8 Photographic Heavywights We’ve Got In Our Stack

Books are great investments.

Perhaps not from a financial standpoint, with a caveat here for rare collector’s items of course, but they do pay you back in other ways. Socially, they provide returns through allowing you to connect with other like-minded readers, discussing ideas and generating new ones. Privately, they can be a means of guidance, inspiration, and even escape. Don’t read at all? Doesn’t matter, you can still cash in. Photo books are picture books for adults. If you needed any more convincing, John Waters put it elegantly when he said “If you go home with somebody, and they don't have books, don't fuck 'em!.” So, whether it’s Bukowski or ‘Bresson, you’re going to want to fill your home with some pages. Now while a stack of penguin classics may serve their purpose here, this is a high-risk play unless you’ve spent your free time on the relevant due diligence and you can survive the scrutiny of interrogation. Answering “I don’t know” gets worse with each “what’s that book about?” Photobooks, on the other hand, not only avoid this kind of scrutiny, but they also reflect that you have more than the shred of originality of a penguin reader. They also tend to look good pretty much anywhere in your home, whether they’re on the coffee table, the floor, or half-open on a kitchen bench.

Matters of home decor and personal sophistication aside, the photo book is a sacred thing within photography. It is the opus of the photographer. It is years spent chasing story and subject, matched with countless hours of deliberating the minutia of layout design. Just as it is difficult to overestimate the amount of time that goes into any project, it is very difficult to overstate the amount of misses that accompany any perfect shot. And a photo book is a compilation of perfect shots. In addition to showcasing photographic mastery, the prominence of the photo essay throughout the mid-20th century led to the production of works that capture composition and history in equal measure. Find creative inspiration and learn some history, all the while levelling up your apartment. Sold. 

Here’re eight books which we’ve got on our coffee table that’ll help you get started:

The Decisive Moment - Henri Cartier-Bresson

Henri Cartier-Bresson is one of the greatest street photographers of all time, and probably why you have (or really want) a Leica. The book, a bible for street photographers, contains a series of the photographer's greatest works, spanning intercontinental locations and containing painterly compositions which still stand above the rest today. And will probably do so indefinitely. It will also probably sit on our coffee table indefinitely.

Side note: Cover design by Henri Matisse. Bonus coffee table points.

The Americans - Robert Frank

“Meaningless blur, grain, muddy exposure, drunken horizons, and general sloppiness” - This is how a critic described the book The Americans by Robert Frank when it was first released. Later, in 2007, a silver gelatin print of this general sloppiness was described by an auction with a sale receipt of $623,400 USD. If an original print isn’t in your budget, you can get the book for around $75-150 and familiarise yourself with one of the rule-breaking pioneers of photography. The introduction to the book was written by Beat Generation icon Jack Kerouac and there is a fantastic documentary called “Don’t Blink: Robert Frank” which we also highly recommend.

Paris - Eugène Atget

Speaking of pioneers, Eugène Atget was walking around taking photos of people before it was even “a thing”. That is around 1890. Initially, Atget began shooting the streets of Paris as a way to document still images for painters to copy, hanging the advertisement “Documents pour artistes” (Documents for artists) on his studio door. An understated sell for someone who Ansel Adams (our 4th heavyweight coming up) states as capturing the “earliest expression of true photographic art”.

Side note: Atget managed to shoot street using a large format view camera which sat on top a tripod and used single 18x24cm glass plates as film. Maybe your camera isn’t that bad.

Ansel Adams Photography Series: The Camera, The Negative, The Print

Taking a side step from street photography and into the realm of landscape photography, we bring you Ansel Adams. One of the most renowned photographers of the 20th century, Adams was also one of the purest. The trilogy of works in his photography series are a masterclass in film photography and a testament to the man as both an artist and technician. For the beginners who like to read the manual on things or for the experts who appreciate the details, this one’s for you. Also, Ansel Adams, along with others, founded the photography group “F/64”, the name of which refers to the smallest aperture field of large format cameras which offers the maximum depth of field and sharpest image. Told you, pure.

Pittsburgh 1950 - Elliot Erwitt

From the painterly composition of Cartier-Bresson, the dynamism of Frank, the intuitive eye of Atget, and the perfection of Adams, the photobooks are about as heavy as the subject matter. There’s no relief like comedic relief, and while the gloom and grit of 1950’s industrial Pittsburgh may not be the most complimentary context for finding moments mixed with humour, culture, and community, this is what makes Elliot Erwitt so remarkable. Balancing a light heart with a sophisticated eye, while maintaining an emotional sensibility to one's subjects, is no easy feat. But Erwitt makes it seem so. Plus he was only 22 when shooting for Pittsburgh.

The Color Work - Vivian Maier

Despite Kodachrome being released in 1935, colour photography was not embraced by professional photographers until much later in the century. Vivian Maier, however, was not a professional photographer. Vivian Maier was a nanny. And despite now being classed directly alongside many of the century's best street photographers, this would have never been the case had her prints and negatives not been discovered at an auction after her death. The Color Work captures America in a nostalgic mix of hues, subjects, and scenes, and provides an insight into the mystery of Maier. Vivian Maier joins Robert Frank in the list of great photographers with great documentaries. See: Finding Vivian Maier.

Lives of The Great Photographers - Juliet Hacking

The intrigue towards the double life lived by Vivian Maier points towards a broader idea that artists who produce unusually good work often also lead unusual lives. Juliet Hacking’s book Lives of The Great Photographers presents this idea in 304 pages and casts a spotlight into the lives of notable names such as Diane Arbus and Man Ray. The latter of whom believed it was his destiny to reinvent himself every ten years.

Magnum Photobook: The Catalogue Raisonné

Still looking for more photobooks? Don’t take our word for it, take the world's most prestigious photo agency’s word for it. The Magnum Photobook is a bibliography of over 1,300 photobooks, all shot by Magnum photographers who have joined the agency’s elite ranks since its inception in 1947.

The photo essay is dead. Long live the photo essay.