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Post by pixelpuffin on Nov 2, 2023 10:39:14 GMT
I posted this on another forum, I’m interested to hear from members here.
I’m getting extremely tired and fed up of the constant subliminal sell either directly (Ads) or indirectly (forums).
Yes, new gear is always nice, but the constant pressure to constantly move on is utterly draining.
As I age I find myself going back to the books that first inspired me. Up until about 3yrs ago I had a room (house extension) that was lined on one wall with floor to ceiling book shelves, a 2 seater leather Chesterfield and a leather Queen Anne chair. I honestly couldn’t begin to estimate the number of evenings I spent in that room reading/absorbing my photo books. I’d hazard a guess there were 400+.
With the arrival of the internet I kept finding extracts online and began questioning why I needed to store all these books when my laptop could easily find what I needed.
In a moment of sheer madness I stripped the room back dumped virtually all the books either charity shop or dump sites. The bookcases were skipped, sold the leather seating and remodelled the room around a wall mounted 65” TV.
Today the TV content is banal drivel, the laptop and tablets are besieged by unwanted ads. Most of the sites that showed extracts from my books have disappeared
The whole thing has moved towards forced selling -consumerism….I absolutely detest it.
Luckily I kept my most treasured books - A Full Set of Time-Life photography books and a cheap 50p Praktica book I got from clearance bin 20yrs ago. I adore these books, ADORE them!! In an age where we are force fed the need to buy newer, these books are an absolute treasure, harking back to a time when photography demanded a lot of time and skill. The pictures within are simply mesmerising- I never get tired of looking at them.
My question is really, do you still hold dear the books that really inspired you back then? Or have you moved with the times ?
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Post by peterob on Nov 2, 2023 11:51:25 GMT
As far as I can remember I've only bought one photography book which was a "how to" by John Hedgecoe. I've read Jeff Schewe's book on printing on-line. I've a couple of books of photographs because I had intended collecting the landscape photographer of the year series when it started but quickly gave up. There's a photoshop "how to" somewhere but it wasn't much help.
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Post by pixelpuffin on Nov 2, 2023 12:50:39 GMT
Cheers for the reply
I too had a few of John Hedgecoe’s books along with Mike Bussell and numerous Roger Hicks books…they were all skipped, most were tedious.
I did buy quite specialist books whilst at college studying, again skipped. Had a fair few heavy tomes by Bailey, Beaton, Bresson etc etc they dated very quickly (not Bresson)
The Time Life encyclopaedia set however still draws my eye even today, some of the titles are very out dated, but a few have really stood the test of time and I find huge comfort when I revisit them as they knock it home just how totally irrelevant gear is, just like my small collection of Life magazines, the images within grab your attention and pull you in, very rarely do modern pictures do that, it’s all become somewhat stale, ultra sharp high contrast or images so convulsed by HDR they resemble nothing like reality or the B&W cliche shots where most just assume the absence of colour automatically makes it a better image, rarely ever… most are nothing more than copycat shots.
It was through the Time-Life set I discovered Mary Ellen Mark, her picture “sorrow at parting” has had a profound effect on me over the years. As did Bert Hardy.
A lot of those pictures would appear blurry by todays standards, but the emotive power hits so hard.
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Post by zx9 on Nov 2, 2023 16:19:40 GMT
My most recent photo book is a Canadian retrospective of Josef Sudek which could not be further from the modern styles that you ( pixelpuffin ) tire of. I must thank kate for pointing him out to me, once I had looked at all the Youtube content on him I needed to own a book of his work. |
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Post by kate on Nov 2, 2023 17:22:50 GMT
My most recent photo book is a Canadian retrospective of Josef Sudek which could not be further from the modern styles that you ( pixelpuffin ) tire of. I must thank kate for pointing him out to me, once I had looked at all the Youtube content on him I needed to own a book of his work. My pleasure. |
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Post by pixelpuffin on Nov 2, 2023 17:37:00 GMT
Josef Sudek…??
