Photobooks - a personal list

Everyone loves a list.

The desert island game is one I will willingly play from time to time - especially with music. Although choosing only ten tracks or pieces from a lifetime of passionate listening often seems as futile as it is impossible - moods shift, needs change and new things come along. The same applies to photo books. A new one is almost automatically elevated to favourite status and, if it’s not, then the purchase is always slightly tinged with regret.

So, which would you take? No fixed limit to the number of books but let's assume that your travel is not in some kind of mobile-library(!) so that there is some implied limit.

I started by imagining a top ten. I then asked my instagram followers for their favourites. This brought me a few familiar ones and some new books that I look forward to discovering. It also threw up the question of which books qualify - I had been thinking about books by one photographer. However, there were some really strong mentions of books about photography and some collections too

This first blog is going to focus on books by single photographers, leaving space for compilations (for want of a better word) and guides in future blogs.

I should also say that I am simply listing the book without a review. If you want to see what they’re like for yourself then there are plenty of places to look online or in bookshops.

So.. here we go. Click on the image for a link to buy online.

Alex Webb.jpg — The Suffering of Light

Alex Webb

Henri Cartier Bresson

by Clement Cheroux

Honourable mentions to Anders Petersen, Marc Riboud, Mark Neville’s “Fancy Pictures,” and the sheer gorgeousness of Sebastiao Salgado’s use of deep blacks in his monochrome images.

If your favourite is not listed, I’d love to hear from you. Like or comment below.

Til next time.

Photography, Photographers, booksHugh RawsonNovember 25, 2018books, photobooksComment