— It’s one thing to look at photos and artwork on the computer. Click, click, click. Just clicking away, barely a pause to take anything in, much less lingering anywhere long enough to think about what you’re seeing.
Books are different.
Sitting down for an hour on your couch with a great book of photography or art makes for a much different experience.
Perhaps you put on some music. Maybe you make a cup of coffee (or pour a glass of wine).
Then you kick back, and you move through the pages leisurely, taking in the images one by one, all of it much more deliberately. Pausing often. Lingering. Backing up.
And this isn’t just for entertainment. If they’re great books — if you’re sitting down with the masters — all manner of subtle (and not-so-subtle) realignments begin to take place. And if you return to the books frequently, and really immerse yourself in them, you begin to have certain conversations with the artists. You begin to wonder … You ask why things were done the way they were, how they did what they did, and what might it have it been like to stand where they stood — paintbrush or camera in hand — when they did it.
‘And what is the use of a book, thought Alice, without pictures or conversation?’
~ Alice in Wonderland
But for all that, you do want to be sure you’re choosing the RIGHT books. For one, great books of paintings or photography can be pricey. For another, if you’re trying to learn something deep and significant about your craft, it hardly makes sense to spend much time on stuff that has no real connection to what it is you’re trying to achieve.
Granted, it never hurts to dip into other styles or listen a while to other voices. Something might spark there, and it could wake you up to something you couldn’t have anticipated.
But for the most part, you can determine a great deal ahead of time just by running a Google search and taking a quick look at someone’s work before you go and invest in buying an entire book on them.
What you can’t do is just take someone else’s opinion or assume that if everyone else loves them you will too.
For instance, while I admire Ansel Adams (and he seems to be universally admired), I rarely ever take his books down from my shelf. He was a genius. But it’s just not the kind of photography I’m interested in.
Some other examples. I remember someone highly recommending Gregory Heisler’s collection of portraits, which I dutifully purchased … only to remind myself afterward that I have no interest in shooting serious portraits any longer. For the same reason Annie Leibowitz doesn’t really inspire me. I can appreciate her work, but I don’t particularly get much from looking through her photos.
It’s just a matter of tastes, I suppose. Some greats absolutely captivate me: Alfred Stieglitz, Robert Capa, Sally Mann. Others, for whatever reason, leave me utterly indifferent, even “giants” such as Robert Frank and Dorothea Lange.
Street photography has long fascinated me, but even here there are some widely acclaimed photographers (e.g., Elliot Erwitt and Bruce Gilden immediately come to mind) whose work does nothing for me.
Certain photographers seem certain winners for just about everyone: Henri Cartier-Bresson and Vivian Maier, for instance. Others, like Moriyama and Saul Leiter and Trente Parke and Fred Mortagne prove fascinating to me, while for many I’m sure they wouldn’t click at all.
The point is, if you’re going to invest in some photography books (and I’m telling you, you should), just take some time first to look over their work online. The photographers who capture your attention most powerfully — those are the books you buy. Just be sure to look for yourself. Don’t let yourself be overly influenced by anyone else’s opinion, however universal it might seem. You are searching out what clicks for YOU.
Those are the books you want to spend time conversing with late of an evening or on some lazy afternoon.
And don’t stop with photography books. What else inspires you? Specifically, I recommend you look to painters and illustrators.
But here too, don’t just buy a coffee table book on Cezanne if you don’t really like him. (You’re not trying to impress anyone here.) Instead, look around and only invest in books on painters you love, whose work you can imagine might influence what it is you’re hoping to achieve.
For me, that would have to include Richard Schmid. But who would it be for you? Would it be Rembrandt? Vermeer? Monet? Sargent? Or would it be Norman Rockwell?
Are you fascinated by science fiction artwork? Then check out The Art of John Harris: Beyond the Horizon. (Into dark sci-fi? Maybe you need some H. R. Giger.) Are you addicted to fantasy work? Then maybe it’s Boris Vallejo you need to buy.
Perhaps instead it’s not one particular artist at all, but a collection you need, maybe a big coffee table book on mixed media artists.
The thing is to find what it is that will inspire YOU.
Then buy the books … and make time for them. Don’t just flip through them as if you were clicking next with your mouse. Take your time. Explore them. Open up an internal conversation with them.
And see what they have to tell you.
– Sebastian
PS: The image featured on this post is by AWAKE artist Anna Czekala (France). This is an artist who I can’t wait to see publish a collection in book form. You can see more of her extraordinary photo artistry on our portfolio site at https://artboja.com/art/s7ovmw/