Research indicates 42% of college graduates will never read another book after college. Also, 80% of households never purchased a book last year. Seriously? If this is true, I'm speechless. I'm not setting the reading world on fire, but I tend to read 1 or 2 books per month. They are usually of the non-fiction variety, different subjects, but tend to have an artistic bias.
Chamonix, France
There's so much to learn and not enough time! What's that old expression, 'Reading is fundamental'? I'm sure when I'm 70 years old one day, I'll be saying the same thing. In the meantime, let's get busy and discuss three great photo books.
Photography is a niche market... and a small market at that. Safe to say, I don't think I've ever seen a photo book on the New York Times best seller list or the Oprah Winfrey book club.
Should "O" ever call me to discuss my favorite photography books, I do have three I've read in 2017 worthy of conversation...
In no particular order, they are:
1. The Passionate Photographer by Steve Simon
http://www.thepassionatephotographer.com/
2. Understanding Color in Photography by Bryan Peterson
https://bpsop.com/understanding-color/
3. Creative Visualization for Photographers by Rick Sammon
http://ricksammon.com/blog2/2015/2/15/excerpt-5-creative-visualization-for-photographers
Taos, New Mexico
All books are brilliant in their own right and should be read multiple times. Unlike a novel, books with technical detail often require you to put the book down or go out and shoot a few frames to test a new idea. Reading them a 2nd time is often wise.
I've always been of the adage, if you can walk away with one or two great ideas, the book(s) was worth your time. These three (3) above will not disappoint. All the authors fill the pages with passion, commitment and expertise.
Athens, Greece
In this post, I'll focus on a Steve Simon philosophy. He feels a photographer shouldn't look at their images for weeks or months after an assignment. He feels the emotional bias should be removed from the images before the photographer takes an honest look at his/her images.
I'm not sure I've ever followed this concept before? However, over the last few months, I must admit, the principal has grown on me. Removing any bias from the moment, day or week the image was captured is enlightening. It's akin to an editor looking at your images. They don't give a hoot about the emotion, weather or challenges that may have existed. They simply want to see good quality pictures.
So, in recent days, I followed this logic. I went back and revisited both personal projects and travel images to review them with new, unbiased, fresh eyes. The images that caught my attention for one reason or another are included in this blog.
If you haven't tried this strategy in your review process, I'd encourage you to give it a go. It's truly a humbling process... in a good way! Cheers...
Sante Fe, New Mexico