Great Photo Books You Can Buy New—Part I: Reissues

By Mike Johnston

8 Recommended Reissues
Mike's pick of the current crop of classics.

1. Robert Frank, The Americans (Steidl, 2008). For some reason, despite a lot of hoopla about re-releasing this book on the 50th anniversary of the original's publication in France—May 15th—the book is still not shipping. But don't let that stop you—it'll be along. Get yours piping hot off the press. Here's my original post about it.

2. John Szarkowski, William Eggleston's Guide (Museum of Modern Art, 2002). Like it or not, this book is an important part of how color photography came of age in America. Also, a very enjoyable little book. I've returned to mine many times over the years for pleasure. Before this reprint came out, the book had become a rare collectible in the $300–$400 range. When this reprint expires and current supplies dwindle, that will happen again. I notice that Amazon is currently "Out of Stock," which sometimes evolves into "Unavailable," so now could be—I say could be—your last chance. Please don't blame me if you can no longer get it.

While I'm on the subject, I have to add that I'm tired of people claiming ostentatiously that they don't "get" Eggleston. It's not that hard, folks. It's snapshot-aesthetic Americana, circa 1976, the apotheosis of the old 3R (3 1/2 x 5") Kodacolor drugstore print which was the form of demotic photography in America for a couple of decades. Read the essay, look at the pictures. They're just pictures; it's not some sort of secret society with a little peephole on the door with a secret password no one's told you about.

3. John Szarkowski, The Photographer's Eye (Museum of Modern Art, 2007). I laughed (out loud, as they say on the internets) at one "review" of this book that said, essentially, "it's just a bunch of pictures." ...Which, if you habitually scan pictures like you're leafing through a fashion magazine, might indeed not be enough. What with the demotic and democratic rag-and-bone shop of the online world heralding detritus from every forgotten corner of everywhere nowadays, it might be not be recoverable that academic photography once needed this sort of...broadening. There are pictures from historical societies in here. There are snapshots. The works of "photographers unknown." Art mavens once found it shocking. I still find it bracing, although that might be the honoring of old memories. In any case, this was the book that did the trick at the time.

However, you have to bring it to this book. Do not browse; peruse. Look carefully, look long. Think of it like the great curator handing you pictures to look at from out of an endless pile, and attend.

4. Bill Owens, Suburbia (Fotofolio, 1999). The original 1972 book had a hint of the subversive about it, some iconoclasm, typical of inscrutable critiques of America in those old hippie days. But Owens' take on suburban living is really essentially neutral and accepting, equal parts fond and sardonic. The pictures are rich with detail and truly document a style of American life both specifically and generally.

The new book is not a reprint, strictly speaking. It's a new edition, a rethinking. Weak pictures have been deleted, new pictures (many color ones, most obviously, but also some black and whites) have been added, the ordering's been changed, and a new introduction's been added. Overall it's the same book, though, just better in every way—better reproductions, better sequencing, better picture selection—"new and improved" indeed, as the starburst on the cover brightly proclaims.

Sadly, I can't recommend Bill Owens' recently published retrospective from Damiani, the one with the beautiful weed-whacker cover. The B&W reproductions  just do not meet my minimum standards.

5. Lisette Model (Aperture, 2007). (The name, by the way, is pronounced "moe-DELL," not as if it's the word for pretty women who pose for fashion photographers.) A reprint of the 1979 original, which was the first book ever published of Model's work—pretty amazing when you consider that the one-woman show at the Photo League that made her famous took place in 1941. The Aperture monograph, a surprise best-seller, came out a mere four years before her death.

Steichen said of Model's pictures that they "...are often camera equivalents of bitter tongue lashings. She strikes swift, hard and sharp, then comes to a dead stop, for her work is devoid of all extraneous devices or exaggerations."

6. Robert Adams, The New West: Landscapes Along the Colorado Front Range (Aperture, 2008). You've probably noticed that Szarkowski (his name is pronounced "shar-COUGH-ski," not "zar-COW-ski" as it is often mispronounced) is all over this little list—but that's only because he was all over American photography in the second half of the 20th century. He wrote the introduction for this book, a landmark of the "New Topographics."

