"Portable" photobooks?

S

sheepdog

Available darkness.
Local time
3:42 PM
Joined
Jul 24, 2005
Messages
96
Hi!

After having been buying photobooks collecting images from photographers like Cartier-Bresson, Capa, Nachtwey, Abbas and Koudelka with great enjoyment for a while, I have come to discover one thing. These 11x15 inches, 8+ lbs mammoth books seldom get a proper read through due to their sheer size and lack of portability. I'd like to have more books I can put in my "manpurse" along with my M3 and a couple of lenses and stop by a coffee shop to flip through some images, or be able to do the same thing while travelling by bus or train without occupying at least two seats..
My copy of "On City Streets" by Gary Stochl is perfect at 8.3 x 6.3 inches, and I wondered if there were any other gems out there with similarly handy dimensions? :)

Best regards
Kjetil
 
Last edited:
there was a pocket series of mini-monographs. They were about 6x6x50pages. Nice little inspiring collections.

Couldn't even begin to tell you the publisher - but they did have a wide range of big names represented.
 
rogue: I'll be on the lookout for those!

ray_g: Thanks a lot. Both look very interesting - I'll try to put together a shopping cart at amazon.com tomorrow :)
 
Rogue: I've seen that! My friend has a copy. I'll have to ask her tomorrow and I'll come back and post the name. If I remember correctly, there was an image and then a brief explanation about the particular shot and some about the photographer.
 
As indicated by Aizan, try the "Photo Poche" books, published in France by Centre National de la Photographie. These are true pocket books (7.5 x 4.7) with high quality photographs. Text is in French though...

Here is the link to Amazon US: http://amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw/002-8050343-1260063?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=photopoche&Go.x=6&Go.y=15&Go=Go

And to Amazon France (many more titles available): http://amazon.fr/s/ref=nb_ss_w/171-6619512-5641852?__mk_fr_FR=%C5M%C5Z%D5%D1&url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=photopoche&Go.x=0&Go.y=0&Go=Go

Cheers,

Abbazz
 
Last edited:
The Phaidon 55 series is/was (don't know if it still exists) a great one, with a lot of different photographers, made by (obviously) Phaidon Press. Cheap, good quality and small size.

EDIT, did a check-up: yep it still exists.
 
Last edited:
Many interesting suggestions so far, I think I will try to pick up the Koudelka book (love Chaos), the Photo Poche on Robert Frank and 5 Masters of Photography from the Phaidon 55 series this time around. :)

Thanks guys!
 
Jerevan said:
The Phaidon 55 series is/was (don't know if it still exists) a great one, with a lot of different photographers, made by (obviously) Phaidon Press. Cheap, good quality and small size.

EDIT, did a check-up: yep it still exists.
Click to expand...


That's the one I was thinking of. Nice!
 
I really like my 'Magnum Stories' (about 30cm x 30cm, and about 5 kilos) so I took it to my branch office. The reason is that while I'm over there I often have an hour or two of downtime and there's a coffee shop next door.

Nowdays I look forward to my visits to that office, and to spending some time with that book open at random, and a cup of coffee on the side.
 
Took delivery of the first of my three orders today, and it's the Robert Frank book in the Photo Poche series. I think the Photo Poche series is identical to the Fotonote series suggested by nico, looking quite similar from photos in the webstores..

The print quality is more than adequate (I won't go into any discussion on wheter it is fantastic or not as I have no frame of reference :)), the size is perfect for the intended use, and Robert Frank probably needs no introduction! :) I can't really tell how useful the introductory texts are, though, as my french is close to nonexistant (I merely know how to suggest other languages to converse in to people adressing me in French, that should save me, no?).

I too really like my Magnum Stories, but it's one of those book that frustrate me by never being at my side when I have the time. At home there's always visitors, guitar playing, developing, scanning, photoshopping, eating, internet browsing and sleeping, so I seldom get to flip through these larger books (though I am sure I will enjoy them immensely when I come around to it). At work there's very little me-time, but on busses to and from I have lots, as explained previously.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom