The Coffee-Table Book of Camera Porn

Omigod (as my students used to say nonstop). How did I ever resist this? Stumbled across it at the bookstore yesterday. Had to set anti-impulse-purchase shields on high. A gorgeous, dazzling, and actually pretty darn good coffee table book of camera porn, it's a big, sumptuously-produced, lavishly illustrated book of pictures of cameras. (U.K. link.) The book's own subtitle gets it quite wrong: it's not a history of photography at all, it's a history of cameras—a splendid, broad parade, hitting all the high points, covering the peaks from the earliest pre-1839 beginnings to the Leica M8. In many cases, the pictures of cameras are shown next to photographs taken with them or that might have been taken with something very similar: for instance, Joe Rosenthal's own Speed Graphic is shown next to his photograph of the raising of Old Glory at Iwo Jima. If your photography hobby leans toward an interest in cameras—or, equally, if you actually have an empty space on your coffee table (and if that's true I have not been doing my job)—then this might be for you.

It has a bit of scholarly weight behind it, too, since it's a production of the George Eastman House, one of the best photography museums in the United States and one of the few that has assiduously collected cameras.

One I could not resist is Danny Lyon's Memories of Myself, which I finally bought. Not yesterday; ten days ago, from Amazon. Regular readers of this site are well aware that I'm constantly going on about how you can support the site by buying stuff from Amazon through our links—baby buggies, Weber grills, power drills, doesn't matter what—but what you might not know is that, with very few exceptions, I almost never earn enough from the sales of any particular book to actually pay for a copy of that book. For example, I wrote about Eugen Herrigel's book Zen in the Art of Archery the other day, and readers bought 14 copies of it through the link, actually quite good for a non-photography title, but the proceeds on my end don't amount to what the book costs (I already own that one, though). The point is simply that I still have to watch my book purchases carefully, and buy only what I really want. Alas, TOP World Headquarters is not awash in a sea of the latest books, implications to the contrary notwithstanding.

I've mentioned Memories of Myself several times, but I didn't own it when I mentioned it. A used bookstore near where I live had a copy, and I first saw it there and subsequently stopped in several times to "visit" it—i.e., page through it while sitting on one of those funky little rolling stools that you find in bookstore and libraries. (Don't worry about whether browsing the merchandise is ethical or not—believe me, I do my part to support that store.) Anyway, on my fourth time through, the book was gone—somebody had bought it. After another week or two had passed, I decided I was still thinking about it and that this was another one I couldn't live without, so to speak. So I dropped the bucks for my very own copy. (And no, to answer another common question, I can't order from Amazon through my own links.)

So how is it, now that I own it? Well, I don't know. It came five days ago, but I've left it in its shrink wrap. Why? Partly because I like confluence. There's a right time for everything—I spent my day off yesterday shopping for a bicycle, which seemed to make it a good time to watch The Bicycle Thief on DVD last night. And partly just to savor that peculiar but familiar mix of anticipation and feared disappointment...sometimes it's happened that I enjoy exploring a book by paging through it a few times, but find on closer study that it's really not quite as good as it seemed. (That happened with this book, for one. I initially thought it was wonderful, but as I began to deconstruct my reaction for a potential review and "look at it through other peoples' eyes," I realized that much of its richness was coming from what I was bringing to it—that is, from the fact that I knew the work of many of the "heroes" covered in it deeply and intimately before I ever turned the first page. What the book was doing was reminding me of all that, not necessarily providing enough evidence of it for people who would come to the book's subjects cold.) On the other hand, once you get to know a book it can seem even richer and more wonderful when you finally sit down and get to grips with it. You know, like the way you sometimes hear a cut of music five or six times and then, a few weeks or months later, encounter it again and really listen to it, and really hear it, for the first time. I strongly suspect that will happen with Memories of Myself.

I think the reason I like the book so much is that it gave me a clearer picture of Lyon as an artist and photographer than I'd had before. I have The Bikeriders, and I knew of one or two of his other projects, but I really didn't know much about the broader reach of his work. What Memories of Myself did was to give me a more democratic overview, and it raises him in my esteem—he's better than I knew previously.

I'll keep you posted on Danny. So far this is one of the books of the season for me, but I'll know more when the plastic comes off.

