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Blog

Very occasional musings about
photography education

A beginner's bookshelf

7/3/2017

3 Comments

 
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):

1. 100 ideas that changed photography

Mary Warner Marien, 2012
I dip into this book fairly regularly. It's accessible, well-designed and presents useful, bitesize accounts of some key concepts, technologies and cultural shifts that help to define the diversity of photographic practice since its invention in the 1830s. Some of the information can appear a bit jumbled but I like the energy of the writing, the sudden shifts in perspective (E.g. No.42 Small Cameras/ No.43 Tabloids/ No.44 The autochrome/ No.45 Postcards/ No.46 Projection / No.47 Artificial Light etc.) and the one idea per page format. 
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2. Why It Does Not Have To Be In Focus: Modern Photography Explained 

Jackie Higgins, 2013

This is a great guide to the various practices and concerns of contemporary photographers. Taking a series of specific examples mostly from the last 20 years, the author explores the seemingly confusing decisions and strategies various artists have used to re-think photography's traditions or 'rules' in an attempt to say something new. This often involves asking questions about what we think a photograph can and should do. An entertaining primer for students of all ages.
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3. The Photographer's Playbook

Edited by Jason Fulford and Gregory Halpern, 2014

This is a gold mine of 307 assignments and ideas for photography projects gathered from some of the most interesting photographers, artists, writers and teachers currently working in the medium. I've used several of these ideas as starting points for mini projects, either for the whole class or as recommendations for individual students who might be a bit stuck. It's a great book to have alongside you in every lesson and a constant source of inspiration and guidance. If I could only have one book about photography on my bookshelf, this would be it.
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4. Self Publish, Be Happy: A DIY Photobook Manual and Manifesto

Bruno Ceschel (Author), David Senior (Author), 2015

This book is packed with images, representing the vibrant community of self-publishing photographers. It ends with a manifesto, one I share with my students when I encourage them to become self-publishing photographers. This book is the antithesis of a tasteful, coffee table tome. It is noisy, joyful and anarchic. A great addition to any bookshelf.
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5. The Nature of Photographs: A Primer

Stephen Shore, 2010

In a few carefully chosen words and images one of the great photographers guides us through some of the problems and possibilities of photography with grace, intelligence and a gentle wit. There are so many beautifully phrased observations and revelatory sentences that it's worth spending slightly more than £10 to get yourself a copy. A wonderful book in every way.
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6. Photographs Not Taken: A Collection of Photographers' Essays 

Will Steacy (Editor), 2012

This is perhaps an unusual choice since it's a book of stories, not photographs, about the ones that got away, those pictures that, for a variety of reasons, were not taken. There are some delightful anecdotes in here which often raise some really interesting issues for the beginner photographer as well as the more experienced. When is it not OK to take a photograph? Can photographs hurt people? One for the ethically minded.
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7. Photography (The Key Concepts)

David Bate, 2016

I haven't included many books about photography theory but I'm happy to make an exception for this one because it's so well written. The new edition, which I still haven't managed to buy yet, promises to update some of the debates about the history, theories and meanings of photographs. Bate is a photography teacher and practitioner who helps us get to grips with photography's big ideas or what we like to call its Threshold Concepts. Without this book, we would have struggled to articulate our concepts quite so clearly. One for the teacher and interested A-level student.
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8. Alternative Photographic Processes: Crafting Handmade Images

Brady Wilks, 2015

This is a really informative survey of contemporary photographers who are investigating a wide range of alternatives to the conventional photographic print. Many of them are testing the boundaries of what a photograph can be, sometimes looking backwards in order to find new approaches and also probing photography's materiality. 
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9. 30-Second Photography: The 50 Most Thought-provoking Photographers, Styles and Techniques, each explained in Half a Minute

Brian Dilg and  Adiva Koenigsberg, 2015

This book, part of a series promising introductions to all sorts of subjects in 30 seconds, is better than its name suggests. Cogent, carefully considered but utterly accessible, this is a great book to prompt initial investigations, setting students off on adventures of their own lasting much longer than 30 seconds (hopefully).
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10. Photographers A-Z

Hans-Michael Koetzle, 2015

It's amazing that you can pick up a copy of this beautifully designed book for a few coppers. The idea is simple and elegant - significant photographers arranged alphabetically and represented by a key photobook. It's a great way to browse through some amazing photography publications, especially if students are planning to make their own photobooks and need to know a bit about what's gone before. It's also a lot cheaper than the three volume Parr and Badger survey (although that's also great).
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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.
3 Comments

My 5 favourite books of 2015 - Jon Nicholls

22/12/2015

3 Comments

 
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.

A Handful of Dust by David Campany

This is the catalogue for an exhibition I travelled to Paris to see only to be thwarted by an international terrorist incident. Given the nature of Campany's argument, that images of dust in all its forms pervade much of modern art (and can be traced back to Man Ray's photograph of Duchamp's Large Glass) this seems an appropriate connection to have made with the book as the dust settled on Paris back in November. I am fascinated by the photographers of the 1920s and 30s, especially those associated with the Surrealists. Campany's book traces the ripples of Man Ray's photograph in the 20th century art pond.
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I have used Man Ray's image countless times with my A level photography students and I've created a variety of resources and provocations related to the ways in which we are still absorbed by the investigations and experiments initiated by Surrealism nearly 100 years ago. I'm really sorry that I was prevented from seeing the exhibition that accompanied the publication of this great book. However, it is beautifully illustrated throughout and contains a fantastic essay exploring the nature of photographs and their relationship to the times in which they are made.

