latest additions to your library

"Slant Rhymes" by Alex Webb and Rebecca Norris Webb. I've been aware of Alex Webb for some time but only recently became aware of his wife's photography...now I'm definitely a fan. Being a formalist at heart, I'm attracted to the photos and the pairings.
 
At a local Church Rummage sale I spotted these books in a box across the table...
I have the set in paperback but now I have the slightly older hardback version...
They were $2.00 each...

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ian_watts said:
It's a great book and was a real eye-opener for me.
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Having taken delivery I can only agree with that and an interesting comparison with HCB's early work, the surrealism binding them together. I can also recommend that small aperture volume on HCB some interesting comments from him particularly on his outlook on life, his limitations and some technical comments as well.

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Found a copy of Pinkhassov's Sightwalk at my local bookshop. Beautifully printed and bound - seems it was a real labour of love. The photos must have seemed radical in 1999, they now look like a thousand of his imitators on Instagram. However still great and still recommended.
 
Walter Isaacson's "Leonardo Da Vinci". A treasure-trove of information and insight into his life and times. Superb writing (as in Isaacson's other books) with abundant illustrations of Da Vinci's ideas and work, all on heavy, high quality paper. The book itself is a work of art!
 
Big Ursus said:
Hi Mark A. Fisher,

" Wright Morris - "Photographs and Words"
Wright Morris - "Time Pieces: Photographs, Writings and Memory"

I remember being captivated by Wright Morris, but I didn't see any discussion of his work and, aside from a few pictures in magazines, I haven't seen many of his photographs.

What interested you about Morris?
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I am currently working on a project that would lend itself well to inclusion of text. Morris' approach to "text-photo" combinations is similar to what I'd like to achieve, but not as lengthy on the text component - he was a novelist, after all. Morris is a good source for this project. "Time Pieces" is an excellent collection to discover his philosophy and methodology for the written/photo combination.

I also have been looking at "Approaching Nowhere", by Jeff Bruows, "Allen Ginsberg's Photographs", and others who have included the written word as an expansion/elaboration/extension of their images. On the flip side I have heavily immersed myself in all the works of Nathan Lyons, whose collections were completely sans text - "Notations in Passing", "Riding First Class on the Titanic", "Return Your Seats to the Upright Position", and "After 9/11", plus the classic collections of "Walker Evans: American Photographs" and Robert Frank's "The Americans".

I don't know if I'll ever decide to use a text or non-text approach for my own work, but merely exploring both approaches has been a terrific excuse to buy more books! I like the challenge presented by Lyons to create a cinematic structure of images that interact with each other without further explanation or guidance for the viewer, but many of the photographs I have made also have stories to be told beyond the image alone. A perfect example of that process would be "West of Last Chance", photographs by Peter Brown, text by Kent Haruf. For the moment at least that is the standard set for me, a template for how best to proceed. Haruf's words are wonderfully crafted, his story rich with simplicity. Brown's photographs are crisp, clean, spare, startling in their honesty.

I'll figure this out - text vs. non-text - and then the difficult part will be discovering if there is an audience to embrace it. Hope springs eternal.

Mark
 
Mark A. Fisher said:
I am currently working on a project that would lend itself well to inclusion of text. Morris' approach to "text-photo" combinations is similar to what I'd like to achieve, but not as lengthy on the text component - he was a novelist, after all. Morris is a good source for this project. "Time Pieces" is an excellent collection to discover his philosophy and methodology for the written/photo combination.

I also have been looking at "Approaching Nowhere", by Jeff Bruows, "Allen Ginsberg's Photographs", and others who have included the written word as an expansion/elaboration/extension of their images. On the flip side I have heavily immersed myself in all the works of Nathan Lyons, whose collections were completely sans text - "Notations in Passing", "Riding First Class on the Titanic", "Return Your Seats to the Upright Position", and "After 9/11", plus the classic collections of "Walker Evans: American Photographs" and Robert Frank's "The Americans".

I don't know if I'll ever decide to use a text or non-text approach for my own work, but merely exploring both approaches has been a terrific excuse to buy more books! I like the challenge presented by Lyons to create a cinematic structure of images that interact with each other without further explanation or guidance for the viewer, but many of the photographs I have made also have stories to be told beyond the image alone. A perfect example of that process would be "West of Last Chance", photographs by Peter Brown, text by Kent Haruf. For the moment at least that is the standard set for me, a template for how best to proceed. Haruf's words are wonderfully crafted, his story rich with simplicity. Brown's photographs are crisp, clean, spare, startling in their honesty.

I'll figure this out - text vs. non-text - and then the difficult part will be discovering if there is an audience to embrace it. Hope springs eternal.

Mark
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If you're open to suggestions of additional material to explore...
Jim Goldberg, Rich & Poor. Text written by the subjects of his photos.
Leo Rubenfein, Wounded Cities. Heavy on text, with photos throughout.
The obvious and classic text/Photograph documentary project, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men by Agee & Evans
 
gns said:
If you're open to suggestions of additional material to explore...
Jim Goldberg, Rich & Poor. Text written by the subjects of his photos.
Leo Rubenfein, Wounded Cities. Heavy on text, with photos throughout.
The obvious and classic text/Photograph documentary project, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men by Agee & Evans
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Thank you so much for the suggestions. Yes, "Let Us Now Praise Famous Men" is also on my table, a much-worn and beloved volume. It is probably the quintessential collection of the type of work I am currently exploring.

I'm unfamiliar with "Rich & Poor" and "Wounded Cities", but will add them to my shopping list, and I thank you for those recommendations.

Best,

Mark
 
Mark,
Another example of minimal text (also provided by the subjects)...
Bill Owens, Suburbia (Early 1970's documetray project)
 
gns said:
Mark,
Another example of minimal text (also provided by the subjects)...
Bill Owens, Suburbia (Early 1970's documetray project)
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I love this book! One of the first examples of documentary work I saw as a photo student way back in 1979 or so. He has another collection out now, in color, but Suburbia is far superior to this later work IMHO.

Thanks for these suggestions!

m
 
Mark A. Fisher said:
I love this book! One of the first examples of documentary work I saw as a photo student way back in 1979 or so. He has another collection out now, in color, but Suburbia is far superior to this later work IMHO.

Thanks for these suggestions!

m
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Agreed.
If you want to follow up and dig a little deeper, look up John Collier, anthropologist and educator who was an innovator in the field of visual anthropology. He was a teacher of Owens and a big influence, I think.
 
Andrey Tarkovsky: Instant Light (Polaroids)

one of those out of print small albums with astronomical prices (sticker price 16.95£), but hell I wanted it for too long.
 
gns said:
Agreed.
If you want to follow up and dig a little deeper, look up John Collier, anthropologist and educator who was an innovator in the field of visual anthropology. He was a teacher of Owens and a big influence, I think.
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Will do. Sounds like the type of material to flesh out my explorations. Thanks for all the info!
 
Turnley, David and Peter "McClellan Street." Indiana University Press; First Edition edition, October 1, 2007. ISBN 0253349672. 128p.

The book came with broadart and was signed not once, but twice by Peter to two different people.
 
jbielikowski said:
Andrey Tarkovsky: Instant Light (Polaroids)

one of those out of print small albums with astronomical prices (sticker price 16.95£), but hell I wanted it for too long.
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Wow, I didn’t know this. I have the original hardback 2004 edition of this book. I was disappointed with it when I bought it and it has been sitting on my bookshelf ever since. :)
 
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