Thomas Walsh asked:
I always enjoy the 'Book o' the Week' as well as the links to books by the photographers that you write about. I had no knowledge of Jerry Uelsmann and found his work interesting. I also enjoyed the blog on Ernst Haas. My question is, of your personal collection of books dealing with photography or photographers, which ten would you want if you were on that proverbial desert island? Thank you.
Hmm, interesting. I have a friend who hates lists, because he feels they promote a mindset that's antithetical to openness to new things. Ranking things, in his view, trivializes and reduces them. But I have a weakness for lists—they're fun for me, in an indulgent, sort of squirrelly way. So I'll attempt it. These are just my personal favorites, though. And only "as books"—this isn't a list of either my favorite photographers, or the top photographers I would necessarily recommend other people get to know. The list is all B&W and all social documentary, for one thing, albeit often with artistic and expressive flair.
It's not very up to the present. My "active period" as a photographer lasted at best 23 years, from 1980 to 2003. I lost my darkroom in 2000, and bought my first digital camera in 2003. Of course I started photographing at age seven and was out shooting a few days ago, but that 23 year figure is accurate. I had more success writing about it than doing it, and we tend to migrate into doing what we are rewarded for.
Most of the books here are ones I learned something from—work I engaged with because it related to my work, or at least my aspirations for my work. So there's no attempt here to create a survey or to be inclusive or anything else of that sort. Also, I can only recommend editions I've seen. Sometimes reprints can be as good as or better than the original, sometimes much worse. You have to check. In no particular order:
Lee Friedlander, Like a One-Eyed Cat. Readily available used.
Hank O'Neal at al., Eds., A Vision Shared: A Classic Portrait of America and Its People, 1935–1943. Whoa, it's been reprinted! I didn't know that. The best collection of the work of the Farm Security Administration photographers of the Great Depression. I haven't seen the reprint; I have the 1976 edition. If anyone has seen the reprint I'd be very interested in your estimation of its qualities. This should be a Book o' the Week assuming it's well done. But you can't assume.
Aperture magazine issue 111: Swimmers, available in hardcover. I believe this was edited by Nan Richardson; my copy's in the barn so I can't look. An obscure choice, but you asked.
Josef Koudelka, Exiles. I'm not currently up on the various editions; the one I have is from Aperture, 1988, the American version of the one published in Europe by Robert Delpire.
Helen Levitt, Crosstown (PowerHouse, 2001). Note that Ms. Levitt didn't like this book—she didn't want to sign my copy!
Henri Cartier-Bresson, Photographer (in print for many years and through several editions from Bulfinch). Looks like this has been reprinted too, by Prestel, in 2020. Haven't seen the reprint. The ideal collection, the ideal introduction to him.
Keith F. Davis, Ed., Multitude, Solitude: The Photographs of Dave Heath (Nelson Atkins, 2015). I love this book so much I'm kind of afraid to look at it too much. Lots of my favorite books show too much wear. I should have bought two. Masterful work, masterful book. I'm a great admirer of Keith's books in general, but this is his masterpiece I should think.
Peter Galassi, Ed., Roy DeCarava: A Retrospective (MoMA, 1996). Roy's original prints are actually so extreme in his chosen style (he deliberately printed dark and murky—combine that with the current fashion for tepid, wan lighting in museums and you get disaster) that this book is a rare case of reproductions being better than originals IMO. These reproductions look like originals under strong light, something possibly no one will see ever again. Hyperbole? Perhaps. Get the book. Forced to pick one all-time favorite photobook, this would be the one.
Vanessa Winship, Schwarzes Meer (Mare, 2007). Never available in the U.S.A. Text in German. A portrait from peacetime of the region of the world currently being torn apart by war. Pure shooting of great genius.
Jeffrey Fraenkel, Ed., Seeing Things (DAP, 1995). I like all of Jeffrey Fraenkel's collections, but this one remains a favorite.
Be cautious reading too much into all this. To be taken with a grain of salt as they say. The full list of books I treasure for various reasons would easily be over 100, and a "ten most recommended" list would be completely different from this one. Also, I could easily put together a ten best of color photography, a ten best of photo history, a ten best of readings, a ten best of surveys (only two on this list), a ten best of snapshots and "found" photography, and off we go, merrily.
A friend—actually I forget who, maybe Mark L. Power or Frank DiPerna, both gone now, both among my teachers—bruited the concept of a "sponge period," that time of life when we're soaking stuff up, curious, questing, intense, intent. I'm older now, and know what I know. I still love new work and I still love photobooks, but I have to admit that I seldom engage with books now like I did when I was armed with Tri-X and a 35mm camera and could make prints; for years now I've been thinking of others more than of myself. But that's as it should be, so it's all all right.
Mike
Book o' the Week:
Ernst Haas: New York in Color 1952–1962. "When Haas moved from Vienna to New York City in 1951, he left behind a war-torn continent and a career producing black-and-white images. For Haas, the new medium of color photography was the only way to capture a city pulsing with energy and humanity. These images demonstrate Haas's tremendous virtuosity and confidence with Kodachrome film and the technical challenges of color printing."
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Featured Comments from:
David Mackenzie: "I have the 2019 edition of A Vision Shared. The quality of the book is excellent from the binding to the text to the quality of the image reproduction. I haven’t seen an earlier version so I can’t do a comparison, but this edition is excellent."
