52 Assignments - A practical series of photography books

 

52 Assignments - Landscape Photography by Ross Hoddinott and Mark Bauer is one of the books in the 52 Assignment series recently published which could prove informative and helpful to any photographer. Ross Hoddinott is a multi-award winning photographer of natural history and landscape while Mark Bauer is also a landscape photographer who runs excellent workshops in the UK. So both know their stuff. Other books in this series cover topics such as nature, street, experimental and travel and are written by photographers with expertise in that field. All are recent and so the information in them is up-to-date. For this blog we'll stick with Landscape as an example.

The book starts with an overview of the 52 weekly assignments which are comprehensive as you can see. From the basics of composition and technical advice on specific topics such as shooting a sunset, to printing and selling work online are all covered here. The books are also well sized to take with you when you are following the assignment.

Each assignment is headed with any special kit or tips that you should consider as well as some of the practical steps to getting the shot you want, along, of course, with examples.

The above shot suggests online resources too that can help you time your arrival for the best shots and reminds you that the sun can continue to give perfect and interesting light beyond the time it sinks below the horizon.

Following the simple assignments not only helps you get excellent shots (provided the weather plays ball) but adds a wealth of information that will be relevant for much longer. All the books can be bought online but as prices vary considerably do shop around. For anyone looking for a reasonably priced Christmas or birthday present for a photographer this series could be very helpful.

In My Room - a book of intimate photographs by Saul Leiter

 

Saul Leiter is known to many as one of the original New York street photographers, and notably one of the first to use colour film during the 1950's. What some may not know is that during his life he shot thousands of mono pictures of his wives, lovers and friends in his flat and small studio on East 10th Street.

In this excellent book "In My Room", with an introduction by Carole Naggar and afterword by Robert Benson, are shown a very small sample from this collection. In his afterword Benson writes "The women in these photographs are unguarded: they are naked, not nude......They are just out there, these women, frail, beautiful and deeply human." The intimacy with which Leiter worked is clear and palpable. The models are people he knows, and who trust him, which could explain why they were viewed as so private. Shot between 1952 and the early seventies they use natural light, which softens them and gives an almost accidental feel. 

They could be voyeuristic apart from the fact that we know they were shot with complicity from those involved. Many just show the preparations for everyday life. Others are more sensuous and personal. All feel as though you are being allowed into a small private world of tenderness. They could never be described as salacious. Rather they are uninhibited. The pictures are massively different from the very controlled portraits and fashion shoots he did for Harper's Bazaar, Elle, Vogue, Esquire and other top magazines with experienced models.

Some are almost abstractions which his use of black and white allows. many hold the feeling of his love for Japanese art, as he himself first studied painting.

In her introduction Naggar says "Leiter's nudes have a spontaneous and romantic quality, like the scattered pages of a diary, or stills from early movies.......Leiter's gaze is not that of the typical male: the women can be in turn shy, aggressive, or playful, but they are always partners and full participants in a give-and-take...". 

For anyone wishing to photograph women there are some wonderful lessons to be learned here about closeness and trust.

"In My Room" by Saul Leiter with an introduction by Carole Naggar and an afterword by Robert Benton is published by Steidl (ISBN 978-3-95829-103-4). 

An interview with Margit Erb of the Saul Leiter Foundation about the work can be seen here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yz-301syQ0 

A new international photography magazine - FRAMES

 

We live in a digital age. In fact, photography has undergone a dramatic transformation in the last few decades.The overwhelming majority of photographs now are captured digitally. Additionally, we use our computers and mobile phones to consume photographs most of the time.

But… how about paper?  Enter FRAMES.

Friday, September 18th 2020 marks quite a special day on the contemporary photography publishing scene. My good photography friend Tomasz Trzebiatowski, is launching a quarterly printed photography magazine. Yes, printed. On paper. And it is looking wonderful.

What is pretty unique about this publication is that FRAMES Magazine embraces all possible photography genres and formats. Each quarterly edition will feature the work of photographers using digital and analogue cameras, mobile phones, even pinhole cameras.

“Excellent photography belongs on paper” - is Tomasz’ motto. The common denominator connecting all the images being printed in FRAMES is simply their visual quality and inspiring, thought-provoking character.

The magazine itself is looks gorgeous. In essence, it is a top-notch, quarterly photography book, printed the wonderful 140gsm uncoated Edixion Challenger offset paper manufactured using 100% ECF pulp. Each edition consists of 108 pages (!).

In the first edition you can see the work of such acclaimed artists as Michael Kenna and Phil Penman as well as some great photography by emerging photographers such as Robert Atwater, Olga Karlovac, Yalim Vural, and Curtis Salonick. What’s more, the first issue also includes two in-depth exclusive interviews with Magda Keaney (Senior Curator, Photographs, National Portrait Gallery in London) and Richard Tsong-Taatarii (photojournalist for the Minneapolis Star Tribune).