The name rang a bell??
I decided to check my Time-Life encyclopaedias, sure enough there is where I found him.
From what I read he had a very difficult life.
Thanks for the heads up, so much respect for these early pioneers . We complain about the weight of carrying our FF DSLR’s, I cannot even begin to comprehend carrying a wooden 8x10 with heavy tripod and knowing as in Josef Sudek’s case you only had 1 shot!! Incredible stamina and perseverance.
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Post by nickr on Nov 2, 2023 17:58:59 GMT
I've got quite a lot of photography books of various sorts. Some camera specific ones such as Focal Guides, some technical instructional ones, some artistic instructional ones, and a lot of books of photos by all sorts of people. And to be honest, at times I've had inspiration from pretty much all of them - I love the pre- and just post-war guides to phtography, they often have pics very different than anything you would see today. And the various books by photographers I admire are seldom of the sort of subject I like to photograph, but they can still fire me up.
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Post by zx9 on Nov 2, 2023 21:01:11 GMT
Josef Sudek…?? The name rang a bell?? I decided to check my Time-Life encyclopaedias, sure enough there is where I found him. From what I read he had a very difficult life. Thanks for the heads up, so much respect for these early pioneers . We complain about the weight of carrying our FF DSLR’s, I cannot even begin to comprehend carrying a wooden 8x10 with heavy tripod and knowing as in Josef Sudek’s case you only had 1 shot!! Incredible stamina and perseverance. And he only had one arm to carry and set up all that kit, add to that the times in which he was working and the political systems of an occupied country behind the iron curtain. Very inspiring but it does not help with the Gear Acquisition Syndrome, I now want a Horizon as the nearest I can get to his Kodak scanning lens camera. I know where there is one for sale right now and it is taking a lot of will power to not buy it! |
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Post by zx9 on Nov 2, 2023 21:07:13 GMT
I've got quite a lot of photography books of various sorts. Some camera specific ones such as Focal Guides, some technical instructional ones, some artistic instructional ones, and a lot of books of photos by all sorts of people. And to be honest, at times I've had inspiration from pretty much all of them - I love the pre- and just post-war guides to phtography, they often have pics very different than anything you would see today. And the various books by photographers I admire are seldom of the sort of subject I like to photograph, but they can still fire me up. You are right about the pre war user guides, my Dad's Rollei came to him with the equivalent of Focal Guide books, some of the action shots are superb. To think today we need autofocus shooting at 10 frames a second on a DSLR to take the pictures they used a Rolleiflex for. |
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Post by pixelpuffin on Nov 2, 2023 21:27:33 GMT
Focal guide for Rollei?? Would it surprise you to know I too have that same focal guide for my Rollei 2.8 F, never got round to trying action shots tho’ The camera is sat in its case where it’s been since 1997. Tragic! Horizon?? I’ve got the original brochure somewhere. I used to collect all the brochures back in the 90’s  |
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Post by donerundlecams on Nov 2, 2023 21:51:29 GMT
There have been two books which I still have, the first one is by Henry Horenstein on all things about (Black and White) Photography ... If memory serves, I picked it up second hand for around $5 CDN in the summer of 1986 or a year after I purchased my first 35mm camera .. " www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/henry-horenstein/black-white-photography/9780316373050/?lens=little-brown " This book encompassed everything I needed to know about photography ... camera settings, films, shooting and darkroom The second one I purchased, initially, in December 1999, The Mind's Eye by HCB aka Henri Cartier Bresson in soft cover " aperture.org/books/the-minds-eye/ " It's a small book, just over 100 pages and very few images (I think, six?) where as the book by Mr. Horenstein was a how to book, the book by Monsieur Cartier-Bresson was more about the theory and thinking, or lack thereof, regarding taking snaps . FWIW, I purchased the HCB book for the fellow, initially a high school mate, who, as a newspaper photographer (Wayne Glowacki retired from the Winnipeg Free Press) who assisted me in getting my first 35mm camera (Pentax K1000) and gave me some tips to begin -- shoot lots -- and, eventually, we became competitors in the News Photography world in Winnipeg and, then, colleagues  . One of Mr. Glowacki's many infamous photos ( npac.ca/2018/07/how-i-got-the-photo-wayne-glowacki/) and, perhaps, his most infamous photo (Elijah Harper - Wayne Glowacki/Winnipeg Free Press) and if the notice the balding head and camera in the background, that is yours truly snapping Mr. Glowacki getting one of Canada's iconic photos   Cheers, Jack Simpson |
