Read Any Good Books Lately?

[Dean]

Winter reading time is not far off in the Great White North, so I thought I'd bump this thread and recommend :

Achieving Photographic Style ( lessons from the great professionals ) by Michael Freeman

A great read if you are looking for a book that goes beyond the usual basics.
It may be out of print so watch for a used copy or check your local library.

Dean

 

[johne]

Since I recently got a M2, so I looked on my shelf and re-read Andrew Matheson, "The Leica
Way," 6th edition, London, Focal Press, 1959 [still in original slip cover!] and Willard D. Morgan, "Leica Manual and Data Book", 1935. Absolutely crammed with interesting data and pictures. I rescued both some years ago when a library threw them out a second story window to allow more "modern" material. How quaint! Johne

 

[Poptart]

Photgraphy-related books? Nope. I've read a few cereal boxes though. Fascinating. Did you know that one serving of Life contains 100% of your RDA of biotin?

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

I think this is rather "interesting" for my 666th post...

I've read no good books lately; they stopped selling those in my immediate area. Last good book I read was an antology of poems by Jorge Luis Borges. The last interesting book I read was "The Da Vinci Code" (before it was hyped) over a year ago (actually, almost two!). Last funny book I read was "Is Our Children Learning?" by Paul Begala. The last book I tried to read was futile: one of the Harry Potter books; I guess I have a different kind of inner child -- a Little Prince sort of inner child...now, that is an excellent book.

 

[jrong]

I read photography books only very infrequently. Having said that, I was intrigued by "Bystander..." but Amazon UK still does not have ready stocks of the book. I recently picked up Robert Capa's memoirs that some people here have been talking about, but haven't delved into it yet.

I love reading though, mostly literary fiction, have been through my Paul Bowles period, and have also just finished reading a rather depressing biography of Jane Bowles. I suppose Capa's memoirs are next on my reading list.

Jin

 

[pvdhaar]

I just read 'The Truth' by Terry Pratchett. Agreed, it's a novel in the fantasy genre, but this one's about someone creating the first newspaper in a mediaeval city where swords and sorcery are the norm.

Nice touches; the staff photographer is a converted vampire who's into flash photography big time and who discovers a way to get color photos in print.. and there's an editorial arms race with a soon after introduced competing paper that takes a different stance on the truth (think tabloids)..

If, like I, you're into photography and graphic design, it's not only highly entertaining but oftentimes dead on accurate (albeit that electric eels are used to power a flash and that there's imps inside the camera that use paint to quickly capture a scene)..

 

[aizan]

just finished:
'raise high the roof beam, carpenters' and 'seymour: an introduction' by j.d. salinger

just received:
'ray's a laugh' by richard billingham

 

[TimF]

There was a recent thread mentioning "Bystander." I am curious if any other members found any particular books (or websites) that would that they would highly recommend:

1. Photographic technique books that stand head and shoulders above others in the bookshelf.

2. Photo books (bodies of work) or sites.

3. Any other category.

Interesting thread.

In Category 1:
"Perfect Exposure" by our own Roger Hicks & Frances Schultz.
"The Photobook: A History Vol 1" by Martin Parr & Gerry Badger.
A lot of others, such as "The Edge of Darkness" and "Bystander" have already been mentioned.

In Category 2: Again a lot have already been mentioned, such as the Larry Burrows book, but among recent acqusitions for me, I am especially fond of ...
"Don McCullin in Africa" (photobook of the year perhaps?)
"The New Life" by Lise Sarfati

Also highly rate Lee Friedlander's "Self Portrait", Koudelka's "Chaos", Stephen Shore's "Uncommon Places", Homer Sykes's "On The Road Again", Denis Thorpe's "On Home Ground", Tom Stoddart's "iWITNESS" and Ian Burrows's "The English" among many others.

In Category 3: Not unrelated to photography, Don McCullin's autobigography, "Unreasonable Behaviour"

 

[kuvvy]

Seeing as how this is a book related thread, perhaps some of you may be interested in these books which I have to clear out due to a house move. Thought I would offer them to you guys first. PM me if any of the titles interest you. Haven’t priced them up as such but they will be cheap plus shipping, depending on where you are. I’m in the UK and willing to ship anywhere.

The Bang-Bang Club – about 4 young photogs in South Africa during the early 1990s.

On Photography by Susan Sontag
Dogs by Elliott Erwitt.

Andre Kertesz - Photofile by Thames and Hudson.

Jacques-Henri Lartigue – Photofile by Thames and Hudson.

Curious Moments – Press photos showing the unusual, odd and the humorous.
The Photo Book – An A-Z of photographers with a pic taken by each and an explanation about the shot.

1940s, 1960s and 1970s – 3 books from the Decades of the 20th Century collection by Nick Yapp showing photos from each of the decades.

Century by Phaidon. The mini version of the book with 1200 pages! Shows shots from the past 100 years.

Pictures on a Page by Harold Evans (Editor of The Sunday Times). 500 photos in this book help to tell how the news shot was taken and how news is reported.

Successful Black & White Photography – by our very own Roger Hicks. Covers subjects such as the darkroom, film & print processing, action, portraits, travel and reportage.

Pentax Photo Annual 1981-1982. Excellent examples of photography from Pentax users.

Obsession by Bob Carlos Clarke. Pictures in both colour and B&W showing his unique style of fantasy and eroticism.

