Author Topic: What photo books are inspiring you? (Read 11685 times)

Susan B. · « **on:** February 28, 2006, 05:29:27 PM »

Zoe just posted a compelling book that's inspiring her at the moment in another thread:
The Mercury Visions of Louis Daguerre by Dominic Smith.

Made me think of the pile of books I leave on my nightstand I try to get 15 minutes to savor prior to bed time.

A few I'm soaking up at the moment: Shooting Blind (amazing--one of the most compelling photo books I've seen and read in a long time), Alexy Titarenko City of Shadows, Mary Virgina' Swanson's latest, Dousneau Paris, this months Black and White Photography which I always savor...and the standards that are always there--Rocky Schenck and usually a Keith Carter compilation.

Wondering what folks are reading that's inspiring them now?

CarlRadford · « **Reply #1 on:** February 28, 2006, 05:40:42 PM »

Camera Obscura by Abelardo Morell - stunning images. Home Photography - Andrew Sanderson - no one man should be so creative

and Inscape by John Blakemore as soon as I can find a copy

beck · « **Reply #2 on:** February 28, 2006, 05:47:46 PM »

Great topic. Since I've had my first try at Polaroid hand manipulations, I'm hooked and I've eyeballed Kathleen Thormod Carr's book, Polaroid Manipulations. I can't get enough of that now...fun stuff. And since I've been heavily into traumatizing my negatives, I'd like to pick up, Christina Anderson's, Experimental Photography Workbook. I'd still like to get my hands on a really fantastic Mortuary portrait book, but I haven't really looked all that well.

tread · « **Reply #3 on:** February 28, 2006, 07:23:26 PM »

Araki--oh man, http://www.phaidon.com/collectorseditions/view_ed_araki_1.html
Larry Fink--pure inspiration for a country boy. https://www.phaidon.com/phaidon/displayproduct.asp?id=2275

i can't get my eyes off these two currently...great works...

Skorj · « **Reply #4 on:** March 01, 2006, 12:21:20 AM »

Quote from: tread on February 28, 2006, 07:23:26 PM

Araki--oh man,

Araki of course for me too; though I prefer his earlier work (I like to shoot the same Shinjuku streets for example), than his later (though we've supposedly shared a model). Of a similar school, and to me a little more significant (though less pop) is Daido Moriyama.

'Memories of a Dog' is a good start, so of course is the Phaidon book. It kinda helps when Place M is in my area too...

sparx · « **Reply #5 on:** March 01, 2006, 09:39:07 AM »

'Among Trees' by Sean Kernan http://www.amongtrees.com/ is a particular favourite of mine and has definitely inspired more than a few visits to my local woodlands.
I also keep gettings Andrew Sandersons 'Night Photography' http://www.apogeephoto.com/jan2003/pfaust12003.shtml out from the library but have so far utterly failed to go out after dark and try and emulate him.
Honourable mention must of course go to 'Toy Camera', a wonderful book with pictures taken by some fantastically talented photographers

. You may have heard of it.

david b · « **Reply #6 on:** March 01, 2006, 10:10:13 AM »

I have a bit of an addiction to photo books (healthier but scarcely cheaper than a range of controlled substances...), but some that I come back to a lot are: 'Exiles' and 'Chaos' by Josef Koudelka, the big Phaidon collection of Mario Giacomelli's work, Larry Towell's books - particularly the recent 'No Man's Land', Graciela Iturbide's 'Images of the Spirit', the Aperture Miguel Rio Branco monograph...

Janet_P · « **Reply #7 on:** March 01, 2006, 10:46:04 AM »

There's some great suggestions here and I'm going to be following them up. I too have a photobook addiction.
I'm currently reading 'Margrethe Mather and Edward Weston: A Passionate Collaboration' mostly because I'm interested in Mather's work and there doesn't seem to be anything else out there about her. I saw one image by her in my other favourite book - The Photo Book (Phaidon) and was intrigued.
The repros in here are stunning and Mather's life and later dip into obscurity make fascinating reading.

Janet

ps. it's great to be posting here

lala · « **Reply #8 on:** March 01, 2006, 04:21:08 PM »

Loretta Lux's book - I have it next to my bed for when I can't sleep.

