Must-haves? An Essential Reading List Thread

[nelsonfotodotcom]

[Kirk - searched, but not finding what I'm looking for. Hope this thread isn't considered redundant. Maybe one to be stuck for posterity?]

I've seen other threads wherein folks mention certain books they consider essential, but no luck--thus far--conjuring up a catch-all thread for same.

So?

Which photography-/photographer-related books, regardless the related format(s), would you have to have if you could have, dig? Please, post information for books still in print or links to public domain works if such exist. Anything impossible to locate won't be of much help.

Thanks,
Craig

[PViapiano]

Tech books:

Tim Rudman's Master Printing book; and his book on toning.

Darkroom 1 and 2 from Lustrum Press (Ralph Gibson's short-lived publishing house)

Barry Thornton's Edge of Darkness

Larry Bartlett's B&W Printing Workshop

Monographs:

Salgado's Workers

David Heald's Architecture of Silence

Linda Butler's Italy book

Ray McSavaney's Explorations

Anything by Irving Penn

[jenn wilson]

the nature of photographs
- stephen shore

photography speaks: 150 photographers on their art
- aperture publication

fotographia publica: photography in print 1919-1939

hiroshi sugimoto
- kerry brougher

e'
- masao yamamoto

on photography
- susan sontag

also relevant, although not exclusively pertaining to photography

regarding the pain of others
- susan sontag

search for the real
- hans hofmann

all currently in print and available through amazon

[Brian_A]

As far as "essential" goes, I'd have to consider the Ansel Adams lineup an essential. (The Camera, The Negative, The Print, Examples, An Autobiography, etc.) There are plenty others that I think should be there, but those would be among my top picks.

-Brian

[QT Luong]

A fairly classical list by a photo editor:

http://aphotoeditor.com/2007/12/20/p...t-photography/

[Ron Marshall]

The Negative and The Print by Adams.

The Art of Photography by Barnbaum.

The Film Developing Cookbook, by Anchell and Troop.

Those are the only ones I would consider "essential". There are many others that are highly useful.

[Mike Castles]

Well, Dakota must have looked in my bookcase...those are all books I would say are a must own...along with
-Technical -
Dick Arentz - Platinum & Palladium Printing
Christopher James - Alternative Photographic Process

David Plowden - Vanishing Point
June Van Cleef - The Way Home (if you like Paula's High Plains Farm, this is a must have).
Paul Strand - Southwest and The World on My Doorstep
Laura Gilpin - An Enduring Grace
Keith Carte - Photographs 25 years

are just a few more...and don't forget Tillman Crane has a new book coming out in Nov - Oden Stone.

[Bruce Barlow]

On Being a Photographer - Bill Jay and David Hurn
Art and Fear - Ted Orland and David Bayles
The View From the Studio Door - Ted Orland
The Creative Habit - Twyla Tharp (a choreographer, but it's great)
Weston's daybooks
The Zone VI Newsletters - Fred Picker

For me, these are all essential, which means I need to own them. Picture books by great photographers (Atget, Strand, Evans, Adams, Weston, Koudelka, etc. are nice, and available from the public library.

[Daniel Grenier]

Time in New England - Paul Strand
Bullock - Wynn Bullock
Wright Morris - The Friends of Photography
Contact - The Friends of Photography
Southwest - Elliot Porter (b&w work)
Atget series - MoMA
Linda Butler - The Shakers
Hometowns - George Tice

[Brian Sims]

Perception and Photography by Zakia taught me more about composition than anything else.