Related:
A virtual flip through of the book
A discussion with David Campany about the book

What is a photograph? by Squiers, Batchen, Baker & Steyerl

As digital technology becomes the dominant form in which we make and consume photographic images a number of photographers (and curators) are exploring the materiality of the medium and its roots in the relationships between light and a physical surface. This catalogue of an exhibition at the ICP collects together several examples and articulates in the accompanying texts some of the tensions and opportunities of this crossroads moment in the history of the medium.
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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

How to See the World by Nicholas Mirzoeff 

This is the book I read during the ill-fated trip to Paris in November. It's a new version of the old Pelican books and, like them, attempts to outline a complex topic for the general reader. Nicholas Mirzoeff begins his exploration of visual culture with a reference to the blue marble, the famous image of the earth created by the 1972 Apollo 17 mission. This most reproduced photograph of all time (arguably) is contrasted with the selfie taken by astronaut Akihiko Hoshide during his 2012 spacewalk in which the earth is seen reflected in his visor. Like John Berger's Ways of Seeing TV series and book, Mirzoeff challenges our view of reality with a series of startling insights. 
To say we live in a culture that visualises is an understatement. One trillion photographs were taken in 2014. 700 million Snapchat photos are exchanged every single day. Every minute no less than three hundred hours of YouTube video are uploaded.
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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.

Understanding a Photograph by John Berger

Whilst we're on the subject of John Berger, the publication of this collection of his essays about photography provided me with a great deal of pleasure this year. It's a book I have returned to frequently, especially his essay about the suits worn by the subjects in August Sander's 1914 portrait of three farmers.​ Berger's writing is a brilliant mixture of the political, the personal and the theoretical. The intensity of his gaze and the range of cultural references he brings to bear on photographs makes reading the essays in this book pretty essential for anyone with an interest in photography.

Related:
An introduction to the book from Geoff Dyer, the editor.
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Photography and the Art of Chance
by Robin Kelsey

This is the book I was most excited about reading this year. I'm particularly interested in the relationship between photography and chance. It's something I refer to a lot in my teaching and encourage students to think about. It forms one of the Threshold Concepts I've helped to develop with Chris Francis:
#7: Chance plays a very significant role in photography. You can fight chance, tolerate it or embrace it. To some extent, all photographs are the result of chance processes. 
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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:
What binds the figures featured in the book is their self-conscious grappling with the relationship of photography to art. For each of them, this grappling required addressing the troublesome role of chance in photography, and each addressed this role in terms responsive to his or her day and circumstances. When Cameron practiced, Victorians were very concerned that modern markets were making investment akin to gambling, and she treated photography as a kind of aesthetic speculation. Stieglitz was more interested in the spontaneous accidental forms of vapors and clouds and scenes on the urban street.
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!
3 Comments

Damo Ward's Top 5 Photography Books

26/9/2015

3 Comments

 
Damo Ward's blog is a fantastic resource for digital creativity and art related information. This is a guest blog post about his favourite photography books. 
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:
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The Photography Book Ian Jeffrey
  • Paperback: 520 pages
  • Publisher: Phaidon Press; mini format edition (30 April 2000)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 071483937X
  • ISBN-13: 978-0714839370
  • Product Dimensions: 12.7 x 3.2 x 16.5 cm
  • Review: 5/5 Perfect! Pocket sized and alphabetical for quick finding inspiration.
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The Photographer’s Eye Michael Freeman
  • Paperback: 192 pages
  • Publisher: Ilex Press; First Edition edition (11 Jun. 2007)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1905814046
  • ISBN-13: 978-1905814046
  • Product Dimensions: 23.7 x 1.4 x 25.9 cm
  • Review 4.5/5 Superb for intruding design and composition creativity with the not-so artistic. Amazing examples.
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Teaching Photography Rand & Steven
  • Paperback: 336 pages
  • Publisher: Focal Press; 2 edition (8 April 2015)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1138838543
  • ISBN-13: 978-1138838543
  • Product Dimensions: 24.1 x 18.5 x 2.3 cm
  • Review: 4/5 Includes advice for questioning, photographic technique & creativity. Edtech section will date fast.
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Collins’ Complete Photography Projects Garrett & Harris
  • Hardcover: 256 pages
  • Publisher: HarperCollins (7 Nov. 2013)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 000750926X
  • ISBN-13: 978-0007509263
  • Product Dimensions: 1.9 x 17.8 x 22.2 cm
  • Review: 4/5 Good catalogue of ideas and Quick Tips per section. Needs more Photoshop/Lightroom projects to be truly complete.
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Understanding Exposure  Bryan Peterson
  • Paperback: 176 pages
  • Publisher: Amphoto Books; 3 edition (7 Aug. 2010)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0817439390
  • ISBN-13: 978-0817439392
  • Product Dimensions: 21.7 x 1.1 x 28.1 cm
  • Review: 3.5/5 Comprehensive but would have benefitted from being bundled with his book on composition and further aperture advice.
​What would be in your Top 5 Photography teaching books?

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

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