Read Any Good Photo Books Lately??

[mtbbrian]

So as part of my 2005 Photography Goals, I have been reading "photography books".
The first one I have read is "On Being A Photographer, A Practical Guide", by David Hurn In Conversation With Bill Jay.
It has been a great book, it has reinforced somethings I believed and gave me a few things to consider and reconsider for that matter.
My intent in reading "photograph books" is to gain an insight or something like that to where I fit in as a photographer and to improve my photographic vision.
I just ordered "Letting Go of the Camera" by Brooks Jensen which looks like a collection of essays on photography.

What "photography books" have you read lately? How has it changed or could change your photography?

Brian

[another view]

Brooks Jensen has an audio blog thru Lens Work's website that you can subscribe to. Some are more of a rant than others, but it's addicting.

Although not recently, Magnum Stories was probably one of the best. It's about the history of the Magnum Agency (Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Capa, etc). I saw a couple of good books about Robert Capa that I'll probably pick up. Couple of months ago I saw a great book about W. Eugene Smith but didn't buy it. That was a bad move - now I can't find that one. Talk about obsessed!

[jar_e]

Anything Amphoto I have found really helpful. I've only read two, "The Complete Guide to Digital Photography" and "Mastering Your Digital SLR" (I'm not sure those are the exact titles, but something to that effect). They've both taught me quite a bit, and also is nice as, atleast with those two books, they focus on the basics, such as composition, f-stops, aperature, shutter, how to use them effectively, etc.

Good books for sure,

Jared

[Chunk]

Do you draw or paint? I think art books in general rather than just photography books can do a lot to expand your vision. A few years back I used Betty Edward's "Drawing on the right side of the Brain" to finally learn to draw and that had a profound effect on the way I see things (although that was always a bit weird). Then a couple years ago I took up acrylic painting and messing with colors again changed my vision and how I think about composition and color.

Last week while buying a copy of "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" for my son, who asked that I send one to him in Iraq, I picked up Betty Edward's new "Drawing on the Artist Within" and am reading it now. Although she has some strange writing quirks and ideas, she does make you think about the bones of the creative process and the unspoken visual communication we all use. I'd recommend it for anyone interested in the creative process although having worked through her earlier book may help understand where she's coming from.

I get my photography infofixes from this site and others like The Luminous Landscape.

[mjs1973]

The Basic Book of Photography by Tom and Michele Grimm is the first book I read when I started getting more serious about photography. I found it to be full of great, usefull, info. It makes a very handy ref. book to keep around.

For my basic photo class I read Black and White Photography: A Basic Manual and Creative Camera Control I found both of them to be a good refresher of the basics of photography.

I also read The Bike Riders by Danny Lyon. A very interesting look into the Outlaw biker world of the 60's and 70's in the Chicago area.

That's about it for photo books for me. I would like to read more about Ansel Adams but there are so many books about and by him out there, that I don't know where to start... any suggestions?

[Chunk]

That's about it for photo books for me. I would like to read more about Ansel Adams but there are so many books about and by him out there, that I don't know where to start... any suggestions?

I'd suggest Adams' "The Camera" , "The Negative", and "The Print" for starters.

Then next week....

[Dzerzhinski46]

Aren't librarys great things? I have seen and flipped through two great photo books this year. One was photos by Jeff Bridges (the actor, you know from Seabiscuit). Excellent photos. And the other one I just saw recently, Avedon at Work:In the American West. Fantastic photos as well. Neither had any instruction in it, but just very excellent examples of fantastic photography. Avedon's work was especially good. All the photos of ordinary people of the West, oil workers, cowboys, drifters. Making the ugly beautiful, dignifying it.

Dzerhzinski

[katt]

I love to go to second hand book stores (there was a great one in So. Cal: The Book Baron)

I'll sit in the photography section for a long time just looking through photo books.
I love to just look at 'picture books'. get ideas, see what other, better photographers are doing out there.

[megan]

I've been on a magazine-buying frenzy.
I've bought B&W, Lens Work, Camera Work, Photographers Forum, even shelled out an arm and a leg for Aperture. My favorite so far is actually a magazine out of Canada whose name I've forgotten.

Megan

[mtbbrian]

My favorite so far is actually a magazine out of Canada whose name I've forgotten. Megan

I think you are talking about "PhotoLife"?
I know it is from Canada, eh?
Couldn't resist..
Brian