Ringside by James A Fox. One for the boxing fan for sure or fans of B&W shots for that matter. An article about this photographer and his shots of the sport of boxing has appeared in Black & White Photography (UK).

 

[Paula]

I've recently read - The Lives of Lee Miller, written by her son Anthony Penrose. It gives an interesting insight into an amazing life - not to mention some wonderful photographs.

I was also reading 'The Photograph: A Visual and Cultural History', but to be honest I think much of it is pretty pretentious waffle and the author must have swallowed a thesaurus whilst writing it. (Not my kind of book at all)

And finally I'm also reading The Master Printer's - a professional guide to b&w darkroom techniques, by Steve Macleod, which is really a beautiful book giving an outline of how some of the latest portrait photograph have been printed.

Paula

 

[ijohnnyz]

The last good book I finished was House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski. I actually read it twice. It has many anagrams within the footnotes, chapters and paragraphs that decodes into new sentences. It’s very interesting to solve and see the story unravel. Meticulously written. Give it a skim through at the bookstore. As for now, I’m only reading textbook for school.

 

[jan normandale]

because I'm a foodie and enjoyed the PBS 'A Cooks Tour' with Anthony Bourdain I picked up his "Kitchen Confidential" wow.. what a life this man has had. Drop out, drugs, redemption. Fast paced , don't want to put it down, read.

 

[smiling gecko]

..."hunting season" by nevada barr & "cat's cradle" by kurt vonnegut & "the fixer" by bernard malamud.


hasta la vista, adieu, dasvidanya,,fino al prossimo tempo, auf wiedersehen, and later y’all
kenneth
___________________________________

"...patience and shuffle the cards" miguel cervantes
"nothing can be learned" herman hesse
"everybody knows everything" jack kerouac
"some memories are realities and better than anything" willa cather
" doo-wacka doo, wacka doo" roger miller
"we have see the enemy and they is us !" pogo
“a man’s cartilage is his fate” phillip roth

 

[JimG]

I liked 'The Eye of Eisenstaedt' enough to read it twice. By Eisentaedt & Goldsmith, Pubished by Viking Press 1969.

 

[Vagabond]

Recently finished "Pictorial Composition In Photography" by Arthur Hammond. This is a second edition dated 1932 in excellent shape that I found in a local used bookshop for $3.00. It contains 48 photos by the author. The writing may be a little dated but the concepts and techniques are just as valid today as they were then.

 

[Honu-Hugger]

Enjoyed Michael Ondaatje's "Coming through Slaughter" during a recent flight, also "Hubbin It" by Ruth Sheldon. Ondaatje's book is set in New Orleans and novels the life of Buddy Belden during the early 1900's. Sheldon's book is a biography of Bob Wills, written in the late 1930's.

 

[John Camp]

Two really interesting books out in the last little while,

"Lee Miller, A Life" by Carolyn Burke, which really digs into the whole Paris-in-the-20s period, and also WWII; lots of Man Ray, etc. She was an interesting woman and a good photographer, and took some amazing war shots, but there's also something repellant about her whole circle...

"The Artist and the Camera, Degas to Picasso" issued by the Dallas Museum of Art and the Yale University Press. Illustrates the way that famous painters used the camera in their work, although it seems that the less famous the painter, the more the camera was used....Alphonse Mucha was probably the most explicit user, among the artists discussed.

-JC

 

[reagan]

I thought this old thread was worth bumpin' up. I bought a book at a Flea Market today that I found quite entertaining. I guess it would fall into the "Any Other Category."

"Shooting Stars"
favorite photos taken by classic celebrities
Conceived and compiled by David I. Zeitlin
Restored and revised by Harriet Zeitlin​

It shares some amateur photos taken by movie stars, presidents, athletes and the like with short descriptions written by the photographers. It also has a few shots of the celebs with their gear. Have you ever seen a pic of Elvis with two Leicas hanging off his shoulder while focusing a TLR? How 'bout Tony Curtis wielding a Contax? There's a group shot of a bunch of White House photographers taken by Dwight Eisenhower.

Another is a selfie of Grace Kelly using a borrowed TLR talking about her husband "The Prince" having "a lovely darkroom in the Palace at Monaco. ... I do most of my shooting with [a Rollieflex], although I sometimes use the Prince’s Leica – when he’s not looking. "

• excerpts:

“Wherever I go on my travels to the many out-of-the-way places my work takes me, my camera, or rather cameras, are as much a part of my personal baggage as my toothbrush. With the ever-present thought in mind, ‘I may never pass this way again,’ I try to record the moments that have pleased, interested, or excited me. … Down through the years I ran the gamut of cameras of different sizes but finally settled on a 35mm. A few years ago, I came into possession of a Nikon and I liked it so well that when I came to Japan for my latest picture, I traded my other 35s in and now have three Nikons with all the lenses.” ~John Wayne

“My husband, Charles MacArthur, was an avid amateur photographer and he often tried to interest me in taking pictures, but he never did. But when he died I took up the Leica where he let it drop.” ~Helen Hayes​

Anyway, I found the book very enjoyable.

 

[IGMeanwell]

Now that sounds like a good book

 

[Davor]

I'm almost finished with Ivo Andric's "The Bridge over Drina". He got the Nobel Prize because of that book.

Even tough it isn't really a book about photography, the vivid portraits still amaze me and I really feel that it develops my photographic senses and really opens up your eyes to the world around you. Reading this one is a must!