Yesterday, I went to the best book sale ever.
I saw in the paper that the Anglican Church in the next city was holding a big used book sale. Since I hadn't been to a book sale in quite some time, I decided to go. Let's just say I wasn't disappointed! Not that they had many photography books (they did have a ton and a half of novels like usual). But the photography books they had were awesome!
I got the following:
The Photo Book from Phaidon Press. A small 520 page brick with just about every major photographer listed, one per page with a picture. The book looks brand new, never even opened! Even the blown in catalog request card is still in its place!
Printing Color Negatives publication E-66 by Kodak. Not that it's the most interesting, but since I try and pick-up every Kodak publication that goes through my hands, I couldn't leave this one there.
The Darkroom Handbook is an interesting one. The book deals with "how to build your darkroom". But the fascinating part is the series of interviews with some of the great ones like Harry Calahan, Jeanloup Sieff and W. Eugene Smith (among others), who show off their darkrooms and describe how they came to their actual setup. They also talk gear and give tips to make work easier and faster.
Handbook for contemporary photography is probably the most technical book of the bunch. Covering everything from alternative processes, photogravure, silk screening, to densitometry and print masking, it is sure to be something worth reading (though I doubt it would make good bedside reading material).
And, finally, Darkroom 2. It is a book where 10 photographers tell the story behind one of their images and explain how it was shot and doctored in the darkroom. Just thumbing through it, I found the section where they interview Cole Weston. He explains that his father's negatives (he is the son of Edward Weston) were exposed and processed as to be very light because of the printing materials available at the time. To print them on the low sensitivity papers of the time, Edward Weston had to use a 500 watt bulb and wear a cap just to prevent damaging his eyesight! Yet, nowadays, Cole prints these same negatives using a 15 watt refrigerator bulb on modern paper! Unbelievable.
So, I got all these books. They all look like almost brand new (or at least as new as books printed in the late 70's can). And I got a deal since the whole thing cost me only 8$
Cheaper than a magazine where you can read only the charms of a 12000$ Nikon D3X ...
As you can tell... I'm happy!
