We know too much about how pictures look and should look. And how do you get around making those pictures again and again?
—Garry Winogrand
Regularly, people ask me how they can learn more about photography even though they may never have taken an art course. For a while I get enthused about the challenge. I think it would be possible to recommend a carefully selected and sequenced "reading course" that would require the autodidact to find and read (or look at) no more than about 20 books.
What kills the project, every time, is that the books just aren't available. Of the twenty I come up with, only a handful are still in print. Maybe another handful could stand to be substituted for current books without losing too much. But finding a final handful would be dicey even at a big city or large university library.
If I were teaching an actual class, I could procure one copy of the difficult-to-find books and either photocopy the most relevant chapters or have students come in and look at the pictures. But that would only work for a small, localized class (and it can put a lot of wear on valuable, hard-to-replace books). And then I start thinking about individual essays or artists' statements and multimedia sources like videos, and I give up.
One source that's come to my attention lately is this video of Garry Winogrand teaching (there's an alternate site here). It was brought to my attention by O.C. Garza in his excellent essay about his experience as a student of Winogrand's at the University of Texas. (At the link, the .PDF download for the rather lengthy article is just above the pictures.)
Winogrand's importance to the course of photographic history and his influence on American art photography in the second half of the 20th century is difficult to overstate. In some respects it outstrips the important of his pictures. I wish I could also recommend that everybody read Chapters six and seven of Jonathan Green's American Photography: A Critical History along with it. But, naturally, it's out of print. In any event, I suggest you listen carefully to what Winogrand says in this video and try to take it in, even if you're one of those people who aren't convinced by his pictures.
________________
Mike
Photocopying chapters sounds like a perilous disregard for copyright, surely? Much better to write your own, and then get everyone to buy it :-)
Posted by: Puplet | Friday, 31 August 2007 at 04:04 PM
Green's book may be out of print, but there are lots of used copies around. Amazon and ABE Books list quite a few copies.
So Mike, how about publishing the list? Those who are interested can troll the used bookshops for the books that are out of print.
Posted by: Roy Smyth | Friday, 31 August 2007 at 04:40 PM
I spent two years authoring a book on photography--a good college level exploration of fine art photography in all aspects. It took two years or marketing effort, and finally a recommendation for publication by the editors at a major press, then the marketing department killed it.
As a member of The Authors Guild the huge change behind the scenes in publishing is the tax laws. It use to be that a publisher could put a book out and recoup their publishing fees in the year the book was published. This allowed books that required a long shelf life to slowly brew until they sold. Historically, this is the case for books on art and books on art technique--they sell well, but just slowly.
But the IRS stepped in and told the publishing companies that they would have to charge off publications expenses as a function of book sales. The consequence is that publishers can only afford to publish "90 day wonders", wherein the bulk of the books are sold in short order. It does not help that major book retailers have followed suit---either the book sells NOW or it's put into discount and no one (except the retailer) makes money.
Most of the university presses have shut down their production of art books under direct orders from the directors. Why? Because it costs a lot of money to print an art book, particularly a fine art book with duo-tone or tri-tone plates. For the cost of one art book, they can produce a whole series of normal books. Most university presses are struggling to keep their doors open.
At a recent photo function, I met with some publishers of photography books. Their interest was clearly in technology, technology and technology. Their publishing companies were geared around selling a lot of books---but all of a software-based nature. Just the mention of the book discussing aspects of art, not technology, had editors excusing themselves and moving rapidly away.
The need for books on photography is as great or greater then ever. Perhaps someday we will find a publisher interested in art as a subject and not just the technology of it all.
Pete
Posted by: Pete Myers | Friday, 31 August 2007 at 04:51 PM
"Hopefully, you're risking failure every time you make a frame".
That phrase keeps coming back to my mind.
Posted by: Thiago | Friday, 31 August 2007 at 06:12 PM
Mike, (and others)
If you've got the info, and believe the audience is there - then check out self-publishing opportunities like lulu.com. I do not know if they will let you choose papers, be fussy over colors, and things like that - but there are alternatives out there that don't break the bank. You'll sell slowly - but for a long time.
I asked my friend (a self-published author) and he recommended iUniverse (www.iuniverse.com) and Infinity Publishing
(www.infinitypublishing.com). These are Print on Demand companies with reasonable rates.
