Book Recommendations

December, 2003

With the holidays almost upon us this is a good time to survey some of the photography books that are worth giving, or getting, this holiday season. Each of the books listed below has made its way onto my bookshelf during the past six months, and each comes with my strong recommendation. These aren't so much reviews as they are simply advisories of what's out there, and what's worthy of your attention.

Links shown are to Amazon.com, but all of these books can be found at local book sellers in most major urban centers, worldwide.

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Mastering Digital Printing, by Harald Johnson, is the single most up-to-date volume on fine-art digital printing that has yet been published. If you are having trouble with understanding the tools and techniques available for making inkjet prints, this is one book to own. (Either that, or attend one of my seminars :-)

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Real World Color Management, by Bruce Fraser, et al; is the definitive work on this subject as of late 2003. There is more detail here on this oft confusing subject than you will find anywhere else, and Fraser is the acknowledged master of the subject.

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Edge of the Earth — Corner of The Sky, by Art Wolfe, is without doubt the finest book of landscape photography to cross my desk this year. Wolfe's work is superb, and the book generally well presented, though I am not enamoured of the large number of double page images spanning the gutter, and the scattered use of black page backgrounds. Nevertheless, though expensive, it is one the best coffee table photographic art books of the year.

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First Light, by Joe Cornish. Joe Cornish is one of the finest landscape photographers currently working in the U.K., and this book is a superb collection of his work. It also provides insightful essays on both his shooting techniques and the locations that he has visited.

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The Man, The Image, The World by Henri Cartier Bresson. This volume is a retrospective on the master's lifetime work, and as such deserves to be on the shelf of everyone that loves documentary and street photography.

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Out of The Blue, by John Naylor. Have you ever wondered why the sky is blue? What the green flash is, or the nature of any of the other natural optical phenomena that we as outdoor photographers encounter? If so then this is the book for you. Win arguments. Amaze your friends.

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The Book of 101 Books — Seminal Photographic Books of the Twentieth Century, by Andre Roth. If, as I do, you collect photographic books, then this is the one book that you must own. The subtitle says it all. You may not be able to find or afford a copy of Walker Evans' American Photographs, or Cartier Bresson's Decisive Moment, but this volume is the next best thing.

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