Author Topic: Your favourite photo books? (Read 15175 times)

Karl · « **on:** August 05, 2007, 08:29:58 PM »

I was just looking at the Beyond Words website and it got me thinking - what are your favourite photo books (portfolio, technical, critique, etc)? Here's my selection in no real order, just the book I return to all the time and happen to have:
Photography (London/Upton/Kobre/Brill) - best textbook/covers everything manual going, Expensive but worth it
Andre Kertesz (Pierre Borhan), the photographer that got me into photography
Sarah Moon, Coincidences, the kind of art I'd like to make
Landmarks, Fay Godwin, my favourite landscape photographer
Photographers photograph their families, because I love my family pics the most
The Maser Printer's Black and White Workshop, Steve McLeod, 40% technical 60% inspiration

Ron · « **Reply #1 on:** August 05, 2007, 09:39:01 PM »

Ok, the McLeod book is a good technical resource - I have reviewed it and it is quite inspirational, too. Fay IS a great landscaper

Prolly my all time fav is The Americans. Very partial to some of the Carleton Watkins books I have had in my possession thru the years. Huge fan of Kenro Izu's, Sacred Places. One of my favs that many don't know about is Hills of Home by Roger Minick.
Oh, I could go on, but I better stop for everyones sake

LT · « **Reply #2 on:** August 05, 2007, 10:10:35 PM »

mine is my recently bought Michael Kenna ltd ed Easter Island book - signed by the artist - love it for artistic inspiration. John Blakemore's Black and White Photography Workshop for technical and artistic wonderment

Francois · « **Reply #3 on:** August 05, 2007, 11:20:47 PM »

Here goes with part of my bookshelves...

Architecture and its photography by Julius Shulman. Probably the greatest architectural pictures of all time. Had the book for close to 10 years now and it's still my favorite. Not many tips... just jaw dropping pictures page after page. On the review, they say he makes houses look as great as Grace Kelly... not a small feat.
Je developpe mes photos by Antoine Desilets. He was probably the best known news photographer in the province. Tons of quick and dirty tricks for the darkroom.
Photographic Printing by Gene Nocon. The book that started me trying to figure out Stop printing before I found a simpler explanation in a French magazine.
How to makes good pictures 33rd edition obviously by Kodak. This 1930's edition has pictures that make me smile by their old school charm.

There are also a ton of other books (like the time-life encyclopedia I got for 5$)...
The rest are mostly architecture books...

This-is-damion · « **Reply #4 on:** August 06, 2007, 07:58:18 AM »

this is kind of easy for me as my photo book collection is just starting.....

so then....the phaidon 55 series are great, ok so very small but a great introduction to different people AND you can pick them up for pennies on amazon! So far have moriyama, walker evans & chris killip.

Also after having a brief look at Don brice's copy i bought.... "Avedon at Work, In the American West by Laura Wilson"

all good.

david b · « **Reply #5 on:** August 06, 2007, 10:22:46 AM »

Photo books are one of my vices, as my groaning shelves will attest... but a few that come down to be perused regularly are: the Graciela Iturbide and Miguel Rio Branco monographs by Aperture, Shadow Chamber by Roger Ballen, Chaos by Josef Koudelka, the big Mario Giacomelli retrospective by Phaidon, Richard Misrach's Crimes and Splendors, and Alex Webb's Crossings.

Kelly · « **Reply #6 on:** August 06, 2007, 06:19:06 PM »

My favourite instruction/technical books I think will always be Ansel Adams "The Camera", "The Negative", "The Print". I think everybody starting out should get them, read them, love them. They're technical, but not to the point where you don't understand what the hell he's talking about. Very good, and clear, explinations.

Plus, it's Ansel Adams! Come on

.

As for photography books, I have a few I really like. I bought the Taschen Polaroid book. Something like 400 pages of polaroids from the Polaroid archive. Fabulous! And very inspiring.

