Welcome to the Curious Eye
I love photography and I love thoughtful writing on photography.
I’ve spent a lifetime in communications, but as I transition from working for others to working to please myself, I intend to use this site to share my thoughts and my photographs.
These are personal pictures. Most have no commercial value. I hope that a handful have artistic value, but at a minimum I hope they are interesting to look at.
Photography Book Archive
I am gradually trying to build an archive of brief summaries and reviews of photography books that others can use if they are curious about the art of photography.
If you are looking for “how to” books, you won’t find many here. But, if you are interested in the history of photography as a means of personal expression, and the criticism of such, there is a good chance you will find this interesting.
Book Reviews and Posts
David Yarrow: How I Make Photographs
David Yarrow is one of the top wildlife photographers working today. In “How I Make Photographs” Yarrow discusses his personal vision and the challenges of shooting wildlife under extreme conditions. The book is the third in a “Masters of Photography” series from publisher Laurence King. In addition to Yarrow’s insights, the book serves as an affordable mini-portfolio of his work that will inspire anyone interested in photographing wildlife.
Imogen Cunningham: A Retrospective
Imogen Cunningham was one of the most creative, versatile, influential and possibly underappreciated and underrated photographers of the 20th Century.
Born in 1883, her career extended into the 1970s, yet it was only late in life that she began to receive the recognition that her male contemporaries and colleagues had been afforded decades earlier.
A beautiful book published in 2020, Imogen Cunningham: A Retrospective, printed in conjunction with a Getty Museum exhibition of her work offers a well-printed, if overdue, selection of her life’s work.
Nan Goldin: The Ballad of Sexual Dependency
Nan Goldin’s The Ballad of Sexual Dependency has become an iconic touchpoint in documentary photography. Deeply personal, the book is once again available in print with an updated afterword by Goldin.
Diane Arbus and the New Documents Exhibition
In 1967, the Museum of Modern Art in New York unveiled “New Documents.” It featured the work of three photographers who would became significant and influential artists of the 20th Century – Diane Arbus, Lee Friedlander and Garry Winogrand. It was the only major exhibition of Arbus’ work in her lifetime. Unfortunately, no exhibition catalogue was published at the time. Fifty years later, MOMA rectified that, producing an excellent book on the show.
