Guth
Appreciative User
I've been shooting black and white film almost exclusively since my return to film photography. I don't put in nearly as much time creating images as I should be or would like. But this has left me freed up to also spend some time reading and learning much that's been written about photography or simply observing the work of others. While I enjoy both creating and viewing B&W images, I've found inspiration in a number of books featuring the works of various photographers who do plenty of work in color. I'm guessing others must have similar experiences: working in B&W yet inspired by the color photography of others or vice versa. I figured this might be an interesting topic for a thread.
I mentioned elsewhere here on this forum that I'm quite ignorant when it comes to the works of many well respected photographers. When I find a store featuring books of photography I simply take a look at the images in the various books on hand and make make my purchase decision based on which images I most enjoy viewing. I'm not tied into any one single style, I just like what I like although much of what I enjoy tends to be fairly candid in nature. For what it's worth I've yet to figure out what actually qualifies as street photography and what doesn't. I'm not sure that I care, I just like interesting photographs.
One book that really caught me off guard is by the photographer Langdon Clay titled "Cars - New York City, 1974-1976". (After flipping through just a couple of pages I knew that I was going to purchase a copy.) You can find a portion of these particular photos on his website located here, along with some of his other work. His website also includes a few portfolios created by his wife Maude Schuyler Clay who is also a wonderful photographer and apparently was an assistant for William Eggleston (who's work on my "to buy" list).
I searched and did not see any mention of Mr. Clay's work here on the forum so I thought maybe I'm at least adding something new to the discussion even though there are many threads on photography books already in existence here. His work likely isn't everyone's cup of tea but I sure do enjoy it. A few other books featuring more prominent photographers that I'm also fond of that feature mostly (or all) color photography are as follows.
Fred Herzog, "Modern Color"
Saul Leiter, "All About Saul Leiter"
Stephen Shore, "Uncommon Places"
I'm open to any other suggestions that others might have regarding books that I might consider.
By the way, I don't mean to imply that I'm not also on the lookout for books that focus on B&W photography. I have books by Bresson and Frank. I love the images created by Garry Winogrand and realize that there are many others I should be considering such as Diane Arbus, Walker Evans and many others. Sadly I can only spend so much on books at any given time. But that doesn't keep me from compiling my list of books to check out while I also browse what's currently available at my local bookstores (which fortunately Portland still has a good amount of).
I mentioned elsewhere here on this forum that I'm quite ignorant when it comes to the works of many well respected photographers. When I find a store featuring books of photography I simply take a look at the images in the various books on hand and make make my purchase decision based on which images I most enjoy viewing. I'm not tied into any one single style, I just like what I like although much of what I enjoy tends to be fairly candid in nature. For what it's worth I've yet to figure out what actually qualifies as street photography and what doesn't. I'm not sure that I care, I just like interesting photographs.
One book that really caught me off guard is by the photographer Langdon Clay titled "Cars - New York City, 1974-1976". (After flipping through just a couple of pages I knew that I was going to purchase a copy.) You can find a portion of these particular photos on his website located here, along with some of his other work. His website also includes a few portfolios created by his wife Maude Schuyler Clay who is also a wonderful photographer and apparently was an assistant for William Eggleston (who's work on my "to buy" list).
I searched and did not see any mention of Mr. Clay's work here on the forum so I thought maybe I'm at least adding something new to the discussion even though there are many threads on photography books already in existence here. His work likely isn't everyone's cup of tea but I sure do enjoy it. A few other books featuring more prominent photographers that I'm also fond of that feature mostly (or all) color photography are as follows.
Fred Herzog, "Modern Color"
Saul Leiter, "All About Saul Leiter"
Stephen Shore, "Uncommon Places"
I'm open to any other suggestions that others might have regarding books that I might consider.
By the way, I don't mean to imply that I'm not also on the lookout for books that focus on B&W photography. I have books by Bresson and Frank. I love the images created by Garry Winogrand and realize that there are many others I should be considering such as Diane Arbus, Walker Evans and many others. Sadly I can only spend so much on books at any given time. But that doesn't keep me from compiling my list of books to check out while I also browse what's currently available at my local bookstores (which fortunately Portland still has a good amount of).