Some "movements" in photography are essentially back-formations—"The New York School," which John Gossage and Jane Livingston pretty much made up out of whole cloth for a 1992 book about a bunch of disparate photographers who all happened to have worked in New York, is a case in point. (Good book, though.) The New Topographics was a more coherent movement. It took its name from a seminal 1975 exhibition curated by William Jenkins at the George Eastman House in Rochester (I used to have the catalogue, and I gave it away, if you can believe that, which I still regret). Again, the work needs to be seen in its historical context: the heroic, unpeopled landscape photography of Adams and Weston et al still prevailed in those days, at least among the public, but was becoming increasingly alien to the actual condition of the American West. Robert Adams reputedly promised himself early in his career that he would not take a picture that didn't contain some trace of human presence. I personally think Adams's From the Missouri West is a better book, but this one was more closely tied to the movement and was more influential. And you can get this one. The New Topographics as a whole had an enormous influence on photography in both the U.S. and Europe.

This is a straight facsimile reissue, a solidly well-made book, as clean as sunlight. Some of Adams's most memorable work.

Two I haven't seen
Rather than straight recommendations, these last two are books I recommend you look at yourself before buying, because I haven't seen either of them. Recently, I drove all around my city, surveying the available bookstores. I'll post about that experience separately, but nowhere in my peregrinations did I see either of these titles. Of course I know the originals very well, but you should look at these for yourself and only take a flier on them if you accept the risk for yourself. Sorry about that, but I can't buy everything—this writing-about-books project is already costing me a bloody fortune.

7. Stephen Shore, Uncommon Places: The Complete Works (Aperture, 2005). I have to say Stephen Shore is too goddam lucky to like. No disrespect intended, but he's no better than any of a hundred or even a thousand other photographers who never got any attention at all, but he seems to have been given infinite and infinitely tender credit and attention for everything he's done literally since he was a kid. Still, there's no denying the influence of Uncommon Places (the hortatory title of a book of pictures of eminently, one might even say quintessentially, common places). I think you almost have to be a photographer to appreciate these pictures; Shore really does have an exquisite eye for framing. There a fine mini-video flogging around YouTube of Shore working, and the most revelatory comment he makes in the program is when he says, "I've discovered that this camera [the 8x10] was the technical means in photography of communicating what the world looks like in a state of heightened awareness." Amen, and bravo. The current book is not a reprint—it's more like an anthology, containing the work from the original book and a lot more like it.

8. Lee Friedlander, Self Portrait (Museum of Modern Art, 2005). As a young art-dawg in photo school in D.C. I grew up puzzling over Friedlander, but he had nearly limitless cred. I and my friends attempted photographing ourselves with bare lightbulbs in the frame and with the camera on self-timer on the hood of the car, of course with results nothing at all like these. Friedlander's startling iconoclasm and unflinching self-regard set the tone of introspective art photography in America for half a generation.

Any I missed?
So that's Part I of my list—I also plan to add sections about great current books and great didactic titles. What do you think—did I miss any worthy reissues you would have named?

Next in this series: Martin Parr's list.

_______________________

Mike

Featured Comment by _#_: "One of the most important books on the early days of color photography that I am aware of and have been impressed by is by photographer Saul Leiter, titled Early Color. Now there's a painter taking color "snapshots." Eggleston Schmeggleston!   ;-)  "

Mike replies: That's true, but Leiter's Early Color is one of the paragon examples of the current mania for photo book collecting, whereby recent out-of-print books are bid up to price levels that put them out of reach for most of us. The whole point of my current lists is to name books that are both sure bets and are also available new for no more than retail price. Take a look at this page, which lists a few "used" copies of Early Color for sale. What's more, copies are scarce even at those prices.

Featured Comment by Allen George: "I used to feel the same way about Stephen Shore. I passed up Uncommon Places multiple times—found the subject matter banal, found the photos unappealing. That changed completely last year. I don't how to explain it or why it happened; it was as if it suddenly expressed how I saw the world. There's a certain...distance (maybe dispassion?)...when it comes to the photographs in it. It's almost as if an outsider stepped into the 1970s and started very intently staring at things. I guess that's one of the strongest sensations I got from Uncommon Places: that of being an outsider. And I don't know if this comes under the heading of framing, but another aspect of Uncommon Places that struck me: that so many of the photographs—especially the outdoor ones—are about geometry, about the relationship between blocks of color, between lines and forms…Anyways, if you've passed up Uncommon Places in the past give it a try again—you may be surprised."

 

Comments

[Martin Doonan]

Interesting your comment about Eggleston. What I've seen (too little, really) I like very much for what it is, and also what I think it might be. The thing I've always wondered, though, is why the tricycle became the iconic one?

I can see an Americans order coming soon, too.