The last time I was asked about photography books, this was my list:
On Being a Photographer: A Practical Guide. Bill Jay and David Hurn
On Looking at Photographs: A Practical Guide. Bill Jay and David Hurn
Examples: The Making of 40 Photographs. Ansel Adams
Born Free and Equal. Ansel Adams
I can't say they'll help anyone else, but I learned the most from them.
Posted by: William A Lewis | Monday, 11 April 2022 at 01:12 PM
OK, I'll bite... Rather than (re)exhume the all time greatest hits, yet again- let's try some recent, more than worthy, lesser known greats (in no particular order):
1) American Parade- George Georiou
2) Somewhere Along The Line- Joshua D. Greer
3) The Island Position- John Lehr
4) American Interiors- ML Casteel
5) HouseRaising- Ira Wagner
6) The Last Stop- Ryann Ford
7) Four Seasons Total Landscaping- Brian Rose
8) Middle England- John Meyers
9) Bad Driving- Louis Porter
10) Fluffy Clouds- Jurgen Nefzger
Posted by: Stan B. | Monday, 11 April 2022 at 01:40 PM
Interesting to see Levitt's crosstown. The cover is B&W whilst many photos (as far as I can tell) are in colour, something I thought (was told?) is a no-no in photo-books. It'd be interesting to see how it works!
Posted by: stelios | Monday, 11 April 2022 at 03:35 PM
Mike,—I like your list. Some additional choices from my bookshelf in the category of black and white monographs: Fan Ho, “Hong Kong Yesterday”; Mary Ellen Mark, “Exposure”; David and Peter Turnley, “In Times of War and Peace”; Elliott Erwitt, “Personal Best”; Jane Bown, “Faces”; Michael Kenna, “A Twenty Year Retrospective”; Harold Feinstein, “A Retrospective”; Vivian Maier, “Street Photographer”; Garry Winogrand, “Figments from the Real World”; Sebastiao Salgado, “Migrations”; Bruce Davidson, “Outside Inside”.
Posted by: Steve Rosenblum | Monday, 11 April 2022 at 09:39 PM
Thanks for the list Mike, definitely some new ones for me to check out. I too love your books of the week. I bought your recommended book, “Photowork: Forty Photographers on Process and Practice” by Sasha Wolf. I have to say it’s been a highly educational and intimate look into the work and working styles of a whole range of photographers mostly new to me. A revelation, in short. Just like your blog, it’s mostly about photography, but sometimes not, and I for one enjoy the variety.
Posted by: Chris Kilkes | Tuesday, 12 April 2022 at 01:35 AM
And where are the Italians? Where is a giant like Berengo Gardin? Where the architecture photographer, Gabriele Basilico? It's not just the Americans who goof around with a camera.
[Why are you interested in Italians? I assume it's because you're Italian. Well, I'm American, aren't I? So that's why there are more Americans on my list--that's where I grew up, that's whose books were available, that's who I heard about. It's not a plot.
You could provide us with a list of outstanding books by Italian photographers. I'd like that. --Mike]
Posted by: bessi | Tuesday, 12 April 2022 at 02:15 AM
"A ten best of color photography, a ten best of photo history, a ten best of readings, a ten best of surveys, a ten best of snapshots and "found" photography.."
Yes please;-)
Posted by: JOHN BOUR | Tuesday, 12 April 2022 at 02:41 AM
Liked some of these picks, the DeCarava especially---but it's $500. Too bad, sounds like one I'd like to have. But I was especially drawn this morning to your "sponge" period and its contrasting "I'm older now, and know what I know." That's pretty much how I feel these days. But I think there's a good reason for this: you can't just keep sponging as an artist. Eventually, you've got to "get down to it". And that's what I've done in my practice, and it has paid dividends (well, not "paid" as in cash, sadly..).
Posted by: Tex Andrews | Tuesday, 12 April 2022 at 08:41 AM
Hi Mike - I just bought “A Vision Shared” by Hank O’Neal et al based on your suggestion. It’s a perfect book for me because of my interest in photography AND this time period in American history. Steidl is the publisher and so I expected high quality. It’s good, maybe even very good, but not great. I’ve seen better black points in other books. But it could also be the actual photographs. I will be keeping the book for sure. It is so full of compelling photographs about a unique time in our history. The quality is easily good enough for this to be a book that many will enjoy. I know I will. Thanks for the list!
Posted by: Brian Reitenauer | Tuesday, 12 April 2022 at 09:24 PM
On Exiles, I think I have the same edition as you have. But I have two editions of Gypsies, Both with Aperture and MOMA sponsorship. The first appeared in 1975. The second is very different, enlarged in size and scope (more pictures), with prints made by Voja Mitrovic and printed by Steidl. The second edition's prints have a charcoal drawing tonality (and suffer from occasional bouts of gutter disease). The softer prints bring out fascinating extra details. I would guess that the photographer who approved them, forty years later, had changed. The style of the later edition of Gypsies is more consistent with the look of Koudelka's retrospective volume, and with his recent The Wall.
Posted by: scott kirkpatrick | Tuesday, 12 April 2022 at 09:49 PM
The problem that some of us have is that we consider ourselves to still be in that “sponge” period when it is clearly behind us. Thus the 50 boxes ‘o books in my living room awaiting the Second Story Books truck. Twenty more boxes are moving with me!
Posted by: Dave Mullen | Friday, 15 April 2022 at 10:50 AM