I also have a book called "Heroines" by Lincoln Clark, the women of the downtown eastside in Vancouver.

eddie · « **Reply #7 on:** August 08, 2007, 12:08:13 AM »

Favourite is Chris Killip, Isle of Mann beautiful images and beautifully presented with quality printing (late 70s). It was also a bargain for ?3.0

I want Il Flagrante also by Chris Killip so if anyone has a spare copy they are happy to part with send me a PM.

On the techchnical side i like Elements by Barry Thornton and Creative Elements by Eddie Ephraums.

A little known gem also by Eddie is 'Whats Missing' a porfolio of images from Trevellion Photographers, a very inspiring piece of work.

This-is-damion · « **Reply #8 on:** August 08, 2007, 06:39:36 PM »

Quote from: eddie on August 08, 2007, 12:08:13 AM

I want Il Flagrante also by Chris Killip so if anyone has a spare copy they are happy to part with send me a PM.

i think its stuff form this series up in the tate britain at the moment, in "how we are" exhibition, amazing they are, my first intro to mr killip and now has me trying to get hold of that book...unsuccessfuly i might add.

errr, if anyone has 2 copies! ill be next in line.....

ho hum.

Yaniv Waissa · « **Reply #9 on:** August 08, 2007, 07:29:20 PM »

Some of my mine-
The Helsinki School
I have only the first vol. hope to get the second soon
Dieter Appelt
One of my most inspire photographer
Sally Mann- What Remains
What can I say about this amazing and emotional book
The Polaroid Book
The Bible of Polaroid Photography
Stefanie Schneider-Stranger than Paradise
Maybe the most successful Polaroid based book of present times

My favourite israeli photgraphers
Simcha Sirman-Living in the Shade
Gilad Ophir & Roi Kuper- Necropolis
Dalia Amotz- The Dark Land, Fields of Light

eddie · « **Reply #10 on:** August 08, 2007, 10:29:07 PM »

Quote from: This-is-damion on August 08, 2007, 06:39:36 PM

Quote from: eddie on August 08, 2007, 12:08:13 AM

I want Il Flagrante also by Chris Killip so if anyone has a spare copy they are happy to part with send me a PM.

i think its stuff form this series up in the tate britain at the moment, in "how we are" exhibition, amazing they are, my first intro to mr killip and now has me trying to get hold of that book...unsuccessfuly i might add.

errr, if anyone has 2 copies! ill be next in line.....

ho hum.

There is one of those five pound Phaiodon 55 books on Chris killip. It is a great introduction with a very fine essay by Gerry Badger. Hope to get over to that show in the Tate.
its on amazon http://www.amazon.co.uk/Chris-Killip-Phaidon-Gerry-Badger/dp/0714840289

This-is-damion · « **Reply #11 on:** August 08, 2007, 10:47:11 PM »

i bought that a few days ago...still waiting for it to rovk up.

today i picked up the book that goes along with the tate show...its amazing, really recommend it.

Andrea. · « **Reply #12 on:** August 09, 2007, 08:47:26 AM »

Fraid I am just abit staid at the moment.
Bresson - An inner silence
Werner Kissling - A different country
Gus Wylie - The Hebrideans
Leonard Misonne

I find all these inspirational.

Skorj · « **Reply #13 on:** August 10, 2007, 09:41:19 AM »

An amazing selection here. I find the Phaidon 55s very effective. As a resource book The Polaroid Book is scanned weekly too - its diversity of technique, artists and cameras just fills me up with goop desire...

Ed Wenn · « **Reply #14 on:** August 10, 2007, 12:09:43 PM »

Quote from: Agent Orange on August 05, 2007, 11:20:47 PM

Architecture and its photography by Julius Shulman. Probably the greatest architectural pictures of all time. Had the book for close to 10 years now and it's still my favorite. Not many tips... just jaw dropping pictures page after page. On the review, they say he makes houses look as great as Grace Kelly... not a small feat.

