Posts
See/Saw: Looking at Photographs
Many authors have tackled the idea of looking at photographs. The difference from this traditional approach is that in See/Saw we get a lot of Geoff Dyer as well. Dyer takes the artist’s background, significance and intent as a starting point, but uses his essays to expound on his own observations. In a sense, the book might be just as easily titled See/Saw: Geoff Dyers Looks at Photographs and Tells You What He Sees.
Books for Photographers (Part One)
Looking for a great book for your favorite photographer. Try this list of timeless books designed to get your photographer thinking more deeply about the craft.
Books for Photographers (Part Two)
Need a gift idea for your favorite photographer? In this second column, I focus on some affordable book series that highlight individual photographers.
Ukraine: A First Person War
When Roger Fenton took his camera to cover the Crimean War in 1855 the limits of the technology at the time meant that he was unable to photograph any scenes of combat. Today, as war rages in Ukraine, we need only open our smart phones to release a flood of posts that show the war […]
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 […]