[Kjetil]

Americans not shipping? I got mine last friday (mostly thanks to your notice a while back), and it's a very impressive piece of work in a package that fits my photobag perfectly (and is therefore available to me on busses and other long commutes.. :-)

Regards
Kjetil

[Scott Kirkpatrick]

Bruce Davidson's "Circus" pictures got a new issue (maybe it was the first, but the pictures are long famous) last year. Is it still available?

scott

[Michel]

Great little list, and I noticed that I already own a few of these.

Nerd alert: I take exception with Eggleston's "snapshot" aesthetics. People categorize him like that because they don't see the point, and think his photos are just dadaist banalities.

Eggleston is much more in the line of Walker Evans or Cartier-Bresson in the craft, but with the politics way under the surface, when there are any. He shares with Stephen Shore (and Evans and HCB) an "exquisite eye for framing." To a certain extent I would say that Eggleston takes more risks, while Shore limits himself to having stuff that works reasonably.

Eggleston's compositions are incredibly solid and understated; also, he is a "real" color photographer, I mean someone who can construct an image with only color as a composition tool.

Of course, there is a spontaneity in some of Eggleston's pictures that can make his photos look casual or easy. But when was the last time someone took snapshots with a Mamiya Press?

[Blake Andrews]

A nice start to the list, to which I would add:

Winogrand's Public Relations and Animals
Larry Fink's Social Graces
Susan Meiselas' Carnival Strippers
Arbus' Monograph
Avedon's Portraits
Walker Evans' Many Are Called
Joel Sternfeld's American Prospects

All of these have been reissued in the past 5 years and are readily available

[Robin P]

Thank you for the time & effort you've expended on this list Mike - not tempted to buy any of the books but found your explanations educational.

Eureka! A phrase you used "Shore really does have an exquisite eye for framing." has helped me to finally answer a question you told us to ask ourselves a while back "where are you coming from?". There is a great disparity in the subject matter of my photographs but I now realise that the common thread holding them all together is my attempt to attain "exquisite framing".
Now all I need is Shore's luck.......

Cheers, Robin

[aizan]

does the third edition of alec soth's "sleeping by the mississippi" count?

[ROA]

I think "Bound for Glory - America in color 1939-43, " the FSA/OWI collection from the Library of Congress is worthwhile.

[Benzo]

Maybe Ansel Adams' fantastic trilogy, The Camera, The Negative, and The Print? Amazon has each one going for $16.50- probably not gorgeous reproductions, but certainly one of the staples that anybody interested in building a library should consider.

[whale.tw]

Book: Deng Nanguan

issue: Taipei Art Museum
amount: government's book, only printed 600 books, only sold 200 books on the local exhibition.

http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/9495/uploadshowjspgpn1009700vt0.jpg

Mr Deng Nanguang (1907-1971) - First Documentary Photographer in Taiwan.
First Photography Museum in Taiwan will be opened at the end of 2008, the museum called
Deng Nanguan Photo Museum

Deng Nanguang was born in 1907 and died in 1971. This year marks the one-hundred year anniversary of his birth, and the museum is mounting the Deng Nanguang Photography Retrospective as well as producing an accompanying art catalog to celebrate this pioneer of Taiwanese photography. Deng Nanguang received affirmation for his work early in his career. From the 1940s, he along with Chang Tsai and Li Ming-tiao were known as “The Three Musketeers” and were considered the top photographers in Taiwan. But more importantly, Deng left an indelible mark on the development of this art form. He increased appreciation for photography by programming The Open Photography Exhibition, and founding The Photographic Society of Taipei, The Taipei Photographic Salon and The Taiwan Provincial Photographic Society. He devoted himself to publishing photography, promoting new technology and styles, and popularizing photography in general in the 1950s and 60s in Taiwan. Although Deng Nanguang was an important catalyst in the evolution of photography, he was hindered by the limited opportunities to show work in the under-developed exhibition system of his time. It was not until the early 1980s that an enormous number of Deng’s unseen works were revealed and the contours of his artistic career were clearly drawn. As we continue to study Deng’s works, the value of his aesthetic contributions to Taiwanese photography have become even more apparent, and his position in Taiwan photography history has become even more stable.

[Geoff Wittig]

1) I think Mike has the perfect take on Stephen Shore. His framing and technical skills are spectacular, but the subject matter is consistently banal, for good or ill. Jeff Brouws does work in a similar vein that I find a lot more visually compelling.

2) Bruce Davidson's Circus just showed up at my local B&N, so it should be available just about everywhere.

[Gottfried]

Ther German edition of Robert Frank's book (Die Amerikaner) has reached the bookstores. It's great!

