Photobooks - what you told me....2019 — Hugh Rawson Photography

The end of another year is always a good time to reflect. Amidst all the pre-Christmas talk of gear and new products, I would always put in a big shout for the importance of photobooks. Anytime is always a good time to stop and pick up a photobook. Other people’s images feed us. They will probably improve our photography far more than new equipment – they’ll certainly give you more bang for your buck. If you think about it, every time we click that shutter, we are bringing to bear the total of our experience and learning up to that point. Everything that has gone before helps us frame that image so if we can educate our eyes with the best quality images then we are in a better position to take that amazing shot.

I am always on the lookout for new photobook suggestions so I turned to social media (Instagram and Twitter) to find out what my followers have been enjoying this year. Importantly, I did not specify that the book needed to have been released in 2019, or even that it had to be available (sadly some of them are hard to find) – just a book that had been enjoyed this year. Consequently, most books are of some age and reputation; after all, we have a photographic history stretching back over 150 years. What has gone before carries significant weight, whereas the shock of the new takes time to kick in, for the word to spread and for true worth to be recognised. Finally, on the suggestions, although my following is mainly street photographers, I did not specify any particular genre of photography. We should have open minds and learn from every genre, recognising quality when we see it.

Some photobooks are very difficult to track down. Long sought after books by Fan Ho, W.Eugene Smith, and Tony Ray-Jones, to mention a few, are still very much on my “hope to find” list. I know from bitter experience that photobooks are usually on a limited print run and if you aren’t quick with your shopping basket they will disappear forever – or at least move to the super-expensive used books pile. I can only comment on books I have physically had contact with.

If I had to choose one book that stands out for me this year, I’d pick two! Firstly, The Street Philosophy of Garry Winogrand by Geoff Dyer – I’ve long admired Winogrand’s work and this is a sumptuous, large (heavyweight) retrospective. Coupled with Geoff Dyer’s always insightful words (if you haven’t come across him try The Ongoing Moment about photography or But Beautiful about jazz) it’s a magnificent book.

My second choice is a compilation album – the ideal quick pick up by the bedside, bath or loo! David Gibson’s Street Photography: A History in 100 Iconic Images. As you would imagine, it takes 100 images by 100 different photographers, in chronological order from 1904 (Edward Steichen’s remarkable image of The Flatiron – complete with evening lights and top-hatted carriage drivers) to 2017 (Alessandra Sanguinetti’s image of five girls taking a group selfie). Each image is accompanied by a page of David’s excellent analysis and background to each image.

The list that follows contains the recommendations I received. It’s a great list; many I know, many I will hopefully get to know – and some I can only hope to get my grubby hands on.

There is no logic to the order in which they are listed; it is simply the order in which I received them, over two days on Instagram and Twitter. A huge thank you to everyone that made a recommendation or two; you are credited at the bottom of the page. Please do check out their online galleries as well as the books listed.

All of the books that I could find available on Amazon are listed here on "Books You Recommended" on my Amazon street photography page.

The list:

Alex Webb - Brooklyn

London Underground 1970 -1980

Humans of New York - Brandon Stanton

Gregory Heisler - 50 Portraits

Masahisa Fukase - Ravens

David Lurie - Images of Table Mountain

Stephen Leslie - Sparks

Tom Wood - Bus Odyssey

Siegfried Hansen - Hold the Line

Jeff Mermelstein - Sidewalk

Gus Powell - Company of Strangers

Fred Herzog - Modern Colour

Jonathan Higbee - Coincidences

Bruce Davidson - Subway

Raymond Depardon - Glasgow

Dawoud Bey on Photographing People and Communities: The Photography Workshop Series

Jane Bown - A Lifetime of Looking

Vivian Maier - Street Photographer

Peter Lavery - Circus Work

Shomei Tomatsu - Chewing Gum and Chocolate

Saul Leiter - Early Colour

Saul Leiter - Early Black and White

Richard Sandler - The Eyes of The City

Don McCullin - Tate retrospective

Sebastião Salgado - Genesis

David Solomons - Up West

Nan Goldin - The Ballad of Sexual Dependency

Jill Freedman - Jill’s Dogs

August Sander - People of the 20th Century

Anton Corbijn - The Living and the Dead

Friedlander by Peter Galassi

Robert Frank - The Americans

Stanley Kubrick Through a Different Lens

Susan Sontag - On Photography

Trent Parke - Minutes to Midnight

Anders Petersen - Soho

Jim Mortram - Small Town Inertia

Sohrab Hura - The Coast

Erwin Olaf - I am

Todd Hido - Intimate Distance

As always, I’d love to know what you think and if you have any suggestions of your own please just add them in the comments below.

Thanks all.

Credits:

Thank you to the following on Instagram:

@kyun.pic

@jenslookingglass

@fabiennehanotaux

@nicofroe

@alwayschasingdaylight

@neilwaybright

@laserkola

@mark_lev_photo

@chris_eley

@abitpedestrian

@stevereevesdirector

@huwjohn_uk

@zenostr33t

@streetlyspeaking

@williamhpearce

@ashsmithone

@venus_lumieux

@tripsonstreet

@bastianromanpeter

@samantha_french_

@streets.and.stories

@j2.bee

@timwadham

@simonking_v

And on Twitter:

Kim Aldis @ThatPhotoBloke

Dave Webb @PhotoWebb

Sarah Marston @Sarah13Marston

Ed Robertson @eddrobertson