Book Recommendation?

[morgan]

I was reading this post on the NYT lens blog written by a photojournalist about to go off to Afghanistan. I really enjoyed it (http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/07/eyes-open-back-into-the-afghan-crucible/?hp.

Can anybody recommend an autobiography by a photojournalist? I've read Capa's Slightly Out of Focus and enjoyed it.

 

[Out to Lunch]

I think you'll enjoy 'Magnum: fifty years at the frontline of history - the story of the legendary photo agency' by Russell Miller

 

[Bob Michaels]

Can anybody recommend an autobiography by a photojournalist? I've read Capa's Slightly Out of Focus and enjoyed it.

Not an autobiography and not a book, but the movie "War Photographer" by Christian Frei is about James Nachtwey. It was nominated for an Oscar and an Emmy. It won a Peabody award. Nachtwey has won the Capa gold medal five times amongst other awards. I simply believe everyone should watch this movie.

 

[andersju]

I enjoyed Get the Picture: A Personal History of Photojournalism by John G. Morris'. Lots of pictures and tons of stories. It feels like he worked with every big name in photojournalism at some point.

"Now living in France, Morris, 93, has been called "the world's most influential photography editor." While working for Life magazine in the early 1940s he was Robert Capa's picture editor on D-Day in World War II, and his friends Henri Cartier-Bresson, George Rodger, and David "Chim" Seymour picked him to be Magnum Photos' executive editor."

I also second the "War Photographer" recommendation.

Edit: Another recommendation is Ben Maddow's Let Truth Be the Prejudice: W. Eugene Smith, His Life and Photographs. Beautifully reproduced photographs and quite a bit about his (often tragic) personal life, for better or worse. I got it very cheap through AbeBooks, which basically acts as a middle man between you and 10k+ used book stores. It's a gold mine for photo books - and all other kinds of books, for that matter.

Edit 2: Oh, I missed the autobiography part! OK, at least the first one almost counts. And the Gene Smith book includes many quotes from his private letters.

 

[Graham Line]

Bought one at a used-book store yesterday, with plenty of change from a twenty to buy lunch.

"Mid-Term Report," Tim Page, Thames & Hudson 1995. Page takes a mid-life look at his career since the Vietnam War -- one of the best writers among working photographers today and unfailingly honest. Excellent color photos as well.

There is also "Page After Page."

 

[morgan]

Thanks for the recommendations so far! I'll definitely have to check War Photographer. I guess I shouldn't limit it to autobiographies, I just really liked how the guy on the NYT wrote, it was very personal and immediate.

 

[sevres_babylone]

Don McCullin's: Unreasonable Behaviour -- An Autobiography

 

[Tom A]

Hughes "Shadow of Doubt" about Eugeen Smith. A friend borrowed it and came back and exclaimed "Dont know why - but I have this urge to take up drinking scotch and smoking cigar's in the darkroom - as well as trying to borrow money from everyone"!
Great biography about a truly obsessed photographer.

 

[Pickett Wilson]

Tom, that title is "Shadow and Substance."

 

[Pablito]

I think you'll enjoy 'Magnum: fifty years at the frontline of history - the story of the legendary photo agency' by Russell Miller

yeah, fun to read but about on the level of a gossip tv show.

 

[rlouzan]

*Shutterbabe
by Deborah Copaken Kogan
Villard Books

*Diane Arbus
by Patricia Bosworth
Norton

*The camera at war
by Jorge Lewinski
Simon and Schuster

*Territorio comanche
Arturo Perez-Reverte
Debolsillo

*Black Star 60 Years of Photojournalism
Konemann

*Page after Page
Tim Page

 

[morgan]

Thanks everyone! My xmas list has just about doubled from these posts.

 

[Waus]

Already mentioned, but I´ve been reading over and over:
Don McCullin-Unreasonable Behaviour

 

[ornate_wrasse]

*Shutterbabe
by Deborah Copaken Kogan

I concur with the previous poster about his recommendation for "Shutterbabe" by Deborah Copaken Kogan. My darkroom instructor lent me the book and I just got finished reading it on a plane trip I took.

I highly recommend this book. Maybe it was partially because I am a woman and I'm from the same city as the author, but I really enjoyed it. It's very readable and, if you're into these things, it is loaded with sex, sex and more sex. The author was not too discriminate in her choice of sexual partners when she was single and in her twenties. It does make for some very interesting reading. 😀

Ellen

 

[segedi]

I agree with the War Photographer recommendation, and can add:
The True Meaning of Pictures: Shelby Lee Adams' Appalachia

 

[cidereye]

Already mentioned, but I´ve been reading over and over:
Don McCullin-Unreasonable Behaviour

Agreed, but for me I must admit it's not a book I could read in one go. Some quite strong visual images Don conjure up in one's mind on how vile some of those futile situations in the middle of battle must have been. Harrowing in fact, I'm only surprised that he didn't end up in a mental institute after so many of the awful things he saw and endured.

That said, it is a must read book for *anybody* and not just photographers I'd say. Recently saw Don's "Shaped by War" exhibition in Bath and after reading the book it truly brought it to life, especially with Don's personal commentary as you viewed the gallery. I'm not ashamed to say I left with a few tears in my eyes and if I hadn't realised it before I then truly knew how futile war really is and how cruel humans could be. Powerful and superb stuff!