The alternative is to put the whole thing online, and we pay for access. There are blogs now that charge admission - but your content has to be worth it. Imagine a website with great pix, lots of good content, and good instruction.
Let me know when you need a proofreader. (grin)
Posted by: Bill Millios | Friday, 31 August 2007 at 09:01 PM
As unlikely as it might seem, three weeks ago i found a new copy of Jonathan Green's book in a mainstream bookstore here in Costa Rica and have been working my way through it slowly, relishing each page more than the one before..if i can find it here, it might not be as unavailable elsewhere as might be thought. Look around, folks, it's a worthy read!!!
Posted by: dyathink | Saturday, 01 September 2007 at 01:30 AM
Recently I bought "Figment from the real world". Its a awesome book!
Winogrand is a great photographer, worth to remember, to look at his pictures, to learn from him.
And althoug he didn't like t be peged as a street photographer, he was a great street photographer.
(hope this was correct english?)
Posted by: Martin | Saturday, 01 September 2007 at 03:51 AM
I found "American Photography" in my university library catalog.
Mike, why don't you publish what would be your 'recommended reading' book list? Chances are major universities will have at least some of them, as they often offer photography as part of their fine arts programs.
Posted by: Thiago | Saturday, 01 September 2007 at 10:31 AM
One option I'd recommend is listening to Jeff Curto's History of Photography lectures.
http://www.cod.edu/photo/curto/1105/index.htm
He releases all of his lecture notes and podcasts of the actual class sessions for free. He's just started another class session so you can learn right along with his current crop of students. I really enjoyed this last year and learned a lot from it.
Posted by: Gordon McGregor | Saturday, 01 September 2007 at 11:07 AM
I feel the biggest mistake in photography is to follow anyones advice.
Posted by: christian B | Saturday, 01 September 2007 at 11:30 AM
I recently located as-new copies of both Hurn & Jay's "On Being A Photographer" and Adams's "Beauty In Photography" - both recommended here - for a few pounds on Abebooks UK.
Posted by: Ade | Saturday, 01 September 2007 at 04:33 PM
An excellent read. Learned a lot from this one:
Bystander: A History Of Street Photography
Hardcover: 432 pages
Publisher: Bulfinch; 1st ed edition (November 16, 1994)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0821217550
ISBN-13: 978-0821217559
Posted by: Feli di Giorgio | Saturday, 01 September 2007 at 04:41 PM
>I feel the biggest mistake in photography is to follow anyones advice.
...blindly.
;-)
Feli
Posted by: Feli di Giorgio | Saturday, 01 September 2007 at 04:55 PM
I love the part in the video where Winogrand is shooting on a street and a woman asks, "What's happening?" and he gives this Bukowskian laugh and says, "I'm surviving."
Posted by: Peter F | Monday, 03 September 2007 at 09:27 AM
I'm late in responding to this, but I just got my copy of American Photography: A Critical History yesterday. Off the Internet, thru ABE Books, still shrinkwrapped, and less than $20 with shipping.
Please don't let the "out of print" label stop you from listing your recommended "Reading List for Autodidacts." Many of us probably already own some of them, or (with luck) can find them at the library. When push comes to shove, searching for an out of print copy at a reasonable price is a hobby in and of itself. Don't forget local used book stores--they sometimes hide real treasures.
Looking forward to the list.
Dennis
Posted by: Dennis Dunn | Saturday, 08 September 2007 at 11:26 AM
FYI - I've had great results in the past in finding out of print stuff using
www.abebooks.com
and
www.gemm.com
each of those allows you to search the catalogues of second hand book shops cross the world. Very useful indeed... Happy hunting everyone!
ed x
Posted by: edhombre | Monday, 10 September 2007 at 10:03 AM
"I feel the biggest mistake in photography is to follow anyones advice."
THANK YOU. My thoughts exactly. Some people have no ambition and expect to be "led" to great pictures. If they really wanted to do it, they would. I never had the benefit of someone to feed me lists of essential reading, I got off my ass and went to the library and took out the ones that had the pictures I liked. Crikey, I didn't even really know any other photographers when I first started, before the days of forums and Flickr.
Posted by: Mike | Monday, 18 February 2008 at 04:16 PM