic writing.
Award Winner for Writing 2011: Gerry Badger, The Pleasures of Good Photographs
27th Annual Infinity Awards
Tuesday May 10, 2011 – Pier 60, New York City
Congratulations to the following artists…
Lifetime Achievement: Elliott Erwitt
Cornell Capa Award: Ruth Gruber
ICP Trustees Award: The Durst Family
Young Photographer: Peter van Agtmael
Publication: Alec Soth, From Here to There: Alec Soth’s America
Art: Abelardo Morell
Photojournalism: Adrees Latif
Applied/Fashion/Advertising Photography: Viviane Sassen
Monsters & Madonnas 
