About the pictures, not the gear

droj

droj

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Books on my coffee table, ie books that I'm dipping into at the moment, are:

See/Saw (Looking at Photographs) by Geoff Dyer (Canongate), and A History of Pictures by David Hockney & Martin Gayford (Thames & Hudson).

Both are stimulating and great fun!
 
droj said:
Books on my coffee table, ie books that I'm dipping into at the moment, are:

See/Saw (Looking at Photographs) by Geoff Dyer (Canongate), and A History of Pictures by David Hockney & Martin Gayford (Thames & Hudson).

Both are stimulating and great fun!
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The Hockney and Gayford book I've read twice and refer to it every so often. It's an excellent read.

Not read See/Saw, but I've read his "The Ongoing Moment"; and can't remember anything about it :-(

I think he drew a lot of parallels with music, but I would need to refresh my memory.
 
myotis said:
I think he drew a lot of parallels with music, but I would need to refresh my memory.
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There are parallels (or equivalence) between all art forms that relate to skill and depth of insight. Some things rock the boat more than others. It's always been so.
 
droj said:
There are parallels (or equivalence) between all art forms that relate to skill and depth of insight.
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Quite so.. I have (next to) no interest in dance and choreography but Twyla Tharp's "The Creative Habit" is one of my touchstone books. Another is "Luck" by former cricketer Ed Smith.
 
droj said:
There are parallels (or equivalence) between all art forms that relate to skill and depth of insight. Some things rock the boat more than others. It's always been so.
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Indeed there are, this wasn't a criticism of the content, just a reflection on my poor memory.
 
Ed Sutton said:
Quite so.. I have (next to) no interest in dance and choreography but Twyla Tharp's "The Creative Habit" is one of my touchstone books. Another is "Luck" by former cricketer Ed Smith.
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Hi Dave

I just finished reading a book and needed something new to read.
After seeing your post I read some reviews of Luck by Ed Smith. I never watch cricket and know next to nothing about it but the book sounds interesting.

Just ordered a second hand copy off Ebay for next to nothing.

Thanks :-)

Gaz
 
cargo said:
Hi Dave

I just finished reading a book and needed something new to read.
After seeing your post I read some reviews of Luck by Ed Smith. I never watch cricket and know next to nothing about it but the book sounds interesting.

Just ordered a second hand copy off Ebay for next to nothing.

Thanks :)

Gaz
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It's not really about cricket, that's just a peg to hang the ideas on. Hope you enjoy it. :)
 
Don't forget photobooks. I sometimes think photographers must be the worst audience for a photobook, rather than engaging with the subject matter, narrative, showing empathy and understanding the why, we get caught up in deconstructing the photograph, composition, how the photographer made it, what equipment they used etc.. sure both are important but the photographer wanted to communicate the former.
 
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benc98 said:
Don't forget photobooks. I sometimes think photographers must be the worst audience for a photobook, rather than engaging with the subject matter, narrative, showing empathy and understanding the why, we get caught up in deconstructing the photograph, composition, how the photographer made it, what equipment they used etc.. sure both are important but the photographer wanted to communicate the former.
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There are so many kinds of photographs. It's not as if there was a single, all-in-one category. And yet the medium itself is a kind of language, in which we may verse ourselves in terms of both technique and meaning, so to me photographers are the best audience for photobooks!
 
droj said:
There are so many kinds of photographs. It's not as if there was a single, all-in-one category. And yet the medium itself is a kind of language, in which we may verse ourselves in terms of both technique and meaning, so to me photographers are the best audience for photobooks!
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I don't know if photographers are the best audience, but I think they are largely the target audience. Very few go to large print runs, which suggests most have a limited readership.
 
Yeah, I don't think there are many photobooks that have been popular outside of photographers, i guess the obvious one is Frank's the Americans, I also just thought about Martha Cooper's Subway Art, which is a very important book for the graffiti community.

There is something that Hurn and Jay talk about, where the history of photography is really the history of subject matter, and this is stuck in my mind. So, I was thinking the people who are interested in the subject matter are the best audience for those books. I know it doesn't work like that though
 
I have absolutely no way of knowing who looks at photobooks - or who borrows or buys them!
 
I've got a fair amount of pleasure from looking at souvenir books, particularly those from the Austrian Tirol,

The image quality is generally good, given the prices, and some of the viewpoints are especially interesting, in my opinion.

Austrian souvenir picture books FZ82 P1010863.jpg
 
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