But that is not all. When you become a FRAMES subscriber, you automatically get access to the entire suite of their digital offerings: FRAMES Digital companions, online Photography Masterclasses and the insider FRAMES Photo Community. It seems like FRAMES is set to become an impressive blend of printed and digital photography assets through the creation of a passionate international photography community with the magazine and its additional digital components as its hub.

You can become the member of FRAMES today for a monthly fee of $14 USD, (Just under £11 a month). This is an early bird offer which you can access through the link at the end of the blog. 

Your membership will secure you annual access to 4 printed editions of FRAMES Magazine, 8 editions of FRAMES Digital Companions, 4 Photography Masterclasses and the private community and forums. This is exceptional value and allows you the opportunity to help build the community too. It is also a comparatively cheap method of collecting some excellent work with print being the best method of collection these days.

If you would like to start your FRAMES Magazine collection from its very first issue, ensure you become a FRAMES member by October 15th 2020. I am acting as the representative of FRAMES in the North of England and you can follow this link to check out their wonderful site and subscribe today. Using this link ensures you will receive the best deal available: http//:joinframes.com/nigel 

Gavin Prest - Book One

 

Gavin Prest is a Yorkshireman from Hornsea and, like most Yorkshiremen I know, proud of it. He specialises in fine art prints, usually in black and white. His exacting style and boundless imagination having helped build him an international reputation with his work now selling to collectors worldwide. 

As a leading member and mentor of the Guild of Photographers he has spent much of the recent lockdown conducting Zoom interviews with leading photographers on behalf of the Guild including the likes of Sean Tucker, Martin Parr, Kevin Mullins, Frances van der Merwe and  Debbie Longmore. Last year he was a judge of the largest photography competition in the world, The Trierenberg Supercircuit which took him to Austria.

With his passion for mono and a storytelling style his photographs are easily recongnisable to many, although he can still surprise at times, as he did with his successful bid for a second Masters Award with a series of pictures which were not only in pastel shades but appearing to feature a mannequin - it wasn't, it was a model ! 

His work requires exacting focus and ideas from him and his models, many of whom he has worked with for some time, but also a good deal of careful work in the post production stages....and what Gavin doesn't know about the technical issues of studio lighting is hardly worth bothering about...

His first book - obviously entitled Gavin Prest Book One  - is a lovely hardbacked, well produced and well presented selection of 39 early images which helped build his reputation spread over 80 pages. The paper qulaity is high, as you would expect, using 200 gsm silk paper and the square format suits the style. Surprisingly the volume is only £25.00 pp and tells you a little about his work and motivation. From the title I would image there are more books to come!

You can find out more about the book here:-  https://www.gavinprest.com/the-release-of-book-one/ 

Yes, but is it Art ?

It is almost two hundred years since the first photograph was made. Since then much has changed, both in process, technology and thinking about what a photograph is. Susan Sontag has considered the philosophy of the photograph ( "On Photography" 1971); John Berger has written extensively on the challenges of photography as an art critic ("Understanding a Photograph" -1978 and beyond) and many others have added thoughts, arguments and observations since on what photographs may achieve or be.

And of course they are many things to many people. They are holiday snaps and records of families. They are exaggerations to advertise and grow desire for objects. They are flattering portraits or memories of weddings. Pictures of pets and warnings about wars and other dangers. Still lives. Pornography. Illustrations for newsprint. What they are not, of course, is art. At least not uniformly. 

And yet some undoubtedly are. Some carry distinct messages and can communicate feelings and emotions in the same way that paintings can. They may use their technology to confuse or prompt some thought we may not otherwise have had. I have never advocated that all photographs are art but any medium that can be used to explore humanity and our psyche is always going to make the outcomes of these an artistic possibility. For me an important word to set alongside those words that are often used to describe art such as beauty, skill, imagination and feelings goes the word intention. Some photgraphers set out to use their skill and imagination to intentionally challenge us - and to me that makes those photographs art.

As photography has matured and become so many things it is worth stopping and thinking about the changes that have taken place and how cobjectivity has developed since the 1830's. Society and societal mores have altered considerably and it could be argued that photography has driven at least some of that - just consider the role of selfies...

Charlotte Cotton's book does this extremely competently and is well illustrated as a way of giving examples to the arguments. You probably won't agree with everything in here but that is not the point. The point is to think - and if you want to argue with her and cite some alternative views then please do. It is critical thinking and discussion that carries us forward. So - is it art ? You tell me ...

A Photographer's Playbook - book review

A Photographer's Playbook

Edited by Jason Fulford and Gregory Halpern

Published by Aperture (2014)

As the cover says this is a book of ideas - 307 of them from photographers worldwide. The editors, having had some involvement in teaching, wondered how others gained inspiration, had fun or tested limits, so thought they would ask. This book is the result. It is what I sometimes use when I feel in need of a challenge or inspiration. It doesn't work all the time but there is good advice available.

The page below by Sasha Rudensky uses a quote by novelist Anthony Burgess as the starting point for her challenge.

You can even download as a pdf and try it for free (well for 30 days anyway) here :-

http://ebookmediastar2.over-blog.com/20e4s_347ke36e0q 

A weekend sale by Taschen

A quick blog today. Taschen, the art book printers, have a sale on over the weekend. They have many books on photography as well as art and the production values are high. 

