What's in your library?

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This question is off topic but what the heck? What photo books (reference books not included)do you pull out and look at most often,i.e. what are you favorite titles? Mine are, in no particular order; Moments Preserved (I. Penn), Yosemite and the Range of Light (A. Adams), Workers (S. Salgado) and South Southeast (S. McCurry). Quite a disparity I must admit, but why limit yourself?

-- Brooks (Bvonarx@home.com), September 27, 2001

Answers

These are the books I have and frequently flip thru.

1. Women by Annie Leibowitz (not sure of the spelling)

espacially the portrait of her mother in the beginning is fantastic.

2. Athur Newman, I think the tittle is Faces, and it's a great overview of his work. Main ones I like are JFK, Lyndon Johnson and Pablo Picasso

Herb Ritts, the portrait of Liz Taylor is fabulous

-- Bas Wip (bas@baswip.com), September 27, 2001.

I have a few 'Interview' magazines from the mid 80's which I enjoy to look at from time to time. Back then it was a playground for many talented fashion/portrait photographers, bruce weber amongst them. The most read (looked at) book at the moment is one by Nobuyoshi Araki made partly in collaboration with his late wife Yoko. I don't recall the title (in japanese; it is the one w. sunflowers on the cover) It is a very sensitive and personal account of their close sourroundings, not the "in your face" bondage images we usually see from him. I do enjoy his very casual approach to photography.

-- Niels H. S. Nielsen (nhsn@ruc.dk), September 27, 2001.
My books are of the photojournalist / documentary variety, and somehow seem to revolve around the 1950s and 1960s.

I have the re-issue of the David Douglas Duncan book, "This is War!" DDD covered the Korean war with a couple of LTM cameras and (Gasp!) LTM Nikkor 50mm lenses. His entire book is 99% shot with the 50mm lens with only one shot with a 135. It is interesting to see the number of variations on a single focal length, and indeed it would be hard to argue that the images would be stronger if he had a bag of glass.

"The Americans", from Robert Frank. No explanation needed.

"Eisentaedt's Guide To Photography", from 1978. Many photos with explanations on the process. This book made me pick the 35mm lens as my normal lens.

"Leica M: The Advanced School of Photography" from Gunter Osterloh. This book has the best lens chapter of any Leica book I have, (and I have every contemporary book). The problem is that this is almost a "loose leaf" book now. Almost every page has come out of the binding. Great narrative, poor construction. I read on the LUG that this book is quite valuable today.

"The Leica / Leicaflex Way", from Andrew Matheson. Great for historical perspective on the evolution of the range. Statements like the fact that the 28mm lens is a super wide angle not useful for many things, lets you know how things have changed.

Every volume of the book series, "Masters of Contemporary Photography". Came out in the mid 1970s and had a book dedicated to every area of photography, from the experts in that range. My favorites are from Elliot Erwitt, Mary Ellen Mark, Art Kane.

Many, Many more....

-- Al Smith (smith58@msn.com), September 27, 2001.

In this order (who cares):
  1. Leica's "Handbook"

  2. Leica's price list (advantage: it's free; disadvantage: it comes out twice a year and you know what that means)

  3. Ghester Sartorius' "Identifying Leica Lenses"

  4. "John Shaw's Landscape Photography"

  5. Ernst A. Weber's "Fotopraktikum" (ya, ya, that's the German spelling)
Nice question, Brooks.

-- Michael Kastner (kastner@zedat.fu-berlin.de), September 27, 2001.
Shit! I thought it read "reference books included". My favourite books are all on famous cemeteries here in Berlin. But they're all in German, I think (the books).

-- Michael Kastner (kastner@zedat.fu-berlin.de), September 27, 2001.
I used to have quite a collection, but it disappeared in the mid eighties.

Nowadays I don't look at photo books very much, but my favourite ones would be:

Common Ground - Gregory Conniffe (I think), I haven't seen it for about fifteen years or more. The Huck Finn of landscape photography.

Falkland Road - Mary Ellen Mark. Despite it's many shortcomings (I'm not talking about the images which are magnificent) still one of the best photo books about a South Asian subject by a western snapper.

Winterreise - Luc Delahaye. Words fail me. A masterpiece.

Immediate Family - Sally Mann. Incandescent.

Joel Peter Witkin (Photo Poche). Inimitable.

And a semi-photo book: Time - Andy Goldsworthy.

-- rob (rob@robertappleby.com), September 27, 2001.

