What's on your bookshelf?

Shocking...who would do such a thng? ^^^^:D
 
Here are some of mine:



My favourites are 'Land' by Fay Godwin, which is a classic volume and 'With Trees' by Dav Thomas, which is just wonderful (see: http://withtrees.co.uk/). I also really like 'Snowdonia Revisited' by John Clow. I borrowed it from the library the other day and genuinely think that it's the best series of photographs of Snowdonia that I've ever come across - wonderfully atmospheric and well crafted black and white prints taken on a Hasselblad. I will definitely have to try and find more of his work.
 
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I've got a 70s copy of The Nikon and Nikkormat Way (Herbert Kepler), and that's about it. I do have a lot of other books though, probably far too many, although they're in storage at the moment. About half of them are history/military history related - not coffee table stuff - and there are many overlaps, but I like historical photographs and I'm happy to buy more books to get a few I don't already have.

My father was a child in Glasgow before and during the First World War, and it's quite sobering to think that this was around 100 years ago. He used to tell me stories about growing up there when I was a kid, but I don't think I really understood what he was saying until many years later, when I studied photographs of the city in that period. It was an indescribably different world and fascinates me.
 
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Apart from the joy of looking at such wonderful books and the photos in them, do folk think the books help them in their own photography? I ask as someone who doesn't own any, but is wondering about birthday present lists, etc!
 
ChrisR said:
... do folk think the books help them in their own photography?
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No, but they do serve as a reminder of my own photographic ineptitude & incompetence.
 
Oh... (not that I agree with the sentiment as stated, but perhaps as a reminder of the gulf between the developing amateur and the consummate professional?).

Why would anyone pay good money to feel bad?:(:(:(
 
ChrisR said:
Oh... (not that I agree with the sentiment as stated, but perhaps as a reminder of the gulf between the developing amateur and the consummate professional?).

Why would anyone pay good money to feel bad?:(:(:(
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It's the photographic equivalent of the hair shirt :LOL:
 
Well both the Joe Cornish and Charlie Waite books have arrived and they are both excellent. The JC book is his Scottish Mountain photos with lots of interesting reading about how he took each shot, mainly it appears on large format cameras. The CW book is just black and white shots, 1 per page with a blank opposite page with the title of the image, I've only had a quick look but there are some luvverly shots in it so far.

Andy
 
Oh, and I now feel far more photographically challenged than I did before I bought them, thanks for starting the thread Nick...:punch:
 
ChrisR said:
Apart from the joy of looking at such wonderful books and the photos in them, do folk think the books help them in their own photography? I ask as someone who doesn't own any, but is wondering about birthday present lists, etc!
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Yes. There are things that you simply can't try out for yourself, and books can show you what's possible with equipment that you don't own, and can do things that you can't do with what you have. I'm thinking very particularly of large format camera here, which make things possible that you can't do with a DSLR. Not even in Photoshop.

There are also things that you'll probably never pick up for yourself, that books can help with. If you read "The Photograph" by Clarke (see my earlier post) you'll almost certainly learn things that you never knew and which could be of great help. That's if you manage to finish it - I found it a task to do so. So, it does depend on your motivation as well. Reading has introduced me to a lot of topics photographically in which I have almost zero interest; but knowledge about those topics has enabled me to see a way of approaching things that do interest me. You just have to read the boring bits as carefully as the parts that excite you.

Books like Ansel Adams "The making of 40 photographs" let you see how others think, and what they have taken care to notice. My personal top titles were the ones I originally gave; I still think that all the essential theory can be learned in half in hour, and that will cover 95% of most people's needs; but learning to look - really look - and knowing how to arrange - that takes longer, and is the reason that books on art and perception figure more highly on my list than titles most people would think of as photographic.
 
Andy - if you liked the Joe Cornish book, take a look out for Paul Gallagher's books.
 
ChrisR said:
Apart from the joy of looking at such wonderful books and the photos in them, do folk think the books help them in their own photography? I ask as someone who doesn't own any, but is wondering about birthday present lists, etc!
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Chris, I often thumb through my library of books and analyse, reflect and marvel at the work of others. I would be very surprised if this activity was not influencing me when I am behind the camera. The activity is not a straight forward as simple influence, but at the risk of sounding 'artsy' looking at others work does I believe help create a sense of visual literacy. As Nick says there is also a measure of self critique generated when looking at the work of masters and then reflecting on my own meagre efforts! I don't feel bad about this though, but rather, fired up to achieve more I my own work.
 
