Photographers books

[analogaddict]

Hello everyone.

I want to create a sort of library about photography.
Which books do you think are the one that every photographer should have?

Thank you.
Ryan

 

[Valerie]

Do you want manuals/ how- to books, or images/ monographs?

My library must-haves include both: anything Tim Rudman wrote, Way Beyond Monochrone by Ralph Lambrect, Creative Black&White Photography by Les McLean, A World History ofPhotography by Rosenblum. Artists: Sally Mann, Keith Carter, Joyce Tennison, Michael Kenna, Annie Liebovitz, Henri Cartier Bresson, just to name a few

 

[36cm2]

Very tough question. Here's something you might find interesting:

http://theonlinephotographer.typepad.com/the_online_photographer/the-10-to-25-books.html

 

[Jim Jones]

Do you want manuals/ how- to books, or images/ monographs? . . .

Yes, indeed. For photographers who develop and print black & white, Ralph Lambrecht and Chis Woodhouse's Way Beyond Monochrome might be the most useful and inspiring book. Any of the Ansel Adams technical books on photography are also good, and give insight into one master's work. With an interest in both photography and history, I frequently refer to A World History of Photography by Naomi Rosenblum. To appreciate both style and photographic quality of black & white portraiture, try fo find an original photogravure copy, not the later lithographed copies, of Portraits of Greatness by Yousuf Karsh. His biography and autobiography are interesting, too.

Ryan, let us know your main interests, and we can help you in detail.

36cm2, great link!

 

[Frank C]

Walker Evans : First and Last, Harper & Row
Edward Weston: Photographer, Aperture
Ernst Haas: In America, Viking
Photography In America: Greenwich House
W. Eugene Smith: Aperture
Ansel Adams: Yosemite, Time Life Books
DeMeyer: Knopf
Disfarmer: Addison House

 

[holmburgers]

Andreas Feininger's Books

Darkroom Techniques (Volumes I & II)
The Complete Photographer
Photographic Seeing
to name a few

 

[Jeff Kubach]

The Ansel Adams Guide, Basic Techniques of Photography, Book 2.

Jeff

 

[Mike Wilde]

This is too broad a subject. Art History, Photo History, contemporary images, equipment manuals, film processing and printing guides, alternative process guides and monographs?

I have about 10 lineal bookshelf feet of photo related books at the moment, as well as another 3' of a 1965 photgraphic encyclopedia set. I just feel I am scratching the surface with this many at times.

There is a guy in the Toronto are who buys up estates of jewellery, precious metals, militaria, and photo gear who then flips a lot to sell online.

oI saw an ad in the local Craigslist that he has a garage full of photo boks that he wants to shift for $500 obo. I am resisting it.

 

[holmburgers]

http://gary.saretzky.com/photobooks/browse.html

A few good books available here.

 

[jeffreyg]

I have over two hundred books mainly of photographs as opposed to how to. I only collect books that I like rather than ones that are best sellers. There are websites that you can preview some of the books. I would start with the works of photographers you like to see unless it is technique or equipment that is of interest.

http://www.jeffreyglasser.com/

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

There are certain technical books that are considered classics - the Ansel Adams Camera/Negative/Print trio, the Henry Horenstein Basic Black& White Photography and Beyond Basic Photography volumes. Depending on your interests, there are plenty of other technical books worth owning, from Theresa Airey's Creative Photo Printmaking to the Tim Rudman books on Lith printing if you're interested in silver gelatin enlarging. If alternative processes are your bent, the Christopher James Book of Alternative Photographic Processes and the John Barnier Coming Into Focus volumes are good overviews. Gordon Hutchings' Book of Pyro is a great volume on using Pyro developers for film. Dick Arentz' Platinum and Palladium Printing and Sullivan and Weese's The New Platinum Print are single-process must-have books if you want to print in platinum/palladium. Depending on your interests, you can go really far down the garden path into specific areas like wet plate collodion.

There are too many good books to even begin listing studio lighting tomes, so I won't even try.

When it comes to photographers, ignore the herd and collect work by people who interest you. Spend time in your local bookstore - I'm sure there is an equivalent in Boston to The Strand/Moe's/Green Apple/Second Story Books that has a broad and deep photo section. If you see something that perks your interest visually, buy it and keep looking it over to understand what it is about it that attracts your interest.

 

[removed-user-1]

Here are three of my personal favorites.

Latent Image (Beaumont Newhall)
The Tao of Photography (Philippe L. Gross and S.I. Shapiro)
Highway: America's Endless Dream (Photographs by Jeff Brouws)

 

[Newt_on_Swings]

Please refer to this thread, or even merge:

(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

I would also recommend a few basics to buy on the cheap used:

Horenstien's B&W photography
Looten's on photographic enlarging
Introduction to photography by Rosen
Langford's Starting photography is another good primer, nice illustrations

 

[nesterovsmith]

Apart from the obvious Ansel Adams's set, The Negative, The Camera and The Print ...
I can recommend The Art of Photography: An Approach to Personal Expression by Bruce Barnbaum

 

[airgunr]

Here's another one I would recommend. John Hedgecoe's "The Manual of Photography"

 

[Dali]

The question is to broad to get a right answer. If you are interested by the technical aspect of photography, yes the AA set is a must have.

If you are more interested in pictures, there is no clear answer, it depends on you taste. Due to you avatar, I would recommend the Diane Arbus Aperture monography.

 

[rudolf]

I wrote couple of times on the internet about books with photography as a main subject, but I try not to mention technical ones.
In my opinion photographer should seek for books in which photography is a process or way of life.
So:
La Nuit américaine
On Photography
Camera Lucida
The Big Picture
These are examples, if any of you like it, I'll write more.