The photography book is the most lasting medium in which a
photographer can preserve a body of work and share that legacy with
future photographers. This month we review some of the notable
photography books of the year. (Part 1 begins
here; you'll find Part 2 on the
features page of PDNOnline.com
later this month.) We asked some of the photographers whose books
we selected to talk about the photography books that have inspired
them and guided their work.
© scalo / photo by william eggleston
Joshua Lutz
Joshua Lutz says William Eggleston's 2003 book
Los Alamos
was often in his mind as he worked on
Meadowlands
(powerHouse), his book exploring another mistreated and maligned
environment. "Not all the images in that book are from Los Alamos,
but they're all about Los Alamos. When I started thinking more and
more about this [Meadowlands] project, and when it moved away from
being a documentary project, I started thinking about
Los
Alamos and how you can have a project be about a place, and not
be a document of a place. I don't think of
Los Alamos as a
document of a place. It's all subjective, but Eggleston is as
subjective as it gets."
Lutz says that in putting together his book, he was influenced by
musical albums—"where you have these little songs that may not be
the hits, but it's those little songs that fill in the blanks"—as
well as by the design of
Los Alamos, in which all the images
are printed on right-hand pages. "For the most part, that's the
layout of my book, but I wanted to have these breaks in there.
Returning to the idea of an album, you have a beat going, but to
get you off that expectation, you're turning the page and expect an
image there, but there isn't and it makes you re-think your
expectation of what comes next."
© harry n. abrams, Inc. / photo by richard
avedon
Steve Bloom
"Choosing a single all-time favorite photography book is an
impossible task, because there are so many photographers and
artists whose work has influenced my approach to photography,"
notes nature and wildlife photographer Steve Bloom, whose latest
book is
Living Africa (Thames & Hudson). "My signed,
first-edition 1985 copy of Richard Avedon's In the
American
West has always enraptured me. For several years he
photographed people on the edge: miners, drifters, oil workers. My
favorites include a shirtless beekeeper covered in bees, and a boy
holding a rifle.
"Beautifully constructed with minimalist design, the photographs
have a radiant power that draws the viewer right in, connecting the
viewer with the subjects. The book's reproduction is stunning.
Printing techniques have improved in leaps and bounds since it was
first published 23 years ago, yet it compares favorably to the best
around today. The immense care and attention that went into its
creation is so clearly evident on every page. This type of book
engenders my love of photography. Great photographs stand the test
of time. In the
American West is a fine collection of such
work."
© knopf / photo by frank hurley
Walter Martin and Paloma Muñoz
The photography duo who created the book
Travelers,
featuring images of tiny figurines enacting sometimes terrifying
scenes within the wintry landscape of snow globes, picked
The
Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition. This
nonfiction book by Caroline Alexander is extensively illustrated
with images by the Australian photographer Frank Hurley.
"It tells the real story of Sir Ernest Shackleton and his crew's
calamitous expedition to Antarctica in
The Endurance, a
three-mast steam ship, in the year 1915. The expedition's
photographer was Frank Hurley. He documented the whole expedition
but he was only able to save some of his glass plate negatives, an
album of photos he had already printed and 20 Paget color
transparencies. Many of these photographs document life on board
before the wreck but he also documented the Antarctic landscape and
the misadventures of
The Endurance's crew after disaster
struck. Sometimes he would go to great lengths to take a picture of
The Endurance. The images he was able to salvage have a
special resonance for us. Their singular beauty and
otherworldliness is underscored by the utter desolation of their
situation. They are inimitable and very inspirational for us."
End Frame: Book Learning
Nov 3, 2008
The photography book is the most lasting medium in which a photographer can preserve a body of work and share that legacy with future photographers. This month we review some of the notable photography books of the year. (Part 1 begins
here; you'll find Part 2 on the
features page of PDNOnline.com later this month.) We asked some of the photographers whose books we selected to talk about the photography books that have inspired them and guided their work.
© scalo / photo by william eggleston
Joshua Lutz
Joshua Lutz says William Eggleston's 2003 book
Los Alamos was often in his mind as he worked on
Meadowlands (powerHouse), his book exploring another mistreated and maligned environment. "Not all the images in that book are from Los Alamos, but they're all about Los Alamos. When I started thinking more and more about this [Meadowlands] project, and when it moved away from being a documentary project, I started thinking about
Los Alamos and how you can have a project be about a place, and not be a document of a place. I don't think of
Los Alamos as a document of a place. It's all subjective, but Eggleston is as subjective as it gets."
Lutz says that in putting together his book, he was influenced by musical albums—"where you have these little songs that may not be the hits, but it's those little songs that fill in the blanks"—as well as by the design of
Los Alamos, in which all the images are printed on right-hand pages. "For the most part, that's the layout of my book, but I wanted to have these breaks in there. Returning to the idea of an album, you have a beat going, but to get you off that expectation, you're turning the page and expect an image there, but there isn't and it makes you re-think your expectation of what comes next."
© harry n. abrams, Inc. / photo by richard avedon
Steve Bloom
"Choosing a single all-time favorite photography book is an impossible task, because there are so many photographers and artists whose work has influenced my approach to photography," notes nature and wildlife photographer Steve Bloom, whose latest book is
Living Africa (Thames & Hudson). "My signed, first-edition 1985 copy of Richard Avedon's In the
American West has always enraptured me. For several years he photographed people on the edge: miners, drifters, oil workers. My favorites include a shirtless beekeeper covered in bees, and a boy holding a rifle.
"Beautifully constructed with minimalist design, the photographs have a radiant power that draws the viewer right in, connecting the viewer with the subjects. The book's reproduction is stunning. Printing techniques have improved in leaps and bounds since it was first published 23 years ago, yet it compares favorably to the best around today. The immense care and attention that went into its creation is so clearly evident on every page. This type of book engenders my love of photography. Great photographs stand the test of time. In the
American West is a fine collection of such work."
© knopf / photo by frank hurley
Walter Martin and Paloma Muñoz
The photography duo who created the book
Travelers, featuring images of tiny figurines enacting sometimes terrifying scenes within the wintry landscape of snow globes, picked
The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition. This nonfiction book by Caroline Alexander is extensively illustrated with images by the Australian photographer Frank Hurley.
"It tells the real story of Sir Ernest Shackleton and his crew's calamitous expedition to Antarctica in
The Endurance, a three-mast steam ship, in the year 1915. The expedition's photographer was Frank Hurley. He documented the whole expedition but he was only able to save some of his glass plate negatives, an album of photos he had already printed and 20 Paget color transparencies. Many of these photographs document life on board before the wreck but he also documented the Antarctic landscape and the misadventures of
The Endurance's crew after disaster struck. Sometimes he would go to great lengths to take a picture of
The Endurance. The images he was able to salvage have a special resonance for us. Their singular beauty and otherworldliness is underscored by the utter desolation of their situation. They are inimitable and very inspirational for us."