Francois, it looks like we have even more in common other than the geek connection. I'm a big fan of Julius Schulman and also have this book. Awesome stuff. I was lucky enough to see a lecture by him at RIBA in London when the book was first published a few years ago. At the time I was more there for the architecture than the photography, but his talk was a mix of both with loads of slides and some great anecdotes of the 'story behind the photo' type. Great stuff.

Even now I have more architecture books than pure photography books.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On the subject of straight photo books front I have a few Eggleston publications which are a constant source of inspration, a great Weegee anthology which I couldn't do without for religious reasons; Weegee was the main reason I flipped at the start of this century and finally became 'One Of Us' instead of just another person with a low-end digi point and shoot.

However, hands-down my fave photo book is the incomparable Vietnam Inc. by Magnum photographer and journalist, Philip Jones Griffiths, which ticks so many boxes for me that it's going to be hard to surpass. The text is on a par with the images and the two together create an incredibly powerful document. I can't recommend this book enough.

cwilk · « **Reply #15 on:** August 10, 2007, 03:39:40 PM »

I am currently enjoying Lee Miller's War which is as much about her journalism as her photography. Both are of a very high standard.

Susan B. · « **Reply #16 on:** August 12, 2007, 07:21:09 AM »

My favorites change all the time, but here are a select few that always inspire.

Shooting Blind http://www.aperture.org/store/books-detail.aspx?ID=210
Alexey Titarenko Photographs http://www.lensculture.com/titarenko.html
Meatyard http://www.photoeye.com/templates/mShowDetailsbycat.cfm?Catalog=DP128
James Fee 1993-2000 http://www.photoeye.com/templates/mShowDetailsbycat.cfm?Catalog=PK631
Koudelka http://www.photoeye.com/templates/mShowDetailsbycat.cfm?Catalog=DP611
Francesca Woodman http://www.photoeye.com/templates/mShowDetailsbycat.cfm?Catalog=PI182
Sally Mann (too many to select from so I'll pick Immediate Family) http://www.photoeye.com/templates/mShowDetailsbycat.cfm?Catalog=AP270
Keith Carter (way too many to select from so I'll go with Holding Venus) http://www.photoeye.com/templates/mShowDetailsbycat.cfm?Catalog=AE023

Karl · « **Reply #17 on:** August 12, 2007, 01:27:49 PM »

thanks for the Titarenko link - they are wonderful. I'd seen the first Crowd picture before but had never managed to remember who it was by.

rolo · « **Reply #18 on:** September 20, 2007, 04:44:29 AM »

I also have a revolving door of favorites, but the ones that come back consistently are:

Sylvia Plachy's Unguided Tour
Signs and Relics -- Sylvia Plachy
Public Relations -- Garry Winogrand
The Americans -- Robert Frank

A recent favorite:

Cherry Blossom Time in Japan: The Complete Works -- Lee Friedlander

Karl · « **Reply #19 on:** September 20, 2007, 11:13:44 AM »

Sylvia Plachy's Self Portrait With Cows Going Home ia also wonderful and what a snappy title

rolo · « **Reply #20 on:** September 20, 2007, 03:47:17 PM »

Quote from: Karl on September 20, 2007, 11:13:44 AM

Sylvia Plachy's Self Portrait With Cows Going Home ia also wonderful and what a snappy title

Agreed. I love Sylvia Plachy's photography. I didn't want to overload my list with Sylvia, Sylvia, Sylvia. BTW, she has a new book on the way, "Goings on About Town: Photographs for The New Yorker."http://www.photoeye.com/templates/mShowDetailsbycat.cfm?Catalog=AP537

And while I'm thinking about it, I'll add two more to my list:

My Fellow Americans
Melting Point

both by Jeff Jacobson.

rs

david b · « **Reply #21 on:** September 20, 2007, 08:44:22 PM »

I got that new Plachy book today! S'nifty!

