We recently had a visit from a newly qualified teacher keen to find out how we managed our photography resources, supported our students and designed the curriculum. She asked lots of really great questions and we had a great chat during a Year 12 lesson. Over the years we have collected quite a few photography books, some of which are kept on the bookshelf in our main teaching space. One of the things our visitor asked was which books we would recommend for a colleague starting from scratch and creating a capsule collection. This got me thinking and so here are are my recommendations for 10 essential texts for the photography classroom/library.

They are personal choices so it would be great to know if you think I've missed anything really useful and which ones in my list you also use on a regular basis. With an eye on shrinking budgets I have tried to keep the costs down. The links take you to the cheapest version of the book I could find (not surprisingly the same online bookseller in every case) and as close to or below £10 per book as I could get (if you don't mind sometimes buying used copies). This means that you could get hold of all 10 of these books for under £100. You may, of course, decide to shop elsewhere and pay a bit, or a lot, more. This site does not benefit in any way from click throughs to particular booksellers! I've also mostly avoided coffee table survey books or photobooks by individual photographers. These can be quite expensive and might be purchased later on to swell the bookshelves once you've got your collection of smaller, cheaper books started. 

Anyroadup, here goes (in no particular order):

There are hundreds of great photography books out there. What are your favourites? Please leave a comment below...

Jon Nicholls, Thomas Tallis School

PS. You can currently get all 10 of these books for £89.32.

What follows is a very personal reflection on the books about art and photography that have really influenced my thinking and practice this year. These are the books I read (or re-read) in 2015 rather than just those that were published this year. They are in no particular order.

The book is large format and generously illustrated. Many of the artists included would be considered art photographers, exploring conceptual issues, but there is a strong sense of continuity with photography pioneers of the past. I've referenced some of the artists included in a recent scheme of work which explores the relationship between photography and surfaces. Who knows how long film and light sensitive papers will be around? Until such time as these technologies cease to exist, this crop of artists seem determined to wring the last drop of creative potential from a dwindling resource. Our students are fascinated by the darkroom, by film and old cameras. The department in which I work is also committed to analogue photography (for want of a better phrase) and both Freecycle and eBay (plus donations from neighbouring schools and colleges who are closing down their darkrooms and getting rid of equipment) have proved to be rich sources of cheap materials. I don't know how long we'll be able to continue to work in this way but this book is a useful reminder that many contemporary artists are still excited by the affordances of traditional materials and techniques whilst also questioning their relevance and meaning in the 21st century.

Related:
​An introduction to the exhibition at the ICP

I'm determined to build into my teaching this year some of the many insights, questions and provocations about our relationships with photographic images raised by this book. Who knows, it may turn out to be as significant in our thinking about visual culture as John Berger's was all those years ago.

I'm also interested in teaching photography as both an art form in its own right (with its own particular set of affordances, constraints, techniques and processes) and as a form of contemporary art practice. In this respect, I am fascinated by the conceptual artists of the 1970s as much as I am by the early modernist pioneers of photography in the 20s and 30s. Robin Kelsey's brilliant book explores the different ways in which we can understand the role that chance plays for a number of photographers and artists, the main protagonists being William Henry Fox Talbot, Julia Margaret Cameron, Alfred Stieglitz, Frederick Sommer and John Baldessari. It's a brilliantly researched and illuminating journey that puts paid to the tiresome argument that photography teachers should concentrate on developing their craft and not be troubled by art. As Kelsey explains, art and photography have always been in dialogue:

Related:
On Chance and Photography, a conversation between Robin Kelsey and Samuel Ewing.

So, what are your favourite reads of 2015? Which books have inspired you to invent new projects or re-invigorated your own photography practice? Let us know in the comments below or, alternatively, why not write your own guest blog post? Get in touch!

When you’re looking at resources to help develop a new course or just out of personal interest, often you browse Goodreads or Amazon looking for that perfect book. As can be read in a previous post, I found websites that really helped me focus essentials for a GCSE Photography course. Looking across my bookshelf, I realised I had quite a few photography resources already. How do they compare with supposedly more ‘current’ information on the web?

Here is a quick round up of my top five:

​What would be in your Top 5 Photography teaching books?

The original version of this blog post appeared on Damo's blog.