[Christopher Lane]

Hi Mike,

You know I’m a big fan, but ...

“Apotheosis”, “demotic”, “iconoclasm”, “didactic”? I have to have two windows open to read T.O.P.: T.O.P. and Merriam-Webster Online. Do you have a great vocabulary or have you just been giving your Thesaurus a workout? ;~)

In any event, great list. I am looking forward to parts two and three and making more money.

Chris

[Don Bryant]

If you mention Robert Frank's Amerikans again I think I will scream! I love the photography, though I disagree with the premise and conclusion.

As a long time reader of your posts (going all the way back to the Compuserve Photo Forum days) I don't need to be reminded of Frank's Amerikans again.

Don Bryant

[Chris Crawford]

I have most of the books on the list, including Friedlander's Self-Portrait, which is an interesting one. Mike, you should get it...i'm surprised you haven't got it already.

About Eggleston, he is still alive yet all the photos we ever see from him are from the 70's and early 80's. What happened to him? Did he retire or quit photographing or is his newer work just bad? I'm always curious about iconic photographers from the past that I find out are still alive decades after thier last well-known work was done.

[Mike Johnston]

"Do you have a great vocabulary or have you just been giving your Thesaurus a workout?"

I'm officially high-vocabularied...have tested that way all my life. I actually make an effort NOT to use little-known words. (I once used a word in an essay I later learned is known to .2% of English speakers, which is not a very good way to communicate.)

I also have this weird faculty that when I need a word to express an unusual idea, a word I don't consciously know will pop into my head. I then look it up only to find that it fits. I'm sure that comes from a lifetime of reading and learning words in context, but it's always just a touch spooky. [g]

Mike

P.S. I also often disagree with dictionaries, many of which just aren't very good. If your browser has a Google search feature, type a word into Google and see if a link that says "definition" shows up in your web results bar. Click on this, and a whole list of salient [oops] definitions pops up, almost always beginning with the entry from AHED, which is the best currently maintained dictionary that's available online. (Real dictionary lovers also need the OED and the peerless Webster's Second, the last of the great prescriptive dictionaries). That will give you a better take on any given word than using just one dictionary as a source.

[Mike Johnston]

"About Eggleston, he is still alive yet all the photos we ever see from him are from the 70's and early 80's. What happened to him?"

Chris,
His most recent original monograph was published in 2003. You can learn more at Egglestontrust.com.

Mike J.

[Adam Isler]

I just picked up "Helen Levitt" from Amazon for about $38 and was well pleased, though the credit for Walker Evans was misplaced, given the 2 paragraphs by him that appeared more as a frontispiece adornment (OR BLURB)than a true preface.
Adam

[robert e]

re delivery of The Americans: I ordered in mid-May (after reading your long treatise on book collecting, Mike) and noticed that the publication date in the Amazon listing was May 30, while the expected ship date (at more than one vendor) was mid-June. I assumed the delay (vs Europe) was a result of both distribution time and hedging.

I agree that both Eggleston and Shore took extraordinary photos of the commonplace, and from fairly ordinary perspectives, "like it or not". For what it's worth--and I'm no art critic--I feel that their work shows strong affinities with certain contemporary developments in painting, literature, film, music and other arts.

Mike, I appreciate and enjoy these wonderful essays and guides about books and collecting, but I fear they might be distracting you from finishing your camera recommendations, which is unfortunate because I'd planned for this to be the week I finally go digital. Perhaps you'd consider procrastinating on the next installment by writing about hardware? (I kid, mostly--I'm actually leaning toward used SLR's from a previous generation or two, but I expect your assessment of the current models might help me narrow it down to a system, or even convince me to go new).

[Allan Allison]

Hi Mike,
Hope you are well,and your son too, still haven't got over your story about him in Black and White mag.
I check your blog daily, just to check I still disagree with something.
Imagine my dismay when I found I owned or coveted all the titles in your top eight list.The Bill Owen book is outstanding and a must for any photographer.
If it were a top ten I would nominate something from Minor White, Harry Callaghan or Eugene Smith, er all black and white pho tographers.
Allan Allison

[Roger Whitehead]

"I once used a word in an essay I later learned is known to .2% of English speakers..."

What was it, "European"? 8-)

Where are the German, French, Italian and Russian photographers? Come to that, how about the Japanese?

Roger

[Chris Livsey]

The Americans, ordered from the publisher arrived today in the UK shrink wrapped. I wondered how much a copy in that condition will bring in a few years? Mine lasted 2mins, the quality, outstanding, the inspiration still so great after 50 years.
Apologies to Don Bryant btw for mentioning this one again.