Ed Wenn · « **Reply #22 on:** September 20, 2007, 10:47:23 PM »

...and I have to add The Victor Weeps by Fazal Sheikh; a book shot in Afghanistan in the mid/late 1990's. It's amazing, and what's more the whole book is available to view online here. Don't delay, you know it makes sense

db · « **Reply #23 on:** September 21, 2007, 02:57:31 AM »

Quote from: Agent Orange on August 05, 2007, 11:20:47 PM

Architecture and its photography by Julius Shulman. Probably the greatest architectural pictures of all time. Had the book for close to 10 years now and it's still my favorite. Not many tips... just jaw dropping pictures page after page. On the review, they say he makes houses look as great as Grace Kelly... not a small feat.

Yep- That's always near the top of the pile on my shelf too. And have you seen the postcard book? v.cool.

And Damion already knows my fave- Avedon's In The American West
http://www.amazon.com/American-West-Richard-Avedon/dp/0810911051

oh, and did I mention Arbus Revelations ?

A good photo read is Geoff Dyer's The Ongoing Moment
http://www.amazon.com/Ongoing-Moment-Geoff-Dyer/dp/1400031680/ref=sr_1_2/103-8104590-3832645?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1190340103&sr=1-2

gary m · « **Reply #24 on:** September 25, 2007, 11:18:37 PM »

Keep coming back to this book all the time- Rocky Schenck: Photographs

eyecaramba · « **Reply #25 on:** September 26, 2007, 03:18:56 AM »

I am inclined to say some of the above mentioned... Meatyard, Arbus, Mann, Carter, Schenk... so with those behind me already.

Mike & Doug Starn - Attracted To Light
Flesh & Blood - photographers photographing their families
Bellocq Photographs from Storyville - E.J. Bellocq
Nan Goldin - Ballad of Sexual Dependency
Minor White - Mirrors Messages & Manifestations
Frederick Sommer - Words & Images

That's all I can muster without getting up. If I get up, I will not come back. I'm tired that way.

eyecaramba · « **Reply #26 on:** September 26, 2007, 03:30:28 AM »

Reading through this again... these are also people who have had an impact on me.

Jan Saudek
Joan Fontcuberta
Emmett Gowin
Bill Owens
Wolfgang Tilmans
O. Winston Link - kind of a stray recommendation; don't have a book but would like one
Luis Gonzales Palma

rore · « **Reply #27 on:** September 26, 2007, 12:51:01 PM »

hello to everyone

i allways go to these books:

Italiani by Gianni Berengo Gardin

The Darkroom Cookbook by Stephen Anchell
The Film Developing Cookbook by Stephen Anchell and Bill Troop

eddie · « **Reply #28 on:** October 24, 2007, 09:11:31 PM »

Sorry for bumping this one up again but i felt I had to share a recent purchase that I'd like to recommend. I went through my old B&W magazine book reviews and picked out one or two I might like. One that was recommended was Come Again Robert Frank. After a bit of research discovered it was only published in 2006 and yet was hard to find. Eventually found one in Switzerland and it duly arrived.

The small number of images are reproductions of Polaroid photographs of war torn Beirut in 1991, they are stitched together roughly in a graph copy with glue and sticky tape showing around the images as they did in the original. The book is finished with a Polaroid varnish. This is a wonderful book, do check it out if you can. You won't be disappointed.

Phil Bebbington · « **Reply #29 on:** October 28, 2007, 01:26:51 AM »

OK as I'm just out the door to the airport and Crete I thought I would mention:

Greece Through The Lens of Takis Tloupas also
Changing New York - Bernice Abbot
Big Bend Pictures - James Evans and
Bystander - A History of Street Photography

Αντίο και Καληνύχτα

choppert · « **Reply #30 on:** November 23, 2007, 09:59:00 AM »

Ed Ruscha anyone?

A few of his photos at The Tate in St Ives recently and in the shop they had a rather smart red cloth book of his pictures.

Fun fun fun!

Chops

Tammy · « **Reply #31 on:** November 23, 2007, 06:53:40 PM »

I tend to look at "how to" books a lot.

