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Holiday Gift Ideas for Photographers: A Few Good Books

16th December 2009, 08:09 am

Looking for a last minute gift for the photographer on your list? Last year I put together a little B&H list with a few gift ideas for photographers. This year I’ve put together a list of highly recommended books. Today is the last day for free shipping from Amazon with delivery by Christmas.

  1. Roger Ballen’s Boarding House – Shares the top honors for Book of the Year.
  2. The expanded edition of Looking In: Robert Frank’s The Americans. Huge. Thorough. Beautiful. Robert Frank’s proof sheets! Shares the top honors for Book of the Year.
  3. Taryn Simon’s American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar is one of my favorite books of the last few years. Absolutely essential.
  4. Troy Paiva turned me on to George Stewart’s classic post-apocalyptic novel from 1949, Earth Abides. Highly recommended.
  5. The Photobook is a permanent fixture in my living room, because it’s so enjoyable. Yes, it’s 50 bucks — if you need something special for the photographer on your list, this book is 50 bucks well spent. The only risk is you’ll also want volume 2.
  6. An interesting essay on Japanese aesthetics, In Praise of Shadows is recommended reading for night photographers.
  7. Is your New Year’s resolution to get your photographs more organized? There is no better place to start than Peter Krogh’s DAM Book.
  8. If you’re making money from photography, John Harrington’s business book is highly recommended.
  9. Thinking about doing panoramas or 360 VR photography but not sure where to start? Harald Woeste’s book offers an excellent overview of the concepts, equipment, and post-processing techniques.
  10. Who ever thought the pollution and destruction of the landscape could be so pretty?
  11. Supermarket is a superbly designed, understated story of a road trip from the Bay Area to the Southern California Desert.
  12. Brutal portraiture.

Related posts:

  • A Dozen Holiday Gift Ideas for Photographers
  • Holiday Traditions: Light Reading Party
  • Dan Heller article on book publishing
    • Category: Books

    8 Comments

    1. Watson:

      Great list Joe. Have you read Harrington’s new addition? I wonder how much more or newer info it has than the previous version from 2007.

      JW

      joe Reply:
      December 17th, 2009 at 5:27 pm

      Haven’t upgraded to the new edition yet. There’s a feature on his blog about some of the new topics though.

      16 December 2009, 1:24 pm

    2. Brad:

      Thanks Joe. Ordered Supermarket from your link. Maybe in the Spring…

      joe Reply:
      December 17th, 2009 at 5:28 pm

      Cool, Brad. The way multiple images are treated in the layout of Supermarket is really innovative. I bet you’ll be heading over Highway 58 into the desert next Spring. I know I will!

      17 December 2009, 8:57 am

    3. Tim B:

      In addition to Supermarket, I’d recommend Emigre’s Desert Trilogy books – Palm Desert, Joshua Tree, and Cucamonga – Notable also is the soft-cover, “Bagdad, California” – a study of a locale much-revered by NPrs. Dream Dates, all . . .

      See the The Nocturnes NPy Blog entry for today, Emigre at 25, for news of a book release and Gallery show in San Francisco.

      joe Reply:
      December 17th, 2009 at 5:33 pm

      Tim – thanks for reminding me about the other books from Emigre. I really need to get Cucamonga, as I’m a big Beefheart fan.

      17 December 2009, 12:51 pm

    4. links for 2009-12-17:

      [...] Holiday Gift Ideas for Photographers: A Few Good Books (Joe Reifer) [...]

      17 December 2009, 2:01 pm

    5. Inexpensive Photo Gifts | Jay Watson Photography Blog:

      [...] created a great list of holiday gift ideas for photographers. He followed up again this year with a list of recommended books. This got me thinking about some cool cheap stuff that is photo related. Photography can be so [...]

      18 December 2009, 12:08 pm