Your most important photography book

[ChrisN]

We all have books that are an important part of our hobby, to teach us and inspire us. But there's one book that every traditional photographer must have. For me it's The New History of Photography by Michel Frizot. It has lots of photos, and interesting text.

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=62860&d=1219670272


But the most important thing is that it is large, and heavy, and perfect for flattening negatives!


http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=62861&d=1219670282

So - what's your most important book? :D

[feenej]

I could not get my prints right until I read our own Mr. Hicks' book.

[gns]

Way too hard to select just one, but just to play the game, I will say that Winogrand's "The Animals" really opened my eyes to what (or what else) photography could be when I was just getting interested.

Cheers,
Gary

[Todd.Hanz]

Avedons "In the American West" (or whatever the title is) ;)

[petronius]

Ernst Haas: "The Creation"

[Avotius]

Easy one for me, Michael Yama****a's "Zheng He". He even wrote me a kind message in mine and signed it for me. Great book too, just right up my alley as its the type of photos I like to take.

[back alley]

edward weston's dayboks.

[endustry]

Leonard Freed's "World View"

[usagisakana]

So far mine have been (couldn't pick out of the two) Satellites by Jonas Bendiksen, and The Americans by Robert Frank. I keep going back to both of them time and time again.

[wintoid]

The Family Of Children

[pfoto]

Exiles. Josef Koudelka.

[Roger Hicks]

I could not get my prints right until I read our own Mr. Hicks' book.

You are very kind; thank you.

The book I've learned most from, and to which I turn most often, is probably the Focal Encyclopaedia, Fully Revised Edition, 1965 -- NOT the later or RIT version.

After all, the rest is just taking pictures, and practising. Understanding the theory and history behind it needs something like the Focal Encyclopaedia. Or Leclerc. Or Gladfkides. Or Haist.

My wife Frances, a far better printer than I, backs Tim Rudman, or William Mortensen.

Cheers,

R.

[cweg]

Andreas Feiniger "Die hohe Schule der Fotografie"

[le vrai rdu]

http://multimedia.fnac.com/multimedia/images_produits/ZoomPE/4/2/3/9782732427324.jpg


book about trawlers and fishermen :)

[Harry S.]

Enrique Metinides;
Daido Moriyama;
And I like the small paperback "photofile" books, my favourites being those of Sebastiao Salgado and Josef Koudelka. Small, Cheap and with no text, but they are perfect to flick though for inspiration.

I like the work by the greats (HCB, Winogrand, etc) but I am always underwhelmed by their books. :confused:

[MikeL]

If we could go plural, every so often I like to look through the Time-Life series from the 70s. I like the variety of images in them. Every time I go back through one I notice something different.

[cirque]

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3231/2758538333_09a9db0a45.jpg?v=0

[Andrew Sowerby]

So far mine have been (couldn't pick out of the two) Satellites by Jonas Bendiksen, and The Americans by Robert Frank. I keep going back to both of them time and time again.

Satellites is fantastic. Have you seen his new book The Places We Live? It's really good as well. The format is unusual, but I like it. I like that his books are small. Easier to look at while lying on the couch.

Most important? I'm not sure. My father introduced me to The Pentax Way when I was 15. It taught me the basics of photography, which is pretty important. As for stuff that inspires me, I return to Martin Parr and Stephen Shore a lot. They're very, very different, but both so interesting.

[rogue_designer]

Irving Penn's "Passage"

I find it perpetually inspiring.

(it also - is good for flattening negs :D )

[pesphoto]

SUDEK Poet of Prague
Andre Kertesz- His Life and His Work

[FallisPhoto]

Green Eggs and Ham, by Dr. Seuss.

[Trius]

I don't recall the title, but it was a book of (or contained) photos by Ralph Eugene Meatyard. After that, whatever book had photos of Minimata by Smith, after that, Minor White/Equivalents.

[wlewisiii]

"Slightly Out of Focus" Robert Capa

William

[pfoto]

SUDEK Poet of Prague
Andre Kertesz- His Life and His WorkGreat choices! More Sudek books are being reprinted later this year!! He was a major inspiration for Josef Koudelka.

[rolly]

At the moment I am rereading Philip Perkis' TEACHING PHOTOGRAPHY and I remember why I liked it so much when I read it several years ago-- here are some selections from Google that previews the first number of pages. It is set up episodically, in quasi-lessons, photo-zen-koans, rants, cheers, meditations....



http://books.google.com/books?id=oZbiivJayqsC&dq=teaching+photography+philip+perkis&pg=PP1&ots=R4rhAhx7VF&sig=zER1NR3gpZ_rRyKSXZQW8gyQfjg&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result#PPA13,M1

[35mmdelux]

Books by: Richard Avedon, Mary Ellen Mark, David Allen Harvey, Michael Kenna.

Magazines: Aperture, View camera, LensWork.

[madsolitaire]

Presently, it would have to be:

What Matters: The World's Preeminent Photojournalists and Thinkers Depict Essential Issues of Our Time by David Eliot Cohen.

There is also a website for the book: What Matters (http://whatmattersonline.com)

[pevelg]

"The Art of Outdoor Photography," by Boyd Norton. This book is what fully converted me to a rangefinder (yes, he uses SLR) and shooting film.

[gb hill]

One of the first photography books I bought around 30 years ago The Basic Darkroom Book by Tom Grimm. I also have a basic book of photography by Tom but I can't seem to locate it.

