Beat Your Cold Weather Woes: Bundle Up with a Book!

Subzero temperatures do not make for the best shooting weather, even with electronic hand warmers keeping the camera battery nice and toasty and plenty of layers between us and the elements.  When it’s this cold out, there are plenty of ways to keep honing your skills.  If I feel like cooking or baking, I play around with food styling and photography (next week’s post will focus on food photography, so stay tuned!).  This weekend I’d rather curl up with a good book or two.  From my first instructional photo book purchase on concert photography to the wacky photograph collections my mom finds for me, I’ve amassed a bit of a collection and would love to share my favorites with you.

Books make great props, too!

My Top 5 Photography Books

1. Street Photography Now showcases photographers with eyes for the unusual like Raghu Rai and one of my favorites, Matt Stuart (the cover image is one of his).  The hours they spent scouting the streets for interesting compositions and moments that just scream to be photographed result in memorable and often humorous images.  Even if you’re not into the genre, you will appreciate the work that went into this collection.

2. My mother found Believing is Seeing (Observations on the Mysteries of Photography) for me and it immediately landed on my list of favorites!  Taking on issues of ethics in photojournalism, the filmmaker discusses some famous controversial photographs as well as how our beliefs affect what we see in an image.  It is a great combination of philosophy and non-fiction writing that includes informative interviews. 

3. I’m a sucker for biographies of people I admire, so it’s no surprise that Henri Cartier-Bresson: A Biography is on my list.  From his family life to his professional success, the book provides insight into how he became the father of photojournalism and how his down-to-earth approach to photography brought us so many iconic images. 

4. Learning how our gear works helps us make sure we can face any problems that may arise on the job.  If you’re like me, you may not love learning the science of it all, but books like Camera: A History of Photography from Daguerreotype to Digital make it more fun and put our modern gear into historical context.  You may even find that you want to give an old Mamiya or vintage Kodak Brownie a go for the fun of it! 

5. National Geographic’s Photography Field Guide: Secrets to Making Great Pictures contains everything from compositional techniques to photographers' anecdotes and explanations of how their images were captured.  There are also a variety of other field guides, including topics like travel and portraiture.

Honorable mention: Scott Kelby’s instructional books are so easy to understand and provide incredible insight into photography and specific post-production programs.  The Digital Photography Book almost made it onto my top 5, and I swear by my Lightroom book! 

Has a photography-related book inspired you, or is there an instructional book you can't live without?  I would love your suggestions in the comments below.  Happy reading!

-Friday Ambassador

Works Cited:

Assouline, Pierre. Henri Cartier-Bresson: A Biography. New York: Thames & Hudson, 2005. Print.

Burian, Peter K., and Robert Caputo. National Geographic Photography Field Guide: Secrets to Making Great Pictures. 2nd ed. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic, 2003. Print.

Gustavson, Todd. Camera: A History of Photography from Daguerreotype to Digital. New York: Sterling Innovation, 2009. Print.

Howarth, Sophie, and Stephen McLaren. Street Photography Now. London: Thames & Hudson, 2010. Print.

Kelby Media Group, Inc., Scott. "Featured Books." KelbyOne, Online Education for Creative People. KelbyOne, LLC, 2014. Web. 23 Jan. 2014. <http://kelbyone.com/books/>.

Morris, Errol. Believing Is Seeing: Observations on the Mysteries of Photography. New York: Penguin, 2011. Print.