My number-one book is James Natchwey's "Inferno". Whenever I start to think that the world all runs by the rules I'm familiar with, a dozen images is all it takes to realign my thinking.

I have a slew of other books in my collection, but for me nothing comes even close to the power of that one.

-- Paul Chefurka (paul_chefurka@pmc-sierra.com), September 27, 2001.

Workers -- Sebastiao Salgado...Still looking at it after about 8 yrs.

Tete-a-Tete -- Henri Cartier-Bresson...He did great portraits, too.

Tulsa -- Danny Lyon. Classic.

Apropos de Paris -- Henri Cartier-Bresson. Classic street photographs.

-- Douglas Kinnear (douglas.kinnear@colostate.edu), September 27, 2001.

In relative order: Tropism - Ralph Gibson, Apropos de MaryJane - Ralph Gibson, Somnambulist - Ralph Gibson....can you guess who my fave is? Jeanloupe Seiff Retrospective, In Our Time - a History of Magnum, The Americans by Robert Frank, and most recently A Photographers Wife by I forget who. .........

-- Bob Todrick (bobtodrick@yahoo.com), September 27, 2001.
'Behind the Camera: Bill Brandt' A retrospective of his work from the 1930's to the 1980's that hangs together really well. The vision hardly changes despite the years and the different subject matter - whether landscape, reportage, nudes or portaits.

'Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Early Work' Although often thought of as a photojournalist, it's the surrealism of his early pictures that really comes through in this book.

'What Was True: The Photographs and Notebooks of William Gedney'. A wonderful insight into the life of a photographer. Just looking at the book now, his photographs are perhaps similar in some ways to Cartier-Bresson's but, (dare I say it?) a bit more human.

I'll also second the votes for Frank's 'The Americans' and Salgado's 'Workers' and maybe say a word for 'Paris by Night' or 'The Secret Paris of the 1930's' by Brassai.

Thanks

N

-- Nick Judd (hnelson1@hotmail.com), September 27, 2001.

Several that I enjoy, on photography are Kertez*, any work of him; Photoportraits by HCB* is a good one, World Photography is a book edited by popular photography and contains interviews of many photographers, Koudelka* among them; a small book with a very interesting interview of Mary Ellen Mark*; Americans by Robert Frank*, Great!; Avedonīs Evidence is a favourite too; Point and line in the plane by Kandinsky* has been a basic for me on design;

on litereature, Vaklav Havel*, Kafka*, Sartre, Dostoyevsky*, Yourcenar*, Juan Rulfo*, James Joyce*, Andre Gide, M. Duras*, García Marquez*, Susan Sontag*, Camus*, Chopra, Paulo Coelho, Milan Kundera*; this * have inspired me for the last twenty years on developing an atitude through photography

Lately enligthing my curiosity about cameras and lenses and itīs performace: Erwin Puts and Lipinsky, although I donīt think this last two have inspired me in doing photography but in being more critic about the tecnical aspect of it; something that may disturb as well as help.

-- r watson (al1231234@hotmail.com), September 27, 2001.

Wow! thanks to all for the excellent responses. Amazon.com here I come!

-- Brooks (bvonarx@home.com), September 27, 2001.
This is what I want in my library but not yet: "Magnum Landscapes"

-- J. S. (jeremybear_99@yahoo.com), September 27, 2001.
In a roughly biographical order:

August Sander, "Das Antlitz der Zeit"

Man Ray, (catalogues of several exhibitions)

Robert Frank, "The Americans"

Werner Bischof, "Life and Work, 1916-1954"

Nan Goldin, "The Ballad Of Sexual Dependency"

Robert Frank, "The Lines of My Hand"

Henri Alekan, "Des lumieres et des ombres"

Sebastiao Salgado, "Migrants"

The Saatchi Gallery, "I Am A Camera"

Anthony Suau, "Beyond The Fall"

I am still looking for a Eugene Smith and a HCB title to complement this selection, but couldn't make up my mind so far...

-- Lutz Konermann (lutz@konermann.net), September 27, 2001.
1, Koudelka, Gypsies, Exiles and Chaos

2, HCB, to many to list

3, Ernst Haas in Black & White

4, Ara Guler, recent purchase

5, Raymond Depardon, Voyages

6, Fazal Sheikh , the victor weeps, Leica award winner although not photographed with Leicas.

7, Alex Webb, Hot Light Half made worlds

8, Leica 75 years

9, Magnum Degrees, a selection of agency photos that illustrates a range of subject matter

These are just a few of my favorites in my collection.

