In the 1970s a group of American art photographers challenged the standard expressions of the time: the manifest modernist straight photography . The new ideal was to be called staged photography and instead of viewing the camera as an objective, optical device and photographs as mechanically reproducable artistic products, the rebellious photographers pointed to the possibilities of conveying holistic life experiences, where a cluster of sensory impressions were needed.

In Impure Vision, photography theorist Moa Goysdotter analyzes the work of four of the main activists and artists of staged photography Krims, Michals, Tress, and Samaras.

By applying new perspectives to photography of the 1970s Goysdotter sheds light on these photographers critique of purist ideals, and their methods of transcending the entrapment of the purely visual effects of photo.

Impure vision not only tells the history of staged photography in a new way by using theories and methods not previously practised on the subject, but also proposes new outlooks on photography theory and history in general.