A few for that:
"The Photographer's Toning Book", Tim Rudman
"Coming into Focus- step by step guide to Alt photographic printing processes"

A couple of interest books for me for pictures and nostalgia,

"Ghosts in the Wilderness- Abandoned America" Tony and Eva Worobiec
"Gone- Photographs of Abandonment on the High Plains", Steve Fitch

seekingfocus · « **Reply #32 on:** November 28, 2007, 04:49:07 PM »

Oh, oh, oh. Just my copy of Scrapbook in the mail yesterday... spent many an hour flipping through and wandering. What a beautifullly made book it is, too nice leather embossed cover, think pages, nice (though smallish) reproductions.

Here's the description from the publisher that got me hooked:

"Henri Cartier-Bresson was taken prisoner by the Germans in 1940. After two unsuccessful attempts, he managed to escape in 1943. During this period, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, assuming that the photographer had died in the war, started preparing what they thought would be a posthumous exhibition of his work. When he reappeared, Cartier-Bresson was delighted to learn of the exhibition and decided to review his entire oeuvre and curate it himself."

So, basically it's a collection put together by Cartier-Bresson himself for what was supposed to be a posthumous retrospective. Interesting stuff, indeed. Also, there are many outtakes, contact sheets, proofs, etc from some of his more famous works. It's quite interesting to see a bit 'behind the curtain' and get a glimpse how he worked both in shooting and preparing prints.

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Henri-Cartier-Bresson-Scrapbook-Michel-Frizot/dp/050054333X/

Karl · « **Reply #33 on:** November 28, 2007, 05:45:12 PM »

and for those of you who like Sylvia Plachy , Beyond Words in Edinburgh is selling Self Portrait with Cows Going Home at a sale price of ?9.50, a complete bargain for such a wonderfully poetic book (www.beyondwords.co.uk)

david b · « **Reply #34 on:** November 28, 2007, 06:39:00 PM »

Ooh, I'll second that - a really great book at that price, and Beyond Words are fantastic to deal with. (Although they haven't yet sent me a Christmas card as phototitles.com have!)

W.r.t. Cartier-Bresson - am I the only one who thinks he never really bettered his early 1930s work? To me his work from that era has quite a hard-edged intelligence, whereas his post-WW2 stuff tended to soften and go a bit "Family of Man"-ish.

Andrea. · « **Reply #35 on:** July 05, 2008, 09:47:25 PM »

Any new photo books I might like - my birthday is coming up and Eve, my dear partner, wants to buy me one:-)

Pete_R · « **Reply #36 on:** July 07, 2008, 08:43:08 AM »

You could have a look at Mike Johnston's list of recommended books at http://theonlinephotographer.typepad.com/the_online_photographer/2008/06/great-photo-boo.html

For myself, I like the Phaidon 55s that others have mentioned and I would also recommend anything by Fay Godwin - not new I know but I like her stuff. I would particularly recommend the retrospective Landmarks. You can see samples at http://www.faygodwin.com/landmarks/index.html

Andrea. · « **Reply #37 on:** July 07, 2008, 09:32:20 AM »

Many thanks Mower-man :-)

david b · « **Reply #38 on:** July 07, 2008, 10:25:49 AM »

Larry Towell's new one, "The World From My Front Porch", is really nice - and presented in a quite unusual and interesting way. You can see his stuff at the Magnum site.

Or how about Graciela Iturbide? The recent "Eyes To Fly With" is the best overview of her work yet, although she just won the Hasselblad prize, so I expect a book will come out of that too.

Having a browse through the Book Tease section of Photo Eye is a good way to get ideas as well!

Ed Wenn · « **Reply #39 on:** July 07, 2008, 12:13:38 PM »

I can wholeheartedly recommend the James Fee book that Susan turned me onto a few months ago. I received one for my birthday in May and it's blown me away. Very, very inspirational stuff and a must-have for most people who hang out here I'd have thought.