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Post by peterba on Nov 2, 2023 22:01:24 GMT
My most recent photo book is a Canadian retrospective of Josef Sudek which could not be further from the modern styles that you ( pixelpuffin ) tire of. I must thank kate for pointing him out to me, once I had looked at all the Youtube content on him I needed to own a book of his work. Josef Sudek…?? The name rang a bell??I decided to check my Time-Life encyclopaedias, sure enough there is where I found him. From what I read he had a very difficult life. Thanks for the heads up, so much respect for these early pioneers . We complain about the weight of carrying our FF DSLR’s, I cannot even begin to comprehend carrying a wooden 8x10 with heavy tripod and knowing as in Josef Sudek’s case you only had 1 shot!! Incredible stamina and perseverance.
Sudek's work is a favourite, for me. Great composition, and use of light. I've tried to get a book of his work, but haven't yet succeeded.
As you say, pixelpuffin, he carried a load of heavy photo stuff around. What's more, he did this, despite having lost an arm (war injury). A little humbling, really. |
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Post by zx9 on Nov 3, 2023 11:47:32 GMT
My most recent photo book is a Canadian retrospective of Josef Sudek which could not be further from the modern styles that you ( pixelpuffin ) tire of. I must thank kate for pointing him out to me, once I had looked at all the Youtube content on him I needed to own a book of his work. Josef Sudek…?? The name rang a bell??I decided to check my Time-Life encyclopaedias, sure enough there is where I found him. From what I read he had a very difficult life. Thanks for the heads up, so much respect for these early pioneers . We complain about the weight of carrying our FF DSLR’s, I cannot even begin to comprehend carrying a wooden 8x10 with heavy tripod and knowing as in Josef Sudek’s case you only had 1 shot!! Incredible stamina and perseverance.
Sudek's work is a favourite, for me. Great composition, and use of light. I've tried to get a book of his work, but haven't yet succeeded.
As you say, pixelpuffin , he carried a load of heavy photo stuff around. What's more, he did this, despite having lost an arm (war injury). A little humbling, really. This is the one that I have www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/3777452912/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I paid £32 for my hard back copy, as with everything on Amazon the price goes up and down, it is always worth adding stuff to a list and buying when it shows X% lower. |
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Post by peterba on Nov 3, 2023 18:34:01 GMT
Sudek's work is a favourite, for me. Great composition, and use of light. I've tried to get a book of his work, but haven't yet succeeded.
As you say, pixelpuffin , he carried a load of heavy photo stuff around. What's more, he did this, despite having lost an arm (war injury). A little humbling, really. This is the one that I have www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/3777452912/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I paid £32 for my hard back copy, as with everything on Amazon the price goes up and down, it is always worth adding stuff to a list and buying when it shows X% lower. Thanks Keith - that's very kind... but alas, I'll have to continue to keep looking for a copy in bookshops. I haven't used Amazon since I fell out with them many years ago. In addition, reports of zero-hours contracts etc. and other unacceptable working conditions, have hardened my resolve to continue my 'mini-boycott'.
Anyway, no problem. Bookshop-browsing can be a pleasant activity, and can provide support for small local businesses. |
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Post by zou on Nov 3, 2023 21:27:23 GMT
I think Beyond Words is still trading online. Used to love browsing their photo book shop in Edinburgh.
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. One of Mr. Glowacki's many infamous photos (