[Janne]

Any photography books not from the US or about the north American continent? I really, really don't want to sound snarky or anything but this list really feels very, well, "provincial" (don't really know a good word; this feels more negative than necessary). Any conclusion I can get is that 1) either no people other than Americans are good photographers, and no motive is worth photographing unless it's in north America; or 2) you have for some inexplicable reason chosen to ignore most of the world in your quest for photography. Or 3) some other reason? I mean, there _has_ to be a reason why you seem so uninterested in most photography?

[Mike Johnston]

Janne,
The list is provincial simply because I'm an American, I was educated in America, and until recently I bought books mainly from American bookstores. I'd be happy to write about Japanese photography, but I'm not Japanese, I've never been to Japan, I know relatively little about Japanese photography and I'm not conversant with the great Japanese books of the past 50 years. For that information I'm just not a good source, is all.

The list of current titles will be more international.

Mike J.

[Scott Kirkpatrick]

Steidl has brought out a Saul Leiter edition that is wonderful, with both black and white and color, plus some interesting background text.

scott

[Hugh Crawford]

Demotic, you know, the word that describes what it is not. Almost as much a fave as hapax legomenon which describes what it often is.

[kevin]

...'A picture is what it is,' Eggleston says when I ask him why he no longer wishes to talk about individual photographs, 'and I've never noticed that it helps to talk about them, or answer specific questions about them, much less volunteer information in words. It wouldn't make any sense to explain them. Kind of diminishes them. People always want to know when something was taken, where it was taken, and, God knows, why it was taken. It gets really ridiculous. I mean, they're right there, whatever they are.'... The Observer - Out of the Ordinary

full article: http://arts.guardian.co.uk/features/story/0,11710,1268540,00.html

i like that passage.

i'm always suprised at the amount of thinking, interpeting, translating etc that goes on regarding pictures.

[Mike Johnston]

"Almost as much a fave as hapax legomenon which describes what it often is."

Lilith!

Mike J.

[Janne]

"The list is provincial simply because I'm an American, I was educated in America, and until recently I bought books mainly from American bookstores."

Of course. And in addition you've worked a lot with American photo magazines, and thus with American photographers; it's only natural.

But now, with the Internet and all, it's probably easier than ever to delve in to new areas of photography or other regions of the world as source of inspiration. I know I would never have heard of most people you bring up had I not had your blog to read. If there has ever been a good time to stretch oneself - in photography or in any other way - then this is it.

I can't give you any specific recommendations; my interest in photography is materially different from yours, and I'm pretty sure that what most appeals to me will not perk your interest in the same way.

[Janne]

Agh, OK, just one recommendation on a photographic classic, from my home country no less - Lennart Nilsson's "A Child is Born".

http://www.amazon.com/Child-Born-Lennart-Nilsson/dp/0385302371

[Steve R]

I would include something by Eliot Erwitt such as "Snaps" or "Personal Best"

[Adam Richardson]

+1 on the recommendation in an earlier comment for Larry Fink's "Social Graces". One of my favorites, and not as well known as it deserves to be, IMHO.

I recently picked up a book simply called "Paris-New York-Shanghai" by Dutch photographer Hans Eijkelboom. It's interesting for a couple of reasons. First, it's a fascinating anthropological look at three cities, circa early 2000's, with each spread dedicated to a single theme (plaid skirts, grocery bags, babies being carried, etc.). Second, the design of the book itself is ingenious. It's divided into three sections dedicated to each city, and it has two spines so that the book articulates outward. Hard to describe, but fun to play with as the accordian design lets you see all three cities side by side.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1597110442

[cpmmoe]

How about Gypsies by Josef Koudelka?

[dyathink]

Saul Leiter's "Early Color" is a real inspiration for those who love to shoot the street in a way that is more meditative than documentary. Digital types who enjoy a photo that's been hyper-saturated-sharpened-and tweaked to within an inch of its pixelated life will probably not be excited by Leiter. And the price is not always astronomical. I found it one afternoon 6 months ago at Arcana Book Store in Santa Monica, Cal. for $145. And i wasn't even looking.

Speaking of Arcana, an incredible book store if you love photo books. I visit them every Thanksgiving weekend, it's my one birthday gift to myself. http://www.arcanabooks.com/ If you don't find what you're looking for online, they have over 100,000 books in stock so write them and ask.

[Jeff Kott]

Geoff Wittig,

I second your comment about Jeff Brouws work in comparison to that of Stephen Shore.