Tom Gallagher

-- Tom Gallagher (tgallagher10@yahoo.com), September 27, 2001.

I have a lot of books, but relating specifically to Leica: anything by Elliot Erwitt, who I believe is one of the very greatest living photographers. I have most of his books, including a much-treasured copy of "Photographs and Anti-Photographs." Also, "The First Time I Saw Paris," by Peter Miller; "Wales, Land of My Father," by David Hurn; "Three Seconds from Eternity," by Robert Doisneau; and "Ground Time," by Kent Reno.

-- Dave Jenkins (djphoto@vol.com), September 27, 2001.
in of no order of importance bobby frank Americans gilles perres telex iran nan goldin ballad of sexual dependancy walker evans american photographs richard avedon autobiography tony suau beyond the fall anythng by alex webb

-- billy franklin (franklinbilly@hotmail.com), September 27, 2001.
Flor Garduņo: Witnesses of Time (finally out in the US)
Fosco Maraini: Acts of Photography, Acts of Love
Ralph Eugene Meatyard (Aperture monograph)
Maņuel Alvarez Bravo: (many books)
Minor White: Octave of Prayer (this is an exhibition White curated, not just photographs by White)
Antonio Turok: Chiapas: The End of Silence
Mariana Yampolsky: Image-Memory
Ferdinando Scianna: Feste Religiose de Sicilia

-- Jeff Spirer (jeff@spirer.com), September 27, 2001.
Teh KEH and Calumet catalogs have permanent residence in my library, er, bathroom. I'm interested in DOING, not looking at what others have done.

-- Peter Hughes (ravenart@pacbell.net), September 27, 2001.
Peter,

I am asking this with total respect and in no way to start a flame war, but I am curious. With your response that it is better to "do" rather than to look at what others have "done", why then do you have a website that you have promoted on this forum? If your philosophy is valid, then are you secretly putting down anyone that might open and look at your website? In context of the modernizations of media, the website could be the equivalent of books and displays in a gallery, a way to show your work to a large audience.

Most of us had to initially get the "bug" to photograph, and it was probably from looking at the work of those that shot before us. How many painters, once they learn to put oil on canvas, refuse to ever go to a museum because that would be looking at other people's accomplishments? I would think that would not be too many. It would involve a huge ego to think that you could never appreciate other's work, or even be inspired from it.

Again, I am just curious as to how you resolve in your mind that it is wrong to look at the work of others while you make your work public. The curiosity is genuine, and no disrespect is intended. I wait with an open mind for your response. BTW... I like your photos very much. Is that wrong?

-- Al Smith (smith58@msn.com), September 27, 2001.

Primary photography books (as opposed to painting/drawing/etc.) are:

-- Luther Berry (lberrytx@aol.com), September 27, 2001.
(Sorry, hit wrong key and sent message prematurely.)

Primary photography related books (as opposed to painting, drawing, etc.) consist of Time-Life books (25 in collection) from the 80's: - Photographing Nature - The Studio - The American Wilderness series - World's Wildplaces series Would that my results were as good. LB

-- Luther Berry (lberrytx@aol.com), September 27, 2001.

I like this quote by Cezanne, about learning to be an artist:

"Couture used to say to his pupils: 'keep good company, that is: go to the Louvre.'"

I think that is better advice than suggesting that sticking one's head in the sand is the way to learn.

-- Jeff Spirer (jeff@spirer.com), September 27, 2001.

Roy DeCarava : A Retrospective. An almost criminally underappreciated photographer.

-- aric blair (aricblair101@earthlink.net), September 27, 2001.
"I'm interested in DOING, not looking at what others have done."

yawn...

-- rob (rob@robertappleby.com), September 28, 2001.

I have about 40 shelf-feet of photo books. Earliest purchase was probably Aperture monograph on W. Eugene Smith - most recent is Peter Turnley's PARISIANS. The ones I go back to most often:

Constantin Manos A GREEK PORTFOLIO; Danny Lyon CONVERSATIONS WITH THE DEAD; Jill Freedman FIREHOUSE, CIRCUS DAYS, OLD NEWS; Mary Ellen Mark WARD 81; David Douglas Duncan SELF-PORTRAIT USA, WAR WITHOUT HEROES; Ken Heyman & Lyndon Baines Johnson (no joke!) THIS AMERICA; Magnum AMERICA IN CRISIS; Paul Fusco LA CAUSA; W. Eugene Smith MINAMATA.

