Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Top 10: Best photography books of 2013 (until now)

There are so many good books out there... Unfortunately we cannot buy them all. Depending on our preferences and needs we all make different choices. It was hard to make ours but we have decided that the 10 fine art photography books that we would recommend you to buy are:

1 - Sebastiao Salgado: Genesis


 If you like the work of Sebastiao Salgado there is absolutely no doubt that you will love his latest book. What does one discover in Genesis? The ancient animal species and volcanoes of the Galápagos; penguins, sea lions, cormorants, and whales of the Antarctic and South Atlantic; Brazilian alligators and jaguars; African lions, leopards, and elephants; the isolated Zo’é tribe deep in the Amazon jungle; the Stone Age Kurowai people of West Papua; nomadic Dinka cattle farmers in Sudan; Nenet nomads and their reindeer herds in the Arctic Circle; Mentawai jungle communities on islands west of Sumatra; the icebergs of the Antarctic; the volcanoes of Central Africa and the Kamchatka Peninsula; Saharan deserts; the Negro and Juruá rivers in the Amazon; the ravines of the Grand Canyon; the glaciers of Alaska... and beyond. Having gone, quite literally in some cases, where no man has gone before, and having spent so much time, energy, and passion dedicated to the making of this work, Salgado likens Genesis to “my love letter to the planet.” 

2 - Garry Winogrand


If you have missed the exhibition of Garry Winogrand or want to keep a souvenir of this incredible event the book of the SFMOMA is a must have. When he died suddenly at age 56, Winogrand left behind thousands of rolls of exposed but undeveloped film and unedited contact sheets — some 250,000 frames in total. Nearly 100 of these pictures have been printed for the first time for this long-awaited retrospective of his work. By presenting such archival discoveries alongside celebrated pictures, Garry Winogrand reframes a career that was, like the artist's America, both epic and unresolved. This exhibition has been jointly organized by SFMOMA and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, and will travel to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Jeu de Paume in Paris, and Fundación MAPFRE in Madrid.

All about Gary Winogrand


3 - Bill Brandt: Shadow and Light

 


Even if you already have a book with Bill Brandt's work, you won't regret buying this one. The MOMA did a fantastic work with the quality of reproductions and texts. Bill Brandt was the preeminent British photographer of the twentieth century, a founding father of photography's modernist tradition whose half-century-long career defies neat categorization. This publication presents the photographer's entire oeuvre, with special emphasis on his investigation of English life in the 1930s and his innovative late nudes. The Museum of Modern Art has been exhibiting and collecting Brandt's photographs since the late 1940s, and has recently more than doubled its collection of vintage prints of his work, which forms the core of this selection.

All about Bill Brandt



4 - Untold: The stories behind the photographs

 







Steve McCurry's iconic images have made him one of the world?s most popular photographers for more than 30 years. Now, for the first time, Untold: The Stories Behind the Photographs will tell the stories behind over 200 stunning images taken by McCurry from across the globe, including Afghanistan, India, Tibet, Kuwait, the USA, and beyond. In the finest documentary tradition, Untoldincludes never before seen ephemera from McCurry's personal archive, including beautifully reproduced snapshots from assignments, notes, journals, portraits, maps and more. The book is organized chronologically and includes both his known works and lesser-known photographs, while focusing on a broad range of themes. Each section opens with an essay, giving a new insight into the ideas, development and resulting importance of his work. This is the most personal book that McCurry has ever published, and offers a unique insight into photojournalism sure to fascinate any aspiring or experienced photographer.


All about Steve McCurry



5 - A Message for You: Guy Bourdin

 


Both volumes are beautifully packaged and contain a box to keep them together. It is a book about his favorite model Nicolle Meyer who also gives her memories. If you like the work of Guy Bourdin this is certainly a must-have! With the eye of a painter Guy Bourdin created images containing fascinating stories, compositions and colours. Using fashion photography as his medium, Bourdin explored the provocative and the sublime with a relentless perfectionism and sharp humour. Famed for his suggestive narratives and surreal aesthetics, Bourdin radically broke conventions of commercial photography and in the process captured the imagination of a generation.

 

 



6 -  A Period of Juvenile Prosperity: Mike Brodie

 

 

We heard a lot of Mike Brodie this year with two exhibitions, one in NY and one in LA. If you didn't see the show this book is for you. At 17 Mike Brodie hopped his first train close to his home in Pensacola, FL thinking he would visit a friend in Mobile, AL. Instead the train went in the opposite direction to Jacksonville, FL. Days later, Brodie rode the same train home, arriving back where he started. Nonetheless, it sparked something and Brodie began to wander across the U.S. by any means that were free - walking, hitchhiking and train hopping. Shortly after, Brodie found a Polaroid camera stuffed behind a carseat. With no training in photography and coke-bottle glasses, the instant camera was an opening for Brodie to document his experiences. As a way of staying in touch with his transient community,Brodie shared his pictures on various websites gaining the moniker The Polaroid Kidd [sic].

All about Mike Brodie



7 - Imogen Cunningham

 


Throughout her long life, Imogen Cunningham was tireless and exemplary in her pursuit of new developments in photography and in the expansion of her own practice. An inspiration to several successive generations, she reinvented the genres of botanical photography, street photography, nudes and portraiture, and expanded the possibilities of the double exposure. This publication celebrates the rich diversity of this modernist pioneer, covering Cunningham's entire seven-decade career--from her abstract shots of plants and nudes and optical illusions created using techniques such as inverted positive/negative images and double exposure, to her iconic portraits for Vanity Fair of artists, dancers, actors, musicians and writers such as Man Ray, Alfred Stieglitz, Martha Graham, Frida Kahlo, Gertrude Stein, Morris Graves and Merce Cunningham.

All about Imogen Cunningham


8 - We Went Back: Photographs from Europe 1933-1956 by Chim

 


This book traces the career of Chim, famed photojournalist and cofounder of Magnum Photos, who dedicated much of his life to documenting war and its aftermath. Born Dawid Szymin in Warsaw, Chim began his career in the early 1930s photographing for leftist magazines in Paris. In 1936, one of these magazines, Regards, sent him to the front lines of the civil war in Spain, along with comrades Robert Capa and Gerda Taro.

All about Chim



9 - Edward Weston 

 

 


You probably already have a book from Edward Weston on your shelves but even if you do (and especially if you don't) this one is worth buying. It is a complete compilation of his work from his early years to the lasts. You can see his nudes, abstract nature, portraits, factory settings and nature landscapes. The Life and Art of Edward Weston Few photographers have created such a legacy as Edward Weston (1886-1958). After a decade of successfully making photographs with painterly soft-focus techniques, Weston became the key pioneer of the school of precise and sharp presentation, dubbed "Straight Photography." Through the 1920s, '30s, and '40s, Weston was a major force in pushing forward the art of photography. His photographs are monuments of sensual realism, perfectly composed images of stillness that sear with passion and intensity.

All about Edward Weston



10 - Abelardo Morell: The Universe Next Door

 


Several exhibitions have put Abelardo Morell's work in the spotlight this year. Whether you are familiar with his work or not, don't hesitate to add this book to your private collection. Born in Havana, Cuba, Morell came to the United States as a teenager in 1962 and later studied photography, earning an MFA from Yale University. He gained attention for intimate, black-and-white pictures of domestic objects from a child’s point of view, inspired by the birth of his son in 1986, as well as images in which he turns a room into a giant camera obscura, projecting exterior views onto interior spaces; and photographs of books that revel in their sensory materiality.


All about Abelardo Morell  

 


 

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