[Antonis]

While we are on the subject of photography books, it may be of interest to the readers here to take a look at Liz Jobey's blog in the Guardian:
http://tinyurl.com/5wovtb

She is really just reviewing an exhibit of photo books, but in the process offers some food for thought (and inspiration for photo book buyers). Here is an excerpt:

"The history of photography lies in its books. This has been, for over a century and a half, one of the principal ways photographers have presented their own work: edited, sequenced, printed to exacting standards, contextualized by captions and essays which situate them in their own place and time."

Antonis

PS - Mike, your command of the Greek language is outstanding. My favorite: "aesthetically peripatetic". Truly an hapax legomenon...

[Imants]

Saul Leiter sits up there with Robert Bergman as one of the true colourists ......sorta makes Martin Parr look like a B&W photographer dabbling in colour ...................... hmmmn!!

[Lars K. Christensen]

As a few others did, I immediately noticed the extreme US-centric character of your list, Mike. I respect the effort you put into this, and I think your comments on the book you did select are well written and interesting.
However, being educated in America is no excuse for such a narrow viewpoint – after all, you are writing for an international audience here.
I certainly hope that Mr. Bush is not one of your regular readers. Just think how he would use such an excuse: “How could I know that everything would go wrong in Iraq? Oh, somebody suggested that, allready before the invasion you say? Might be, but they were Europeans and I'm born and educated in America...."

Yours respectfully ;-)

[Mike Johnston]

"How about Gypsies by Josef Koudelka?"

cpmmoe,
Hasn't been reissued that I know of, at least not in the U.S.

Believe me, if it ever is, I'll be yelling at people to buy it.

Mike J.

[Mike Johnston]

"...no excuse for such a narrow viewpoint...."

Lars,
The topic is reissues of previously unavailable great books that people can purchase now for no more than retail price. Why don't you propose a list of such reissues by European, African, Asian, South American, Pacific Rim, and Australian photographers?

I'm all ears.

Mike J.

[Grega]

Gypsies by Koudelka is not within reach I'm afraid.

How about Josef Sudek? European and getable.

And I am too waiting for the "it-which-we-must-not-name" book.

[Jason]

Joe McNally was the guest writer on Scott Kelby's blog yesterday, and he gave his list of "best books" there - seems to be a common theme lately. His was pretty extensive, including some names I've never heard of. The one that seems most intriguing is titled "Steam, Steel and Stars" by O. Winston Link. Stop over to http://www.scottkelby.com/blog to read his post and get all the titles.

[Blake Andrews]

Most of the comments seem to have confused this list with a "favorite books" list, which it is not. These are favorite books which have been printed, become hard to find, and then been reissued.

I think this applies to the comments on Saul Leiter's Early Color. Although the photos were shot long ago, they were only recently collected into a book, so it has not really had time to become a classic. However, perhaps ironically, the book has recently gone into a second printing, so you no longer have to pay an exorbitant sum for it. Also, two other books about him have been recently issued. They are all worthwhile. He was a wonderful photographer.

[robert phillips]

"I once used a word in an essay I later learned is known to .2% of English speakers"

Well I, for one, am dying to know what that was.

[Andre Moreau]

Hello Mike,

One photographer that we almost never heard of is Yann Arthus-Bertrand. Yet, this photographer has sold more photography books than any other.

His "Earth From Above" series is one of a kind.

Most of his books are still available at Amazon's in french, english and german.

YouTube has several videos of/about him.

Always a pleasure to read you Mike.

Cheers,
Andre

[Jason Randolph]

One book that absolutely blew me away is Nick Brandt's "On This Earth". It came out in 2005, and it is still a book I return to often. I've never seen such beautiful animal portraits that pack so much emotional punch. I think it deserves more critical attention than it got. It is most definitely a must-have in my eyes.

[David Dyer-Bennet]

Huh; if there's nothing subtle or special going on in Eggleston's photos, then I guess I just dislike them a lot.

The vocabulary here seems mild to me for discussing art (admittedly a topic area that's gotten huge numbers of weird words thrown at it over the years; most of which I don't know). The particular list that was questionied -- I'll use a couple of them in an average week and see most. I live in a house with at least 4 unabridged dictionaries -- and multiple copies of some of them, including at least 3 OEDs. High-verbal people around home! I tend to forget *I* qualify that way, because a lot of my friends are professional writers, editors, and such, far *more* good with words than I am.

[Wedding Albums]

Perfect!!! THanks!!