Also the Masters of Contemporary Photography series already mentioned (although 'contemporary' means a quarter-century ago!!). This series taught me more about photography than any other single source, including 4 years of college (which were contemporaneous with the publication of these books, fortunately!) Trivia: The series was published by Larry Schiller, most recently famous for writing PERFECT TOWN PERFECT MURDER about the JonBenet Ramsey case, and also the guy who smuggled out Lee Harvey Oswald's autopsy pictures for the tabloids in the 60s.

I sympathise with Peter's comment without agreeing to it. Most of the books I mentioned are documentary 'projects' - I go back to them now less to learn photography than to think about how to structure/ organize my own projects, and to revive the creative juices in a time that doesn't value the photographic document as highly as it once did.

-- Andy Piper (apidens@denver.infi.net), September 28, 2001.

On the 'doing v.s. looking'. It has been said (and of course at this time I can't remember who by) that if you keep yourself in a vacuum you are bound to remain at a basic level. It is by seeing something that you have never tried, having it pique your interest and then expanding your thinking that one improves.

-- Bob Todrick (bobtodrick@yahoo.com), September 28, 2001.
Just a list (not in order). H.C.Bresson -Fotografo-(Alinari) Ray Metzker -City Stills- Raymond Depardon - Errance- Louis Stettner -Wisdom Cries Out In The Streets-

-- Stefano Ravizza (rawizza@hotmail.com), September 28, 2001.
Well I pull out the following books:

1) Leica M Photography by Brian Bower

2) Collecting and Using Classic SLR Cameras by Ivor Montale

3) Last Days of Summer by Jock Sturges

4) Photographs by Robert Capa

5) Leica/Leicaflex Way

6) any book by Henri Cartier-Bresson

7) Atget's books in various compilations

8) other books by Jock Sturges if I can find those suckers

9) The Complete Nikon System (wonderful handbooks to all those Nikon outfits)...

Does anyone know where I can find a copy of Brian Bower's book Leica Reflex Photography? That dang book is OP. :(

Alfie

-- Alfie Wang (albert.wang@ibx.com), September 28, 2001.

Alfie: email me. A couple of Denver stores had Bower's SLR within the past couple of weeks, if you want to bother with mail-order.

-- Andy Piper (apidens@denver.infi.net), September 29, 2001.
What!! No Larry Clark? Get yourself to a library and find a copy of "Tulsa". You had better sit down before openning it.

Cheers,

-- John Collier (jbcollier@powersurfr.com), September 29, 2001.

What a great thread! I presumed that I had a lot in common with many of the posters to this forum, but with only a couple of exceptions the books listed aren't part of my library, in fact I've not even seen many of them.

-- Bill Mitchell (bmitch@home.com), September 29, 2001.
Am I too late for an answer? If not, here are some of my favourites:

Ralph Gibson: TROPISM ( and others),

Herber List: NAPOLI,

Dr. Paul Wolff: GROSSBILD ODER KLEINBILD,

H. C. Bresson: PREMIERES PHOTOS (and others),

Andreas Feininger: DIE SPRACHE DER NATUR,

Werner Bischof: HIS LIFE AND WORK,

Inge Morath: FOTOGRAFIEN 1952- 1992,

Danny Lyon: .................... (canīt find it right now),

And of course quite a few ones havin been mentioned above: R. Frank, Salgado etc.

When I startet with my first Leica (too many yrs. back) I decided to get all the samples of the LEICA- FOTOGRAFIE- magazine to improve my technique. Now I have all of them in my shelf starting from 1949 or so. When you go through these, specially the old ones, you can meet all the later cracks, being interviewd professionally, along with beautiful examples of their early work. Itīs a real joy for me going through these old magazines.

Have a good time

K. G. Wolf

-- K. G. Wolf (k.g.wolf@web.de), October 02, 2001.

Sorry, forgot one good piece:

Bill McBride: I, WILL MC BRIDE

And there are quite a few more.

All the best

K. G. Wolf

-- K. G. Wolf (k.g.wolf@web.de), October 02, 2001.



-- martin tai (martin.tai@capcanada.com), October 07, 2001.
Martin, "Bernard Shaw on photography", havenīt heard of this book, is this a book of photography images made by Shaw, or literature on photography wrote by Shaw. Iīm very interested in this book, what ever is the meaning of it, I know Shaw was a avid photographer, but also could hab wroten many interesting things about it. Is it an old book?, can it be found in libaries now?

-- r watson (al1231234@hotmail.com), October 07, 2001.
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