Posts
The Americans
The Americans by Robert Frank First published in 1958, Robert Frank’s The Americans, ushered in a new era in documentary photography. There may be no single book in photography that has had a more significant influence on how we look at photographs and how photographers look at subjects than The Americans. That might sound like […]
Ansel Adams
Ansel Adams I admit I’ve long been ambivalent about Ansel Adams. That’s mostly because his work is so ubiquitous and so often held up by photographers and non-photographers as the epitome of photography. His photographs are beautiful and timeless. But…art does not stand still. It’s too easy to treat Adams’ work as though photography has […]
Foursome
Foursome: Alfred Stieglitz, Georgia O’Keeffe, Paul Strand, Rebecca Salsbury Carolyn Burke Carolyn Burke’s Foursome follows the arc of two marriages – that of Alfred Stieglitz and Georgia O’Keeffe and of Paul Strand and Rebecca Salsbury. Stieglitz was the tastemaker and spiritual leader of photography as an art for much of the first half of the […]
Dawoud Bey on Photographing People and Communities
On Photographing People and Communities Aperture Photography Workshop Series Dawoud Bey on Photographing People and Communities is part of the Aperture Photography Workshop Series. As with Mary Ellen Mark on the Portrait and the Moment, the guiding concept behind the book is to mirror the experience of attending a workshop by a master photographer or […]
Skira History of Photography
Skira Four Volume History of Photography Edited by Walter Guadagnini Skira’s four volume history of photography takes an unusual but rewarding approach. Recognizing that it is impossible, even in four volumes, to provide a comprehensive history of photography, publishing house Skira has instead chosen to dig deeply into key movements in the history of photography, […]
Public, Private, Secret
Public, Private, Secret. On Photography and the Configuration of Self. By Charlotte Cotton with Marina Chao and Pauline Vermare Public, Private, Secret. On Photography and the Configuration of Self, is an outgrowth of an exhibition held in 2016 for the opening of a new space in New York’s Bowery for the International Center of […]
American Witness
American Witness. The Art and Life of Robert Frank, by RJ Smith, Da Capo Press Robert Frank was the most influential photographer of the second half of the 20th century. And the basis for that influence is almost exclusively attributed to a single work, The Americans. First published in France in 1958 and then the […]
Group f.64
Group f.64 By Mary Street Alinder, Bloomsbury Group f.64 may be the most influential collection of photographers ever. That influence can still be felt today and their work remains perennially popular. Monographs and retrospectives highlighting the work of individual members continue to be published ninety years later. While Alfred Stieglitz may be credited with relentlessly […]
The Social Photo: On Photography and Social Media
The Social Photo: On Photography and Social Media. By Nathan Jurgenson, Verso Nathan Jurgenson covers a lot of territory in just over 100 pages, as he presents page after page of insightful and thought-provoking observations on photography and social media. Jurgenson dissects current opinions and attitudes about social media and nicely places them in […]
The Photograph as Contemporary Art
The Photograph as Contemporary Art by Charlotte Cotton. World of Art series: Thames & Hudson. Writing about contemporary anything is like running to catch a train that never slows down at a station. The author is forever destined to have missed the latest one, no matter how fast she goes. For nearly two decades, Charlotte […]
The best books on photography (irregularly updated)
None of these books will tell you anything about f-stops, but they will definitely make you a better photographer One of the consequences of my interest in photography is that I acquire and read too many photography books. I hope to develop this site as a resource for other photographers seeking out the best in […]
A workshop in book form?
Mary Ellen Mark on the Portrait and MomentAperture FoundationThe Photography Workshop Series It is an impossible task to convert the experience of learning from an accomplished talent in person into book form. The Aperture Foundation deserves credit for attempting to do so with The Photography Workshop Series (which, as of the end of 2022 consisted […]