Favorite Photography Related Books
I recently checked out some books from the library about photography and have really been enjoying them. The one I just finished was called "Photography: The Definitive Visual History". It's full of photos and facts about the early beginnings of photography, and I found it equal parts inspiring and fascinating.
It got me thinking about what other classic photography related books I should pick up at some time. These could be technique books you enjoyed in college/on your own study, photography and stories you found inspiring, some documentary index about old lenses... haha, whatever!
What have you read and enjoyed?
50 portraits by Gregory Heisler is absolutely incredible. Proof that gear doesn't matter... Or does it? Lots of 4x5 film, and a TON of imagination - not just shallow depth of field (which is the de-facto for portraits these days - 85mm at 1.4). Lots of information regarding his thought processes and lighting, as well as good storytelling.
The art of adventure by Bruce Percy is another favourite - beautiful, often minimalist, landscapes with some really wonderful portraits too. Super inspiring.
Quote from ThePrettyDamned on June 17, 2022, 8:39 am50 portraits by Gregory Heisler is absolutely incredible. Proof that gear doesn't matter... Or does it? Lots of 4x5 film, and a TON of imagination - not just shallow depth of field (which is the de-facto for portraits these days - 85mm at 1.4). Lots of information regarding his thought processes and lighting, as well as good storytelling.
The art of adventure by Bruce Percy is another favourite - beautiful, often minimalist, landscapes with some really wonderful portraits too. Super inspiring.
Great recommendations! 50 Portraits is one I've heard about, so thanks for the reminder. My library doesn't have it but I'll look around in the used book stores and see if I can't pick it up sometime. I was flipping through an article about the book and I have seen all the portraits it showed off! Didn't know the photographer, but knew the pictures.
The Art of Adventure looks hard to find! Library doesn't have it, none on eBay, Amazon books has one at $1,000 :O. I'll keep an eye out on that one too.
I started chasing some work by Ernst Haas, documentary kind of style photographer and pioneer in color photography. On a different vein I also checked out some books by a Frans Lanting for some wildlife photography from the film era and into digital. We complain so much about AF and forget people I've been doing wildlife photography with low sensitivity films, no sensor stabilization, and manual focus. I figure I could learn a thing or two from that.
Anything by Freeman Patterson is great. I have two of his books, Photography for the Joy of It, and Photography and the Art of Seeing. They came out in the 70s, and have a very 70s style to them, but I like that, as I feel the 1970s were a great time for the aesthetics of photography. Patterson has some excellent insights into the more philosophical aspects of things.
For street photography enthusiasts, Bystander: A History of Street Photography is excellent. It's a huge tome which delves quite deeply and in a readable, scholarly style into the origin story and the trends of the medium.
I just read a free e-book called "Mastering Composition in Digital Photography" published by the now defunct FreeDigitalPhotographyTutorials.com
This is a pretty straightforward and fast read. For anyone who has studied photography at all, a lot of the concepts will be known. Even so, I found it very worthwhile and a good reminder of the rules around good composition. I thought it was well written.
You'll have to track it down on the web. Search for "Mastering Composition in Digital Photography pdf download"
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