Mike

P.S. As I mentioned before, this is another book with a misleading-verging-on-wrong subtitle. They're photo-essays (with little written introductions), not essays. Two different things.

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Comments

[John Camp]

I love the fact that you live in Wisconsin and are shopping for a bike in late September. It shows some faith in the concept that Spring always arrives, sooner or later, and that you'll be there to see it.

[TomP]

Ooohhhh..camera porn...

Just ordered it through the TOP link you provided. Free shipping, such a deal.

[Ken Tanaka]

Danny Lyon is a name that looms large here at the Art Institute of Chicago. Hugh Edwards, the curator of photography at the AIC during the 1960's, took a real shine to Lyon and helped shine a well-deserved national light on his work. The AIC has a wonderful collection of his work as a result. A good friend and neighbor knew Lyon in the day and also has a nice collection of his prints. (I always eagerly accept his invitations to visit!)

[fotorr]

Choose a Trek-made in WI. Mine worked well for BPB.

[yemado]

Mike–I did the same with the Danny Lyon book at my local bookstore the other day. I agree, it's quite good, as is he. I was thrown by the subtitle, too, yet I wonder it's his choice–making a statement about WHAT his work is trying to express, rather than HOW it expresses that.

In case you didn't see it, there was an article in the New York Times a couple of months ago about him and this book. Seems it wasn't his first choice, came about as part of a deal. Good deal for him, to get another book published, and for Phaidon, too, as I'm sure this will sell much better than any individual [photo-]essay.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/26/arts/design/26kenn.html

[Ottawa Wedding Photographer]

Thanks for the information I am going to buy one

[Geoff Wittig]

About a week ago my wife was attempting to educate me about the finer points of perfumes and how to distinguish the good from the...not so good. (Understand, my spouse is frugal to the point of pain, so we're still talking very inexpensive fragrances; but the point remains). Turns out it's quite easy to craft a perfume that carries a head-turning and pleasant "opening" to get your attention. It's much, much harder to create one delivering a complex, lasting fragrance that's still a delight hours later.

The same thing is true with photo books. There are plenty of them out there with an attractive cover and enough initial appeal to tempt one to open the wallet. But the books that have staying power, that I find myself pulling off the shelf and studying time after time...that's a much shorter list. Of course, my list of such books is sure to be different than Mike's, or yours. But a small fraction of the books I encounter in a given year really rise above the mass. Whether it's a genuinely new way of looking at the world, or a consistently excellent body of work, or simply a work of art in book form, they're the ones that make it worth slogging through the disappointments.

[Paul]

Fotorr,

Actually Trek bikes are actually made in Taiwan like almost all other bikes produced in the world. But that's ok, the quality of Taiwanese bikes are far higher than people often think. Indeed, arguably they make almost all of the best bikes in the world, including most of those ridden by world class road, cross country, downhill and BMX riders. But each to their own.

[scott kirkpatrick]

I agree with the comment that "essay" reflects intention as much as method. If you look at the evolution of Lyon's work from Bikeriders through the Texas prisons to the recent "Like a Thief's Dream" his pictures become fewer and fewer. Their place is taken by the subjects' own words and pictures. He talks in "Memories" about passing out photos that he hopes will live on for years into the future, but apparently any photo that has shown such life now carries the meaning he is looking for.

The one outlier is the "Destruction of Lower Manhattan", recently reissued with an afterword that fits into the style and tone of the "Memories" volume. He seems to have been terribly conflicted over that work, and raced away from it to the subjects that were closer to his heart.

scott

[Mike]

Mmmmm, nice looking book. I'm a sucker for collecting old Canon cameras and enjoyed a book on the history of Canon cameras so I think I'll add this book to my Amazon wish list

[sporobolus]

your affiliate link above to The Last Photographic Heroes goes to a "version" of the book that is not sold direct by Amazon, and that is $5 higher for a new copy than Amazon's price

[James Liu]

Mike,

If you think camera review ethics are dodgy, you should see book reviewers. Publishers never want the book back (because books lent to reviewers are like bubble gum and destroyers, they're never in any kind of condition when they're done) and then unscrupulous reviewers will go ahead and sell them to The Strand, which as a shelf full of uncorrected proofs, sometimes untouched.

That said, I suspect photo book publishers would be happy to flood TOP headquarters with uncorrected proofs if you sent them your address.