Mr Bump said:
I was drinking Kasteel Donker 11% in the Sportsman in Huddersfield but the glass is not correct for the beer :)
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I have a Kasteel glass :beer:
 
alfbranch said:
I have a Kasteel glass :beer:
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I do have at home but its cheeky taking it to pubs and asking them to fill it up :)

is yours the chalice style with the castle base on the stem thingy?
 
so last nights reading was The Station Point by Robert Bourdeau rather nice book that and well worth taking a look at. seeing as most of my books are in boxes at the mo i needed to look at some photography to make sure i was heading in the right direction
 
Ansel Adams - 400 Photographs - This is basically my bible. Countless hours spent pouring over this book.
David Noton - The Full Frame
Ansel Adams - The Camera, The Negative, The Print.

A few of the early LPOTY books as well, though I find these less inspiring.

I have some other photobooks by Adams as well, but I can't remember what they are atm (at work).
 
If anyone is interested in starting printing at home, MW Classic have a copy of Gene Nocon's Photographic Printing for sale at a much more reasonable price than Amazon Marketplace.
 
Here's a few of my books from a shot that I did as part of my 365 challenge last year (y)

I'll hopefully be getting my first film camera (since I was a kid anyway) this weekend so will be looking to add some 35mm and other general photography books to my shelves in the coming months :D


Inspiration by XFile2708, on Flickr
 
i like the sound of the Drive By book, i feel a purchase on the way :)
 
Mr Bump said:
I do have at home but its cheeky taking it to pubs and asking them to fill it up :)

is yours the chalice style with the castle base on the stem thingy?
Click to expand...

Chalice style no castle.
 
XFile2708 said:
Here's a few of my books from a shot that I did as part of my 365 challenge last year (y)

I'll hopefully be getting my first film camera (since I was a kid anyway) this weekend so will be looking to add some 35mm and other general photography books to my shelves in the coming months :D


Inspiration by XFile2708, on Flickr
Click to expand...
I really have to get a copy of Robert Frank's -The Americans
 
I'm not sure if anyone's mentioned this book but I recently acquired my own copy of Keith Carter's Holding Venus after falling in love with his work in the college library 4 years ago. Dreamy, beautiful photographs taken on medium format with interesting focus. Inspiring.
 
So, my kids didn't ask for suggestions before my birthday last month, but my elder sister did, and she got me Ansel Adams Example: the making of 40 photographs. Brilliant! And my younger sister, quite un-prompted, got me the complete Collins Photography Workshop set by Michael Freeman, published in 1988: Camera and Lenses, Film, Light and The Image. That's going to take a lot of reading...
 
I'm really enjoying 400 photographs. I think I'll get Cornish's Scottish mountains when I get paid, just for that splash of colour.

Edit: Oops extra 0, yeah the making of 40 is rather good and also on my list to own rather than continually getting from the library.
 
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I've just finished the Joe Cornish book, lovely. Some excellent shots as you would expect, but I also enjoyed the words as well. Not in depth technique and settings but just well written descriptions of the areas and how he got to them.

Andy
 
Going to bump this thread because well its a good thread.

I got a couple of Fay Godwin's books a few months ago, Our Forbiden Land is excellent not just for the photography but the message about access rights is worth remembering even for those of us too young (and Scottish) to really have been effected by them. I've only given Edge of the Land a perfunctory flick but its approaching the top of my reading list.
 
Loads of folk seem to have the Darkroom Cookbook, how easy do you find getting the chemicals in the UK? It took a lot of searching just to find the catechol for the hombrew pyro developer.
 
I just bought 'How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way' - it's not quite what I expected and I thought about returning it, but I ended up getting a complete refund on my order because amazon logistics are a pile of numpties, so free book! so ill keep it and see. I used to draw a lot as a kid, and im sure I'm not marvel comic artists, I fancied doing some testing of what I can achieve now.

im terrible for actually reading books, I have a couple bought recently, but I have attention span of a gnat so hardly ever read them - ones to read are Nile Rodgers autobio, 'Iceland defrosted' and 'names for the sea - strangers in iceland' (present)
 
I recently bought On The Portrait And The Moment by Mary Ellen Mark, combination of some excellent photographs and her notes on how they were taken with background context and bits of advice such as how to approach subjects. Great book though there's quite a bit of wasted space in places, a number of half-filled pages that provide separation of the images and doesn't clutter; not really a downside, more something I wasn't expecting.

I have a number of photo books scattered around the place, I really need to tidy up and sort out a proper spot on the shelf for them.
 
I'm poor because I buy books....
 
I missed Steildl re-issue of The Decisive Moment a few months ago. But they are currently printing more, so I must ensure I get one.
 
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