What to read?

an interesting and ironic fact about Sontag is that she was Annie Leibovitz's lover and eventually withdrew a lot of her beliefs around photographs "taking something from someone" and saw Annie's side of things in the realm of photography.

Onto the topics "Crisis of the Real" is a photography book I read frequently and it really grounds me photographically and brings me back to the reason why I shoot. It's all essays, so it's not exhausting and you can pick it up and put it down without missing a beat.
 
jordanstarr said:
an interesting and ironic fact about Sontag is that she was Annie Leibovitz's lover and eventually withdrew a lot of her beliefs around photographs "taking something from someone" and saw Annie's side of things in the realm of photography.

Onto the topics "Crisis of the Real" is a photography book I read frequently and it really grounds me photographically and brings me back to the reason why I shoot. It's all essays, so it's not exhausting and you can pick it up and put it down without missing a beat.
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I haven't read it. I'll have to pick it up. Thanks for the recommendation.
 
I really appreciate these recommendations, but it would be nice to know why these books are good, and maybe in short what they are all about. If I need to google every title, then I might as well just google "inspring photobooks" to start with. I do appreciate the comments which say, if you like this then you will like this, because they hint at what to read NEXT.

I will add Barthes' "Camera Lucida", not always easy to digest (at least in English), but some of his points touch the essence of what photographs provoke in us, and which elements of photographs touch us I found interesting. It is very un-technical and more about (his personal) feelings when seeing photographs. He takes his (late) mother as a main example, and describes why photographs of her provoke such strong feelings in him. I just touched on this book in another thread, where I also noted how the book describes that photographs are about death or something that once was but no more. It made me understand better what photographs differentiate form other arts like painting.
 
There's been a lot of "worthy" books mentioned here :)D).

I'll mention a book that I doubt would ever be present on such a list but which I return to time after time: Kevin MacDonnell's "Freelance Photographers' Britain". (ISBN 0-907297-11-0)

MacDonnell was a working photographer and writer who's career spanned the 'thirties to the 'eighties. He only published half a dozen books or so and this is by far the one I like best.

Despite the title, I think this little gem tells more about the how and why of taking pictures than any three of the rest.

Oh yes, and anything by our own Roger Hicks. ;)
 
mfogiel said:
... But the most important thing to read, is this little essay by Bill Jay on pages 31-39 of this issue of Lenswork:
http://www.lenswork.com/lw31e.pdf as kindly suggested by johnwolf on this forum.
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How nice to see you mention this reference. I agree it's among the most important reads for any photographer. I'd suggest getting Jay's entire book, Negative/Positive: A Philosophy of Photography. It will likely deepen your work and your life.

John
 
johnwolf said:
How nice to see you mention this reference. I agree it's among the most important reads for any photographer. I'd suggest getting Jay's entire book, Negative/Positive: A Philosophy of Photography. It will likely deepen your work and your life.

John
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Thanks for that and I particularly like the final sentence

"In my opinion, no work of art can or should be separated from the personality of the artist and his life- attitude." Bill Jay
 
One more suggestion, especially if you're into street photography and the street tradition: Tod Papageorge's Core Curriculum.

It's a collection of essays and speeches on Winogrand, Frank, Evans, HCB, and other major figures in this genre. Very rewarding.

John
 
johnwolf said:
One more suggestion, especially if you're into street photography and the street tradition: Tod Papageorge's Core Curriculum.

It's a collection of essays and speeches on Winogrand, Frank, Evans, HCB, and other major figures in this genre. Very rewarding.

John
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John yes thanks I am aware of Tods book. Great stuff.
 
If you want some short books on how to be a better photographer and how to be creative, David duChemin has formed a publishing company that primarily published ebooks on the subject. I have about 20 of them (they are generally short; about 40 pages+/-) and find them to be very helpful. As a bonus, they are very inexpensive.
http://craftandvision.com/

Hope you find this helpful.
 
Orbiter said:
Interesting suggestions.

Love the "Tao of Photography." If you like that, you might also like "The practice of contemplative photography: seeing the world with fresh eyes" by Karr and Wood. It's a book I go back to again and again, and learn something new from it each time.
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Just finished reading this book, I highly recommend it for a fresh approach to taking photos.

There is very little of technical stuff and plenty of teaching you how to "see".
 
mfogiel said:
But the most important thing to read, is this little essay by Bill Jay on pages 31-39 of this issue of Lenswork:
http://www.lenswork.com/lw31e.pdf as kindly suggested by johnwolf on this forum.
Click to expand...

Thanks for this thought-provoking read. I'm a musician and could easily substitute the word music for photography in this essay and be challenged, as well as in my photography.
 
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