Sebastiao Selgado's "Genesis" (see above) is just £30. 

First published in 2013 this massive coffee table book of black and white photographs from across the globe is described as "A love letter to the planet". Eight years in the making it is a beautiful set of pictures as well as making us consider our place in it and our responsibilities to it.

Of course there are other books but this is the one I focussed on. A big bargain. A link below - 

https://www.taschen.com/pages/en/catalogue/photography/all/05767/facts.sebastio_salgado_genesis.htm 

and an interview about the project here - 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ESGW7HovOA 

Paris - Paul Almasy

In the blooming of post-war Paris, finding its feet after conflict, occupation and hardship philosophy and culture blossomed. Into this world stepped Hungarian photographer Paul Almasy. Taking his camera onto the streets he captured the vibrancy and work-a-day of this European hub synonymous with romance, intrigue and life itself. The pavements proved a great place to capture small pieces of lives that grew into an evocative picture of the fifties and sixties.

This recently published book of photographs from the era underline Almasy's important place among the chroniclers of this great city. Although not the first to present a pictorial record of Paris these pictures are evocative and meaningful.

Published by teNues Media ( https://books-teneues.com/ ) I paid £12.50 for a hardback version on Amazon, although I note that following other recent reviews the price has almost doubled today so look around.

You an orchestra you a bomb

This blog is both a review of Cig Harvey's third collection from 2017 and a recommendation and introduction for her wider work. 

Scanning the photographs in this book it may seem a strange and incoherent mishmash of pictures. From some super focussed pictures: a bird apparently being released by an open hand to the less focussed glove puppet dog eating leaves. From the picture of her daughter standing looking from the broken rear window of a Wagoneer to the seemingly jumbled trees which harbour a dark, slight figure, hardly seen. But it is a triumph of Picasso's words "It took me four years to paint a Raphael but a lifetime to paint like a child." Here is the secret to the photographers art. The less obvious is as important. The small things have stature. Creating atmosphere is as important as giving clarity. Mystery is to be solved. The obvious may need to be better understood.

Here is a book of family, of affirmation and of life....and almost, death. It was produced after a serious collision that left the photographer badly injured, unable to speak and facing a long recovery. 

Over the last four years or so Cig Harvey has become a muse and major influence in how I look at photography. I had come across Harvey before I saw this book, I had seen some pictures in a magazine and then followed her up on the internet where I found an illustrated interview with her on You Tube. A more recent interview is now online and is listed below. 

A British photographer who has lived in the US for some years now (via Barcelona and Bermuda) she is thoughtful, imaginative, experimental and clearly has huge talent. Colour is important to her but she is skilled in using black and white to drive emotion. She clearly wants people to be provoked into thinking and looking beyond the picture that you see as her books affirm and her narrative style lays out the challenges both for photographers looking for inspiration and her viewers.

She has been awarded several prestigious awards in the USA and is represented by several large galleries, including Huxley Parlour in London.

Her books are Schilt Publishing and Gallery in Maine and are often limited editions which makes them very expensive. Her prints from the gallery well over £2000. This book is currently out of print. ( www.schiltpublishing.com ) 

I bought mine via ebay for a reasonable sum :-)

IMRC lecture series - Cig Harvey :- https://vimeo.com/362177565 

Photographs from this book :- https://www.cigharvey.com/youanorchestrayouabomb

Book Review - Futuro Retro - Photographs by Maria Svarbova

Futuro Retro - a collection of photographs by  Maria Svarbova

Published by New Heroes and Pioneers  - 2019

RRP £50.00 (255pp)

For some time Maria Svarbova has been a photographer whose work have admired since I discovered her Swimming Pool and Girl Power series in 2018. This comprehensive book covers the last six years or so of her work. It is hard to believe that she has won many awards, including being named a Hasselblad Master, and shown worldwide (including in Vogue magazine) given that she only became a photographer in 2010 and has never received formal training. In fairness this last fact may have helped her. 

She is now 32 years old.

Maria is Slovakian and lives in Bratislava. She studied archeology at University but was given a camera in her third year there by her sister and found her true profession.

Her work has an eerie and other worldly quality to it, hauntingly beautiful in its carefully chosen pastel shades but questioningly brutal in its emotionless examinations. Sometimes it harks back to a far more frugal time in Slovakia's history, to a time when communism made life more challenging and emotions less visible.

 Maria works with a team of friends from art school bringing their knowledge of set design, styling and fashion into her world. Although she has been keen to cut her own path as a photographer in order to create an original style (which she has certainly achieved) the influences of her favourite artists such as David Hockney and Edward Hopper are more difficult for her to avoid. This is not a detriment.

The book is well printed and the photographs mainly full page (about 9" x 12"). Descriptions of her working methods and the background to her works are described too by the editors Francois Le Bled and Matt Porter. You can find out much more about her work on the web and through her very comprehensive website.

https://www.mariasvarbova.com/about