Also, my copy is a first edition (1 of 3000), so it's extra special. Assume yours would be too if you ordered from Amazon UK.

david b · « **Reply #40 on:** July 07, 2008, 12:25:38 PM »

Blimey, that's been in my Amazon basket for three years now ... I should probably, y'know, order it at some point.

eddie · « **Reply #41 on:** July 07, 2008, 08:55:43 PM »

Quote from: ed.wenn on July 07, 2008, 12:13:38 PM

I can wholeheartedly recommend the James Fee book that Susan turned me onto a few months ago. I received one for my birthday in May and it's blown me away. Very, very inspirational stuff and a must-have for most people who hang out here I'd have thought.

Also, my copy is a first edition (1 of 3000), so it's extra special. Assume yours would be too if you ordered from Amazon UK.

Thanks Ed I put this on order before from the states and ran into trouble on postage and then forgot it, just picked up a copy from UK. I remember Susan recommending it, looking forward to adding it to my collection.

Has everyone got the new Robert Frank books from steidl. I love the Paris book.

roryot · « **Reply #42 on:** July 09, 2008, 06:25:16 PM »

Just picked up Robert Frank "The Americans" and "The Photographer's Eye" by John Szarkowski in the Met in NYC - both great.

Also amonst many others, love / have the following

Life - The Camera, The Art of Photography, The Great Themes (these are the ones I have from the encylopedia series from the early 70's. I bought mine in the late 80's second hand.
Kenna - 20 Year Retrospective
Magnum Magnum
Photography Past/Forward: Aperture at 50 (bargain bin at the Photograpy Gallery in Dublin - what a find!)

I got a copy of "Art Photography Now" by Susan Bright as a gift. This one is very contemporary and to be honest runs a little hot and cold on me. The more I look at it, the more I like about it. However some of the images in it just don't do it for me, and make me think that I must not be very much in tune with the modern art world. But then modern art is a fickle fashion...

gothamtomato · « **Reply #43 on:** July 10, 2008, 01:47:24 AM »

Here are a few of my faves:

'On This Earth', by Nick Brandt

'Findings', by Hiroshi Watanabe

'The Architect's Brother', by Robert Parke Harrison

'Kenro Izu', by Kenro Izu

'Plant Kingdoms: The Photographs of Charles Jones', (Which is very interesting in that it is the work of an amateur photographer who was born in 1866, and whose work was published only because a bunch of it was discovered by chance, in 1981, by the author of this book, at the Bermondsey antique flea market in England (hundreds of them in a trunk, for sale).

Stu · « **Reply #44 on:** July 10, 2008, 10:01:06 AM »

Have to agree with the Nick Brandt pick. The images have a kind of epic / biblical feel to them, a definite favorite.
Also just ordered:

1) 'The Mind's Eye' by Cartier-Bresson - may twist my melon a bit but seems to be well appreciated everywhere
2) "Scrapbook" as mentioned above

Looking forward to receiving both!
Also just flicking back through an old favorite "Workers" by Salgado (forgot how much I liked it.)

eddie · « **Reply #45 on:** July 12, 2008, 04:53:25 PM »

Quote from: gothamtomato on July 10, 2008, 01:47:24 AM

Here are a few of my faves:

'On This Earth', by Nick Brandt

'Findings', by Hiroshi Watanabe

'The Architect's Brother', by Robert Parke Harrison

'Kenro Izu', by Kenro Izu

'Plant Kingdoms: The Photographs of Charles Jones', (Which is very interesting in that it is the work of an amateur photographer who was born in 1866, and whose work was published only because a bunch of it was discovered by chance, in 1981, by the author of this book, at the Bermondsey antique flea market in England (hundreds of them in a trunk, for sale).

Sean Sexton was the finder, a serious collector of photographs, there was a documentary on him about this find and his other collections. Showed him in the markets as areal wheeler dealer driving a hard bargain. He is Irish i believe and wrote The Irish: A Photohistory, 1840-1940 (Hardcover) which is full of wonderful photographs. I believe he sells the Jones images but on lets then trickle onto the market to protect the prices.

Author Topic: Your favourite photo books? (Read 15175 times)

Kelly

rore