Maybe it's the effect of the pandemic and spending 7 hours a day in front of a computer screen, but I've been going back to photo books more often than in the past. It slows things down - not having to scroll and being able to take my time really looking, easily going from one page to another, going back, trying to understand. Been doing that a lot with Stephen Shore's "Uncommon Places", going back and forth, comparing the pre- and after-1975 pictures (the year he points out as being transformative). Allows you not always see photos as individual pictures but part of a corpus, part of an ensemble - or a vision of an ensemble - designed by the photograph. To me, that type of experience just isn't possible on a computer screen.Originally Posted by pdmoylan
And to be able to just pick up a book, any book that might inspire me, not to have to check bookmarks on my browser (most of which I've forgotten I had). Not to mention reading the enlightening essays that many photo books contain... Again, might partly be computer screen fatigue from the pandemic, but for me (as for many others) reading on a screen or in a book is not the same experience and I definitely get more out of the later than of the former.
That said. Many photographers of which I've recently ordered books I've discovered on the web. It is a great tool for discovery but, in my mind, it falls short in terms of making me fully appreciate a photographer's work.
I also like to think that every time I buy a book some money goes back to the photographer as well as to the editor.
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks