What's on my bookshelf? - Simon Conti

This is the first in a new series of guest blog posts from photography teachers. Which books and magazines do you rely on in your practice? Our first post is from Simon Conti, photography teacher at Woolwich Polytechnic School in South East London.

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I highly recommend a subscription to the magazine Black and White Photography. I keep the monthly articles written by Lee Frost on a range of subjects and approaches to photography. They blend the technique and aesthetic very well and are perfectly accessible for students who are sometimes averse to being challenged by reading exercises. The magazine is pitched very well at a thoughtful approach to photography and the only hurdle is that of students passing it over as they are working in colour!​

My book collection at school includes Robert Frank’s The Americans. It is extremely popular and allows students to discover the wonder of seeing images in printed form. My favourite aspect of this book is the grouping of images and the relationship from one image (or set of images) to the next. The historical context in many ways transcends the quality of the images. In terms of analysis, this book is a useful tool when inviting students to deconstruct images according to the formal elements.

The perennial subject of street photography is always at the forefront of many A-level students' ambitions despite my voiced feeling that this is just about the toughest single genre to master at the start of any studies in photography. I refer my students to 2 books on this subject - Street Photography Now (Sophie Howarth and Steve McLaren) and Saul Leiter: Early Colour. 

The former is an interesting compilation of work by contemporary photographers from across the globe and has engaging and informative notes and quotes. The latter (Leiter) is wonderful for students as it demonstrates the link between content and technique in the pre-digital age. The presentation of this (quite small) book is also one which students connect with well. The last point that I like about the book is the strong impression left by Leiter's palette of colours which unifies the images, capturing a distinct period in time.

An appreciation of the importance of taking many photographs in order to realise a successful conclusion is shown amply by the book Hollywood: Frame by Frame (Karina Longworth) which investigates the contact sheets of some iconic photographs of the movie industry. For some students, there is sometimes a reluctance to make many photographs of one subject, event or person. This book shows very clearly the importance of taking lots of photographs and then the editing process that follows.

Aside from this, I have Lewis Bush’s excellent Metropole which is brief, beautiful and its introduction has been inspiring for many students when considering the all-important annotations. I also keep a set of the Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize catalogues. The photography is varied and of the highest quality. Once more, the notes for each image have helped students in discussing their own work. The annual Taylor Wessing exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, London is also a ‘must see’ for me and the scale of the exhibition is a good introduction to the world of galleries and pictures on walls – sadly many students see the world almost exclusively through the screen.

There area couple of websites which I regularly point students towards when considering options for their own work. I have listed them below with (very) brief notes:

http://www.art2day.co.uk – outstanding source for research and urgently needs our support. SPREAD THE WORD!
http://www.thisiscolossal.com – another site similar to art2day.
http://www.saatchiart.com – this one is about buying art but serves as another great resource.
http://www.cambridgeincolour.com – very good site for our more geeky students when studying photography.
http://www.panos.co.uk – a commercial photography agency with outstanding contributing photographers.

Simon Conti