Your favorite three books on photography, and why

<p>Easy one. Tell me you three favorite books on the subject of photography, and why they are at the top. Any sub genre is fine as well. Books on the masters, a single master, technique, gear, history of, etc...</p>

<p>If you only have one or two, thats fine as well. But lets limit it to three. Anyone posting more then three selections will be required to shoot only a homemade pinhole camera for the next year using Kodachrome that must be developed in Caffenol. (You know Kodachrome can still be developed in B&W right?)</p>

<p>Go.</p>

Just one, <a href= "http://www.amazon.com/Avedon-Work-American-Humanities-

Research/dp/0292701934/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1365140634&sr=8-

1&keywords=avedon+at+work"><i>Avedon at Work: In the American West</i></a>, by Laura Wilson. Wilson was one of Avedon's assistants, who also documented the project with her camera and notes on the side. Great photos and stories of Avedon engaging and making portraits of people encountered while traveling from town to town. I have loads of other photo books, but this is one that inspires the most being about the great American road trip.

<p>I'm still working my way through exactly three books about photography this year, but will mention only two of those:</p>

<ol>

<li><em>Paris by Night</em> by Brassaï. As a young fellow this collection inspired me more than any other body of work I'd seen before.</li>

<li><em>Photographs Not Taken - </em>edited by Will Steacy. A collection of anecdotes by a few dozen photographers about the photos they missed or chose not to take. I just received it this week and have read only a few stories so far but it's a delight. Notably, Roger Ballen's anecdote about a bizarre missed opportunity sounds exactly like something he actually <em>would</em> have photographed.</li>

<li><em>On Photography</em> by Susan Sontag. Far from a favorite but almost impossible to ignore. Overall the dour tone makes it a chore to read just to get to the one or two pithy and memorable sentences in each chapter. Started reading it in January and am still slogging through it, like Frodo through the Dead Marshes. Glad I didn't read this when I was younger. I'd have quit photography.</li>

</ol>

<p>1. Jeanloup Sieff - 40 Years of Photography.<br>

2. Philip Perkis: Teaching Photography - Notes Assembled<br>

3. Jimmy Forsyth; Scotswood Road.</p>

<p>I'm going to take a slightly different angle than the 2 responses above.... Two books that learnt me a lot and made me like photography a whole lot more:</p>

<ol>

<li><em>Understanding Expsore, Bryan Peterson</em> - no idea how often I've recommended this book in the Beginner's forum. Countless times. But it's a clear book, pretty well written and to the point without getting too much side-tracked. Writing style isn't totally my taste, but this book is just plain useful to keep a focus on one of the key technical aspects of photography. I reread it occassionally just for that.</li>

<li><em>The Photographer's Eye, Michael Freeman</em> - this book taught me a lot, not only when holding a camera, but also when looking at photos. It really helped me understanding how an image can be made more effective and visually compelling. Doesn't mean I'm a whole lot better since, but at least I understand a bit what I should focus on.</li>

</ol>

<p>When it comes to inspiring photos, Lex' number 1 works for me. Absolutely beautiful atmospheric photography.</p>

<p>I have only two, so I'm safe. "The Basic Darkroom Book" by Tom Grimm, and "Print Your Own Pictures" from the Kodak library of creative photography. Both quite old, but full of great info. They're important because they enabled me to make my photos. Looking at other people's work in a book has probably hurt me more than helped, as I always get caught up in the story line and quotes instead of just the images.</p>

Avedon's "Woman in the Mirror" is a

favorite. The Vanity Fair portrait book

made me re-think how I want my

portraits to look. Linda McCartney's

"The Sixties" makes me want to go live

there and then. Lex I also like the

Brassai book very much.

 

Rick H.

<p>Les Americains<br>

Mala Nouche<br>

Dorchester Days</p>

<p>...that sinking feeling.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>1. "Classic Essays on Photography" - edited by Alan Trachtenberg<br>

2. "The Americans" - Robert Frank<br>

3. "American Surfaces" - Stephen Shore<br>

The first is an intriguing philosophical overview of the art and science of photography since it's birth. The second two represent two photographers having the most impact on my own art. </p>

 

<p>Araki: Tokyo Lucky Hole<br>

Bravo: 100 Years, 100 Days<br>

Avedon: In the American West</p>

<p>Ansel Adams autobiography<br>

Galen Rowell, <em>The Inner Game Of Outdoor Photography</em><br>

H.P. Robinson, <em>Letters On Landscape Photography </em>(1888)</p>

<p>That's an easy one. Ansel Adams: "The Print", The Camera" and "The Negative". These three volumes equal everything one needs to master (film) photography. They are also insightful to the digital photographer, as many concepts apply between the two schools.</p>

<p>I am making the fairly obvious choice: Camera Lucida by the French writer and theorist Roland Barthes.<br /> I appreciate it for it's ability to on the one hand offer it's profound, beautifully written and very personal insights into photography, particularly from the point of view of the spectator rather than the photographer.<br /> At the same time it is a brilliant, intelligent, structuralist, essay which offers explanations of photography of great clarity. I like it for inventing the terms 'studium' and 'punctum'. It is an accessible, but nonetheless, hugely important book and one of the most influential on the subject in the 20th century.</p>

