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Putting together a shopping list.

Out of these books choose 10.

My wife said that this year I have to tell her exactly what I want

for my birthday and Xmas.

 

Thanks

 

Robert VanLane

 

 

Leica M Photography by Brian Bower

Leica M6-Ttl by Richard Hunecke

Leica M6 to M1: Rangefinder Practice by Andrew Matheson, Dennis Laney

Leica Camera Repair Handbook: Repairing & Restoring Collectible Leica

Cameras, Lenses & Accessories by Thomas Tomosy

The Leica Manual by Willard Detering Morgan

Leica M6 Ttl Handbook by Jonathan Eastland

The Leica Rangefinder Way by Andrew Matheson

Leica m the Advanced School of Photography by Gunter Osterloh,

Ghunter Osterloh

Leica M6-M1 - Rangefinder by Andrew Matheson

Non-Leitz Leica Thread-mount Lenses by Marc James Small

Leica Copies by HPR

Leica Manual 15ED by Douglas O Morgan

Leica - an Illustrated History: Cameras by Jim Lager

Leica Illustrated Guide by James L. Lager

Leica Illustrated Guide II: Lenses, Accessories and Special Models by

James L. Lager

Leica Illustrated Guide III: M and Leicaflex Lenses, Special Models

and Accessories by James L. Lager

Leica Lens Practice: Choosing and Using Leica Lenses by Dennis Laney

The Leica: A History Illustrating Every Model and Accessory by Paul-

Henry Van Hasbroeck

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Wouldn't you rather get Elliot Erwitt's Snapshots? Winogrand's 1964? Koudelka's Chaos? Davidson's East 100th Street? Evans Unclassified? Welty's Photographs? Frank's Hold Still, Keep Going? Eggleston's Guide? Sudek's Monograph? Smith's Dream Street?

 

Oh wait, that's my list.

 

The Lager books are good "camera porn" as my wife likes to say.

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I hate to admit it, but I own most of these books (if not all). But out of them, I'd

recommend:

 

Leica M Photography by Bower

 

The Osterloh book (difficult to find, & the pages are almost always falling out)

 

The Van Hasbroeck coffee table special.

 

These are the ones I keep coming back to. The Lager books are fine if you're a

collector, & then an invaluable reference. Otherwise...

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Leica M Photography by Brian Bower, The Leica Lens Book by Brian Bower, Lens, Light & Landscape by Brian Bower and The Creation by Ernst Haas. Brian Bower's books have excellent photos and a good deal of technical information while The Creation is a visual treat.

 

You must realize that you have asked a very subjective question. Happy Birthday and Merry Christmas.

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I would get more photo books, less gear books. Start with any of Jorns above, and maybe add, Westons Last years in point lobos, Ansel Adams Yosemite and the Range of light, Elliot Erwitts to the beach, The red couch, by william moon, Eugene Smith Pittsburg project, Edward Westons Daybooks, Sebastaio Salgado Migrations or Workers, Paul Caponigro: Masterworks from Forty Years. Granted this is the leica forum but hey, you started this.....:) mike
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A few from my collection:<p>

 

Danny Lyon - Pictures from the New World<br>

Garry Winogrand - Figments from the Real World / 1964<br>

Henri Cartier-Bresson - Photographer<br>

Eugene Richards - Dorchester Days / Below the Line / Americans We<br>

Robert Franks - The Americans<br>

Elliot Erwitt - Personal Exposures / Snaps<br>

Sylvia Plachy's Unguided Tour<br>

Gilles Peress - Telex Iran / Farewell to Bosnia<br>

Josef Koudelka - Exiles / Gypsies<br>

Alex Webb - Hot Light Half made Worlds / Under a Grudging Sun<br>

Larry Clark - Tulsa / Teenage Lust<br>

Marc Riboud - Photographs at Home and Abroad<br>

Sebastio Salgoado - Workers / An Uncertain Grave / Other Americas<br>

William Albert Allard - The Photographic Essay<br>

Sam Abell - Stay This Moment<br>

In our time: The world as seen by Magnum photographers<br>

 

Bystander: A history of street photography<P>

 

This list is pretty heavy with Leica users.

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Yeah, I agree with less on the camera equipment and more on the photos.

 

Does anyone besides me remember when Modern Photography and Popular Photography and all the other photo magazines used to print photography annuals each year? They were filled with portfolios and interviews with and articles about the photographers and their photographs. Now everything is gear-related, just like the monthly magazines.

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I have recently received Sebastiao Salgado's "Migration", recommended in this

forum about 2 weeks ago (regret to say that I forgot who recommended it!). It's truely

amazing. This really is an example of someone who devotes his life, if not to

photography, then to tell the stories of those he photographed.

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I have a soft spot for any of the old Morgan and Lester / Morgan and Morgan Leica Manuals; but they are only of use if you have suitably antiquated equipment. If you want priceless Leicamania, look for '50's translations from German Leica books, am I thinking Kisselbach? maybe not. Who did the one about the little 'negro' child in Harlem recognising a Leica and saying, with admiration, 'Leica' to the author??
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Leica M Photography by Brian Bower

 

Leica M6-Ttl by Richard Hunecke

 

The Leica Manual by Morgan

 

The Leica Rangefinder Way by Andrew Matheson

 

Leica m the Advanced School of Photography by Gunter Osterloh,

 

I know you said 10 but that last one costs as much as six...or more if you count the cost of having it re-bound. The pages fall out.

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In addition to some excellent suggestions made above, I'll add Frank's <U>Black, White, and Things</U> (if you can find it); Gueorgui Pinkhassov's <U>Sightwalk</U>; <U>Magnum Degrees</U>; and <U>Deus Ex Machina</U>, by Ralph Gibson. And the new Cartier-Bresson tome is fabulous - makes his work look fresh again. But maybe it's presumptuous to be making these sorts of suggestions as you may already know them, and you did after all ask about Leica books specifically.<P>

 

I'm familiar with only some of the Leica books you list. But I've seen enough of them to know that their caliber is all over the scale. I've really enjoyed and get a great deal from the Bower books, as well as the book by Osterloh.

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Lee Shively: "Does anyone besides me remember when Modern Photography and Popular Photography and all the other photo magazines used to print photography annuals each year? They were filled with portfolios and interviews with and articles about the photographers and their photographs. Now everything is gear-related, just like the monthly magazines."

 

I know what you mean. I have a couple of those annuals, one late '50s, one mid '60s. One has a big section on Gene Smith's Pittsburgh essay. I found these at op-shops, Salvation Army stores and what not. I wish I could find more of them.

 

I guess people love showing off their equipment - it's easier than having to make good pictures.

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  • 4 years later...

I just found this thread while looking up a particular photographer's work. You know, I had to

go look, but after some 33 years making images, I find I don't own a single gear related

book.

 

So here it is nearly 5 years since the OP made this thread and the world is even more digital,

far more faked out in photoshop and even more gear related. Fortunately there are still great

photographers around.

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