latest additions to your library

I'm very excited to have picked up the book of the Family Of Man exhibition (1955). Some amazing photos in there, and set well in the book. Unfortunately, the photos are printed with very high contrast, and the book itself is feeling it's age a bit, but no matter - it's still a wonderful collection to own.

I bought it on a market on Portobello Road, where I was with a few friends on a photo day. The seller had a few other photo books (a few of which I already own), and a couple of cameras, including two Paxettes. I resisted any other purchases.
 
Nick Brandt's "On this earth a shadow falls" - not your typical African wildlife images. However, some are a tad too manipulated for my tastes, but overall excellent
 
Beaumont Newhall, "The History of Photography"
The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Fourth Edition, Sixth Printing 1978

I found it at our local library's bookstore for $1...
 
Just got Martin Parrs 'The Non-Conformists'. This book shows his early B&W work from the seventies when he stayed in the small Yorkshire village of Hebden Bridge. The exhibition is currently in London but I'll be visiting it in the new year when it comes to the Media Museum in Bradford.
 
Edward Steichen: Lives in Photography. I'd borrowed this book from the local library and decided I couldn't live without it. Currently 55% off at bookdepository.co.uk
 
Took 3 weeks to get here but:

"Nostalgia: The Russian Empire of Czar Nicholas II Captured in Colored Photographs" by Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii

"Bound for Glory - America In Color 1939-1943"
Kodachrome photos by Delano, Palmer, Vechon, Russell, Wolcott and a few others about American life from depression to industrial giant.
 
bought 3 books on Amazon
"Sebastiao Salgado. Genesis"
"Steve McCurry: The Iconic Photographs: Standard Edition"
"Across the Ravaged Land" by Nick Brandt
 
Doug Rickard, "A New American Picture" (Aperture, 2012).

The photographer that RFF despises except for me - travelling the byways of Google Streetmaps to capture the US heartland during the recession. From his armchair, photographing his computer screen.

It might be a bit passe now, but nearly 5 years ago he was the among the first pioneers of virtual photography - a photographic approach deemed so important that MoMA exhobited him.

pln6.jpg
 
Doug Rickard, "A New American Picture" (Aperture, 2012).

The photographer that RFF despises except for me - travelling the byways of Google Streetmaps to capture the US heartland during the recession. From his armchair, photographing his computer screen.

It might be a bit passe now, but nearly 5 years ago he was the among the first pioneers of virtual photography - a photographic approach deemed so important that MoMA exhobited him.

I was happy to get this Aperture reissue. I scrambled to get one of the first editions when it came out but to no avail.

I think when you say that MOMA deemed his approach important, you commit the same mistake as many of his critics (or at least reinforce it for them). That is, not looking beyond the process.
I think it is the pictures MOMA deemed important, not how they were made.

Gary
 
I think when you say that MOMA deemed his approach important, you commit the same mistake as many of his critics (or at least reinforce it for them). That is, not looking beyond the process.
I think it is the pictures MOMA deemed important, not how they were made.
Yes, I have to agree with you, but only partially: I deliberately emphasised one particular aspect and was being slightly facetious (to gently poke certain RFFer's ... sorry!).

It IS the pictures that are important, this project being simply a continuation of Rickard's interest in the geography and mythos of the American dream - and its reality.

However, it's not just about "the inverted American dream" (to quote Rickard) - Rickard's choice of Google Streetview was very deliberate, and he himself acknowledges that "A New American Picture" raises additional questions about technology, surveillance and privacy and the role of the internet.

Rickard's process is actually the least of these concerns, and is merely interesting, despite the irritation it provokes in some quarters! He takes photographs, ergo he's a photographer - and his images were taken with a camera (two even!), so they're photographs. His process is not contentious - really! Arguing over the merit of his work is another topic (personally I think it's great!).
 
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