HolgaJen · « **Reply #9 on:** March 01, 2006, 06:06:10 PM »

This is great~ I am fairly new to everything, and have been wanting to check out some books but didn't know where to start. I'm going to look into some of these!

LT · « **Reply #10 on:** March 02, 2006, 08:11:24 AM »

Werner Bischof - Photo Poche. A french collection of Bischof's amazing stuff - I cant read the intro though, my french is pretty poor.

Elliot Erwitt's Dogs always gets me thinking. the whole catching the moment thing is so alien to my way of shooting that I marvel at it al the time.

Of course, John Blakemore's darkroom book always gets me going.

And If I'm ever feeling a bit lost, I look at my Phaidon The Photo Book - it's the big one full of an a-z af photogrpahers work, very inspiring to see it all together like that.

Ailsa · « **Reply #11 on:** March 02, 2006, 09:42:31 AM »

I've just been lucky enough to receive a gorgeous little cloth-bound book called Andre Kertesz: The early years. It's breathtaking. It's a series of virtually unknown photographs taken between 1912 and 1925, and one of the best things about it is that they are reproduced at actual size - around 6x4cm - so it really makes you study each picture. Normally we try to be very democratic in the office, and draw names from a hat to allocate books to people, but I've selfishly squirrelled this one away so nobody but me is going to own it!

sparx · « **Reply #12 on:** March 02, 2006, 09:53:27 AM »

Quote from: Ailsa on March 02, 2006, 09:42:31 AM

Normally we try to be very democratic in the office, and draw names from a hat to allocate books to people, but I've selfishly squirrelled this one away so nobody but me is going to own it!

Oh the priviledges of rank heh? Are you maybe thinking of doing an article on this little gem at any point soon, at actual size?

Ailsa · « **Reply #13 on:** March 02, 2006, 10:04:27 AM »

Quote

Oh the priviledges of rank heh? Are you maybe thinking of doing an article on this little gem at any point soon, at actual size?

Quote

Well, Liz (deputy ed) did help herself to the Henri Cartier-Bresson portraits book, so I feel all's fair in love and photo books!

No plans as yet to do a feature, but thanks for the idea - I may try to squeeze something into a future issue.

Janet_P · « **Reply #14 on:** March 02, 2006, 04:01:44 PM »

Andre Kertesz has been a real inspiration to me of late so it looks like I'm going to have to look around for that one.
I've tried to set my limit of photobooks to one a month but this thread is seriously testing my resolve (and it's only the 2nd March

).

Janet

Susan B. · « **Reply #15 on:** March 02, 2006, 05:10:34 PM »

Quote from: Ailsa on March 02, 2006, 09:42:31 AM

I've just been lucky enough to receive a gorgeous little cloth-bound book called Andre Kertesz: The early years. It's breathtaking. It's a series of virtually unknown photographs taken between 1912 and 1925

Excellent tip. Thanks Ailsa. I'll have to grab one of those up.

Loving all these fav suggestions from all. Thanks guys. Eager to hear more.

Tammy · « **Reply #16 on:** March 02, 2006, 06:14:18 PM »

Quote from: tread on February 28, 2006, 07:23:26 PM

Araki--oh man, http://www.phaidon.com/collectorseditions/view_ed_araki_1.html

It's really funny you mentioned this, because I ran into this book on the book store shelf just last night, and since I had an hour to spare, pulled up a chair to browse. Intense, and brought me into the work of this one man.

I also found a book, "Women in the Mirror" (I think that's what it was). Portraits of women, done in 4x5 format. I love those sorts of portraits, although I'm more a snapper in life.

Having a thread like this is interesting to me. The library closest to me is completely void of photography, and the local bookstores are not much better. But, with a list of things, I would go to the city library or request an interlibrary loan.