1. The one by Sammy Davis jr. Im terrible with titles.

2. Ansel Adams color photography

3. Hollywood Portraits

4. Karsh.. oops, where did that come from?

<p>The Creation: Ernst Haas<br /> Eternal America: Yoshikazu Shirikawa<br /> In the National Parks: Ansel Adams</p>

<p>Thank you to everyone who has responded so far. I have looked up some of the titles listed and I must say your taste in photo literature is diverse, delightful and fascinating. I personally dont have a selection of photography books and some of these you have listed just made it to the short list. My only title currently is The Joy of Photography put out by Eastman Kodak in April of 1981. I purchased it at a used book store for a buck with the intention of giving it to a co worker who was just getting into photography and struggling with some of the basics. He quit however before I was able to bring it to him so I kept it and spent some time reading through it. There is included a portfolio and written section by Gordon Parks. This was the first I had seen or heard of Parks and some of his photography struck a chord with me, especially Paris Rooftops from 64.</p>

<p>I hope many more pnet photographers contribute to this thread. It good to see what others have found moving and received inspiration from.</p>

<p> </p>

<blockquote>

<p> Gordon Parks. This was the first I had seen or heard of Parks</p>

</blockquote>

<p> <br>

Not sure where you are located, there is a terrific gallery show of Parks' work at the <a href="http://www.sfstation.com/jenkins-johnson-gallery-b604">Jenkins Johnson Gallery in San Francisco </a>right now. It's as well put together as anything you will see in a museum. It's up through most of April.</p>

Photographic theory, or clues on how to see:

 

"Why People Photograph" by Robert Adams

 

"Farewell To An Idea: Episodes From A History of Modernism" by T.J. Clarke

 

"The Nature of Photographs" by Stephen Shore

 

 

Photographic Technique:

 

"At Work" Annie Leibovitz

 

Tie: "Real World Sharpening in Photoshop and Lightroom" by Bruce Fraser and Jeff Shewe

 

"Matters of Light and Depth " by Ross Lowell

 

Monographs:

 

The Diane Arbus Monograph

 

"Deeds of War" James Nachtwey

 

"Mathematicians", Mariana Cook

 

 

Biographies /Autobiographies:

 

"Ansel Adams" by Mary Street Alinder

 

"Avedon An Autobiography"

 

"Jobs" by Walter Isaccson

<p>Generally I am too busy to actually take in the breadth of photography books. Most people seem vastly better than I. Three that I found of interest:</p>

<p>1. Ansel Adams in Color - An exploration beyond the well know B&W stuff he is known for.</p>

<p>2. The lost photograohs of Robert Scott - 100 years ago in Antarctica.</p>

<p>3. both Vivian Maier books - I consider them a single volume :-)</p>

<p>CHEERS</p>

<p>Workers by Sebastioa Salgado<br>

Requiem by the Photographers who died in Vietnam and Indochina<br>

Roy DeCarava: A Retrospective</p>

<p>http://www.amazon.com/Art-Fear-Observations-Rewards-Artmaking/dp/0961454733/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1365255594&sr=1-1&keywords=art+and+fear</p>

<p>I think of this one as "Chicken Soup for a Photographer's Soul". The first reading made me understand my photographic flu like symptoms, my frustrations, and my mental blocks, etc. I now know how to combat them.<br /><br />While not specifically written for photographers, one co-author happens to be an accomplished photographer.</p>

<p>http://www.photography.org/interviews/bayles.php</p>

<p>My favorite of the month covers a much debated topic in detail with delicious nuggets.</p>

<p>http://www.photo.net/casual-conversations-forum/00bU6C</p>

<blockquote>

<p>both Vivian Maier books</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Mine also. What a story! And the moving ending, OMG.</p>

<p>Another vote for Galen Rowell's <em>The Inner Art of Outdoor Photography</em>.</p>

<ul>

<li>Because he so often goes far beyond the technical and eloquently discusses what -- to me -- are the more interesting topics of the photographer's mind and relationship to his subject.</li>

</ul>

<p><em>Perception and Imaging: Photography - A Way of Seeing</em> (Richard Zakia) </p>

<ul>

<li>Again because it lifts the subject of photography above the technical and puts it in the context of fine art and psychology.</li>

</ul>

<p>And thanks for so many suggestions for future reading! I'll bookmark this discussion for future reference.</p>

<p>Perhaps my most favorite is<br>

Ansel Adams' 1983 <em>Examples: The Making of 40 Photographs</em>. Little, Brown and Co.</p>

<p>Otherwise, even in a digital age, I still find my 15- or 16- volume <em>Life Library of Photography </em>to be very useful. The first edition was printed in gravure and the quality of the photographic examples is stunning. These sell on Amazon and elsewhere for a few dollars a volume.<br>

(I've got the pinhole camera ready to assemble if that last one incurs the penalty).</p>

<p>Andrew Gardiner reminded me that I received a copy of <em>Camera Lucida</em> by Barthes as a gift a few months ago but haven't begun reading it yet. I'm looking forward to it as an antidote to Sontag's book.</p>