Recommend a good photo/art book for me!

hipsterdufus

hipsterdufus

Photographer?
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Alright, so I'm fairly comfortable with most technical aspects of photography, so a book on that subject won't be of a ton of use to me.

What I'm looking for is a book that helps me "see" photos better and look for better photo opportunities. I feel like my vision has gotten a little bit stale over the last couple of months.

I don't consider myself a "street" or landscape photographer, so books that specialize in those things are going to be lower on my list. I do a lot of portraits and also some photo walkabouts that can involve shooting just about anything. A book that fits into that style of photography is even better.

I just want something that will freshen my photographic perspective. Photographers/authors talking about strange, surreal, or alternative photography would be great, as this lines up with my interests.

Current photographers I really like: André Kertész, Man Ray, Alfred Stieglitz, Josef Sudek, and Diane Arbus. Thanks for any suggestions!
 
Maybe look at some non-photography art and try to apply it to your work. Some guys I find interesting: Mark Ryden, Kuniyoshi, Yo****oshi (the last two are Ukiyo-e) somewhat surreal. I really think you can see Yo****oshi in Nobuyoshi Araki's work.

(Yoshi Toshi)
 
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hipsterdufus said:
What I'm looking for is a book that helps me "see" photos better and look for better photo opportunities. I feel like my vision has gotten a little bit stale over the last couple of months.
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The Photographer's Eye or Looking at Photographs: 100 Pictures from the Collection of The Museum of Modern Art both by John Szarkowski ...
 
How about "Stephen Shore: Uncommon Places" and "Joel Sternfeld: American Prospects". Classics in my book and the color LF work might inspire you and get you out of your rut. Of course chances are it'll make you want to go out buy an 8x10 camera ;)
 
I second, Looking at Photographs.
It is 100 photos, each by a different photographer, and each with a short essay by Szarkowski. Everyone should have this.

Cheers,
Gary
 
Library books

Library books

Try your local library's art (painting) section. I look for the more tutorial books with lots of commentary on the pictures (and not so much the life of the artist). Great education on how various people see things (the paintings), and how artists interpret what they see into paintings.

I personally got a lot from "studying" the Impressionists of the 19th century, but your mileage may vary.
 
Thanks for all of the suggestions, everyone. Right now, my amazon.com shopping cart contains:

Mark Ryden: The Tree Show
Looking at Photographs

The suggestions of Mark Ryden is great. I had never heard of him before, but his work is awesome! Keep 'em coming; I haven't checked out yet!
 
Kandinsky is one of my favs. You can also pick up excellent books with works from many photographers for very cheap used. Some books are compilations of magnum, etc.
 
Hey I know you said that landscape stuff was low on your list, but Kenro Izu's Lights over Ancient Angkor blows me away every single time.

I love Araki too. IMO he takes the best portraits, but maybe that's not your thing.

I like surrealist and expressionist art the best, personally. the surrealists really liked photography I think, something about it capturing more of reality than we see of the moment when we photograph it. hidden truth, buried motive, the dream like quality of images (it's why portra NC on an overcast day is my baby). as for who to go to for that sort of thing, how about Misha Gordin? Fantastic photographer IMO.

There was a big thread about Ralph Gibson in the film development section, he's great too. Ive been very impressed with what Ive seen.
 
the books that stay with me most are biographies...jim hughs on gene smith was a long read but worth it...weston's daybooks were facinating.

books on lighting can be interesting.
 
redisburning said:
...

There was a big thread about Ralph Gibson in the film development section, he's great too. Ive been very impressed with what Ive seen.
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Gibson's great, if a bit old school. His book Refractions is all about seeing differently.

If you like Ryden, check out Juxtapoz and High Fructose magazines. Then take a look at the work of Robert Heinecken.
 
The Story of Art, by Gombrich (a classic); The Nature of Photographs, by Stephen Shore; The Life of a Photograph, by Sam Abell; The Edge of Vision - The Rise of Abstraction in Photography, by Lyle Rexer.
 
My new most favorite photo book; "The Golden Age of Formula 1" by Rainer W. Schlegelmilch (isdn 978-3-8327-9436-1 ).

Extremely fantastic images both the machines and personalities of motor racing. I lack the words to express the greatness of these photographs from the 1960's. Skip a few meals and buy this book, I did.
 
lynnb said:
The Story of Art, by Gombrich (a classic);
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I second this. This book has only a couple of pages about photography. But that is not the point. What you should take from it is how art is used to depict culture and also see how the masters use composition. It's full of iconographic symbols which seem to escape photographers. Its an easy read and not some elitist twaddle. Roughly speaking it's aimed as a primer for history of art BA students.
 
The "Contacts" series of DVDs, especially 2 and 3 which feature "art" photographers.

2: Sophie Calle, Nan Goldin, Duane Michals, Sarah Moon, Nobuyoshi Araki, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Andreas Gursky, Thomas Ruff, Jeff Wall, Lewis Baltz, Jean-Marc Bustamante.

3: John Baldessari, Bernd & Hilla Becher, Christian Boltanski, Alain Fleischer, John Hilliard, Roni Horn, Martin Parr, Georges Rousse, Thomas Struth, Wolfgang Tillmans.

http://www.amazon.com/Contacts-Vol-Renewal-Contemporary-Photography/dp/B000AYEL8I
http://www.amazon.com/Contacts-Vol-3-Conceptual-Photography/dp/B000AYEL92

Don't know if they can be found for a reasonable price though.
 
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