Thanks

JOhn Reeves · « **Reply #17 on:** March 03, 2006, 04:45:13 AM »

That Larry Fink book looks pretty dern sweet.
I've decided that I do like the Lulu book I made (after hating it , then liking it and then hating it again). It's nice to see so much personal work collected in one place. Make your own book. http://www.lulu.com/content/143159
Ed Ruscha and Photography http://www.photoeye.com/templates/mShowDetailsbycat.cfm?Catalog=DP014
The Ongoing Moment http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0375422153/sr=8-1/qid=1141360727/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-4661431-4872810?%5Fencoding=UTF8
Occam's Razor by Bill Jay http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/3923922132/ref=wl_it_dp/002-4661431-4872810?%5Fencoding=UTF8&colid=2OHZ4JWWYKXLS&coliid=I29PGL7RGU7WAT&v=glance&n=283155
Everything that Rises http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/193241634X/sr=8-1/qid=1141360979/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-4661431-4872810?%5Fencoding=UTF8

They're not all photo, but relevant.

artpunk · « **Reply #18 on:** March 06, 2006, 07:26:49 PM »

I've been inspired by the Henri Cartier-Bresson ~ the man, the image and the world book in the last month or so. I've also been very inspired (need I say it) by the recently published (Taschen) Polaroid book. Strangely enough however, the latest book I got inspiration from was not a photographer/photographers book at all, but a book on Rene Magritte, the Belgian painter/surrealist.

Hommage to Magritte (after on his painting "The Listening Room")

Ed Sukach · « **Reply #19 on:** March 07, 2006, 01:20:55 PM »

Two, in particular, among many:

Alfred Stieglitz - A Biography, by Richard Whelan

Edward Weston : Forms of Passion, edited by Gilles Mora

Oh .. OK - Three - Worlds in a Small Room - Irving Penn

JOhn Reeves · « **Reply #20 on:** April 12, 2006, 12:44:33 AM »

I just picked up Ed Ruscha Photographer becuase I'm a total dud just like his photos.

This is a good one: Some Twenty Odd Visions. It's available used right now via www.abebooks.com
SOME TWENTY ODD VISIONS: A BOOK OF TWENTY-FOUR UNIQUE WAYS OF SEEING THE WORLD, ASSEMBLED AND EDITED BY BLUE SKY GALLERY.
Bookseller: Shipley Specialist Art Booksellers
(70 Charing Cross Road, , United Kingdom)    Price: US$ 10.77
[Convert Currency]    Shipping within United Kingdom:
US$ 6.10
[Rates & Speeds]    Add Book to Shopping Basket

Book Description: Exhibition catalogue: Oregon Center for the Photographic Arts, Portland (1978). 95 pages, 95 b&w illustrations. Paper.Photographers; Michael Becotte, Harry Bowers, Curtis Bunyan, Mark Cohen, Steve Collins, Robert Di Franco, Jim Dobbins, Ingeborg Gerdes, Ford Gilbreath, Craig Hickman, Richard Hobbs, Bob Iyall, John Levins, Richard Margolis, Julie Mihaly, David Pearson, Abigail Perlmutter, Donna-Lee Phillips, Christopher Rauschenberg, Nancy Rexroth, Kirk Thompson, Stewart Tilger, Terry Toedtemeier, Ken White. Bookseller Inventory # 051845

beck · « **Reply #21 on:** April 12, 2006, 05:05:12 AM »

Wow, Cameron, I was going to ask what you did with your photograph, but I'm just going to sit and admire from a far. I think it's pretty fantastic. Do more...

artpunk · « **Reply #22 on:** April 13, 2006, 01:39:09 AM »

Thanks Beck, with the example above I simply built a little "dolls-house" type-room out of cardboard to pop the apple in and used side lighting through the window in the room and shot with the SX-70's innate ability to get fairly close to the subject (My wife of course thinks I'm a bit nuts) I can't remember if I had the close-up adapter on the camera or not for this shot...probably did.
Cheers!
Cameron

russmorris · « **Reply #23 on:** April 16, 2006, 09:14:24 PM »

The Polaroid Book is, indeed, inspirational. I also like to look through Graham Nash's eye to eye. The Photo Annuals from Communication Arts, while not books, contain inspiring contemporary work. I also find that anything by David Carson adds a twist to the way I look at the world.

Author Topic: What photo books are inspiring you? (Read 11685 times)

sparx

lala

sparx

Ed Sukach

russmorris