[JeffGreene]

Barry Thornton's 'Elements' and 'Edge of Darkness are two books I keep returning to.

[Chris101]

It changes regularly. Currently Mapplethorpe's Some Women.

Before that it was Sally Mann's Immediate Family.

But I keep coming back to Graham Clarke's The Photograph.

[Frank1969]

Workers by Sebastiao Salgado
Japan by Michael Kenna
Himalayan Odyssey bij David Samuel Robbins
But it changes from time to time.


Tibetan Portrait by Phil Borges has had an influence on my work ever since meeting him in a remote Himalayan valley.

[amateriat]

Forced to pick one title, it would have to be this one for me:

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=31338&d=1155612616
(That is, David Vestal's book, top. Bittman's is my top kitchen read)

Craft has been my main photo book since it came out, and it still serves as both decent reference and just plain interesting and inspiring reading. He covers only black-and-white here, but does so comprehensively: beginners can come to grips with the information here, while would-be old hands might pick up an extra pointer or two.

As far as books of photographs, there are too many "favorites" to mention, but one that I like leafing though from time to time is Sylvia Plachy's Unguided Tour. Beautifully quirky.


- Barrett

[Jacob]

Vännerna från Place Blanche (The friends from Place Blanche) by Christer Strömholm. Made me wan't to buy a Leica and move to Paris. I have fulfilled half of that dream.
Jacob

[Roger Hicks]

Then there's 'book of the week'. A few days ago I got Magdi Senadji's Facile; read it last night; and today discovered www.magdisenadji.com. She would be my age, if she had lived; she died in 2003.

Cheers,

Roger

[reuno]

Errance by Raymond Depardon is probably the most important book in my collection. Depardon's talking about life, doubts, travelling and photography. It's a must if you can understand french. This guy talks a lot in his books, and that's why he is my favourite photog... always nice to hear photographers talking about the way they feel.

[Spider67]

I started reradinge the Time Life books - "Light and Film" I read for years.
Then after some years without photography "Andreas Feiningers books
And (sorry just the German Title) "Hollywoods Ruhm und Schönheit-The Kobal Collection"
and "LIFE at War"

[ooze]

Atget (with text by Szarkowski)

[morgan]

The book that really pushed me into photography as an adult is "Shanghainese 1990-2000" by Lu Yuanmin. It's a very obscure book that I've seen once (the time I bought it, in Chinatown, Philadelphia). It moved me so much that the next day I was looking for cameras.

The book doesn't seem to be on amazon but I found this blogpost (in chinese) showing some pictures: http://blog.westca.com/blog_ShanghaiABC/p/55949.html

[MaxElmar]

Right now:

Steichen: A Life in Photography

Always:

Graphic Graflex Photography: A Manual for the Larger Camera

(My copy is held together with packing tape and smells like Dektol.)

As a child:

The Amateur Photographer's Handbook by Sussman

(Started with it when I was 10 yrs. old.)

Chris L.

[arturo]

My favourites:

The 'best' one: Cartier-Bresson's Scrapbook
The most inspiring: Koudelka's Chaos
The best 'object book': Michael Kenna's Hokkaido

Arturo

[agricola]

this is mine

[MRohlfing]

Ansel Adams: The Negative

[shiro_kuro]

Ilford Multigrade Papers
A Manual For The Darkroom ....... $2.00


This book I am reading at the moment is also very good ...

The Education of a Photographer

[victoriapio]

Gary Winogrand: The Animals

[djon]

Edward Weston's "Daybook II" (California)

Richard Avedon & James Baldwin's "Nothing Personal"

I just discovered a 1977 copy of "Edward Weston Nudes" ...I hadn't realized this was so beautifully printed in the hardbound version (like the Daybooks)...my copy was a big bargain because it was unusually bookstore-musty: a few hours with pages opened in bright sun made that vanish.

I wait to find "good" used hardbound books rather than buying new paperbacks because I favor used bookstores and fine books rather than cheaper versions.

[pesphoto]

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/416KTPP7F4L._SL500_AA240_.jpg

[palec]

Gary Winogrand: The Animals

I agree, excellent one!

At the same time I have to say that I don't have only one most important book. You can't tell everything in one book, except if it's blank.

[amateriat]

Right now:

Steichen: A Life in Photography

There you go...that one comes off my shelf once in a while as well. Was a gift from a good friend about 20 years ago.

Like I said, as far as books of photography go, there are way too many "favorites"...quite a few of which I don't own yet, only borrowed.

And I forgot another book about a photographer: David Hume Kennerly's Shooter. Other than his habit of puffing himself up a bit much at times, it's an interesting read.


- Barrett

[Nebulon]

I too find it difficult to choose a single most important book. Having enjoyed and practiced photography for many years, I feel that my technique is mature and satisfactory. And I do have many books to thank for their guidance and knowlege over the years. Today, my library is more for inspiration and motivation than for finding a personal style. And to list a couple of favorites would be to omit other equally worthy volumes. (Ask me again next week, any I'll supply a different list.) Anyway, here are some recently acquired Hypno-Tomes:
1. Adam Bartos: Kosmos, A Portrait of the Russian Space Age
2. Ben Maddow: Faces
3. Das Atelier des Photographen, 1912

[shadowfox]

One of my favorites is George E. Todd's "From Seeing to Showing" a.k.a "Elements of Black & white Photography". I like how he shares his thought process for each photos featured in the book. And he doesn't cram his ideals/philosophy down the reader's throat. :)