Tag: Book

Review: Henri Cartier-Bresson Here and Now, by Clément Chéroux

Book review

Henri Cartier-Bresson Here and Now, by Clément Chéroux
Henri Cartier-Bresson Here and Now, by Clément Chéroux

If there is one photographer that every photojournalist or street photographer knows, it is Henri Cartier-Bresson (HCB)!  This books takes you through all of HCB’s life: what event shaped him, who he met and was influenced by, his travels to Africa, Cuba, China, India, Spain etc, his work as a reporter for the Communist Press, how surrealism attracted him and influenced his work – the list goes on. Reading this book, you come to understand both how interesting a life HCB lead, but also the historical events that his images document and reflect.

I can’t figure out exactly why I find HCB’s images so stunning. There is obviously his mastering of composition long before all the rules were invented. And his talent for being at the right spot at the right time and on top of that hitting the shutter exactly at the decisive moment. But there is more to it than that. A touch of surrealism that adds a strange glow to his images that continues to fascinate me. No matter how much I analyze the images, the effect on me somehow escapes me just when I think I have it all figured out! And I guess this is exactly where a good photographer and a master of photography separate: the ability to make you look not only a second time, but again and again.

This book is a wonderful collection of 500+ of his images, and as a photographer looking over the should of a master, this is the part that I like the best. Others may find the story of his lift more interesting – for example how he 3 times escaped as a prisoner of war and later became a communist. And later decided to work for many years solely doing photojournalism. This part of the book I also enjoyed, but the pictures! I can wholeheartedly recommend this book if you find his work fascinating like I do.

PS: HCB is quoted for saying that: “In any case, people think far too much about techniques and not enough about seeing”. This remark is more relevant than ever, where YouTubers constantly battle to what extend photography gear matters and if the rule of thirds is to be applied always or sometimes.

Related reading

Understanding a photograph by John Berger

Review: Photo work: Forty photographers on process and practice, edited by Sasha Wolf

 

Review: Understanding a photograph by John Berger

This is probably as academic as it gets! If you want to learn the basics about photography like exposure, composition, etc, then this book is not for you at all! The title is to be taken very literally.

It is an interesting read. You really understand how much goes into interpreting a photograph. Maybe not your ordinary picture of your pet or your new car, but a picture used to document the death of Che Guevara, or the first day in the camp for the Rwandan Tutsi and Hutu refugees.

The chapters do not make up a nice red thread. Instead, it seems like a collection of articles that take their own angle irrespective of the other chapters. Analysis of an an image. Tribute to a photographer. Meet and dialogue with a photographer. Sometimes it is an analysis of a specific picture, other times a photographers work.

It is not an easy read. It is super academic. I will not claim that I understood all that John Berger writes, nor that I read it all. It is simply too demanding for little me. Consider yourself warned.

Related reading

Photo work: Forty photographers on process and practice, edited by Sasha Wolf

Review: And then there was silence, by Jan Grarup

Book review

And then there was silence, by Jan Grarup
And then there was silence, by Jan Grarup

This is a horrible book.
And an amazing book.

It shows what human beings can do to each other in a warzone. It is not pleasant reading, but Danish photographer Jan Grarup has never been a crowd pleaser.

The table of content gives the scope of the locations that Jan has photographed over the years: Kashmir, Sierra Leone, Chechnya, Rwanda, Kosovo, Roma, Ramallah, Hebron, Iraq, Iran, Darfur, Central African Republic, Afghanistan, Gaza, Haiti, Somalia and Mosul. More than 400 pages in coffee table book size, filled with black and white images from the horrors of war. People killed, people on the run, people in despair, people crammed together in refugee camps. Weapons, corpses, soldiers,  dust, blood, poverty.

Jan has been a warzone photographer his hole life. And he has paid and continues to pay a high price for his work. PTSD to mention one.  You can’t dispute Jan’s capabilities as a photographer – every image is carefully selected, the composition is impeccable, the technical quality of the images is from the top shelf.

In the foreword Jan quotes Dr. Martin Luther King jr. saying “The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people, but the silence over that by the good people.” – I think this sums up the mission Jan is on: to wake up the good people.

PS: I don’t think this book is available anymore from new. With a bit of good luck you may find a used copy. You won’t get mine. Good luck hunting.

PS: It is a BIG book. Even for a coffee table book sized book, it is bigger than most: 39cm tall and 28 cm wide, and with a weight around 3,2 kilo!

Related reading

Landscape photographer of the year, collection 10

The Photography Bible by Michael Freeman

Review: The Photography Storytelling Workshop by Finn Beales

Book review

The Photography Storytelling Workshop by Finn Beales
The Photography Storytelling Workshop by Finn Beales

This is not your average photography book – far from. Finn Beales apparently has landed some VERY big accounts (Apple, Land Rover, Audi, Cartier, etc) and in this book he shares how to pitch for a photography job, plan, deliver and maintain a good long lasting relationship with the client.

The book opens with a chapter about storytelling and how you make a series of pictures tie together to tell a story, with a clear red thread throughout the images – the last image holding the hand of the first one. It continues into how to pitch for a job, win it, plan it, execute the shoot day, edit and finally deliver. I learned a lot about how to manage such process (including the shoot day(s)) as a project and how much planning that is required.

There is a very good section in the book about what colors work together and why – and illustrated with specific examples to underline the points made. Finn coins this as creating a mood board. This was an eye opener for me. I have not come across a photo book where the use of color is addressed in this way and I can tell that this section of the book is one that I will re-visit over and over again.

Finn also has a section about which focal lengths he uses for what kind of shots and I really felt that this part of the book was like looking over the shoulder of a successful commercial photographer. I really found this part extraordinary, and as a result it re-ignited my love for the 50mm prime as a universal tool in my camera bag!

There also are some chapters about editing your photos, but here I felt that I did not learn that much new. However, Finn also addresses how to do data management of your photo files, and here there are lots of tips and tricks that I think you will find useful.

So all in all I found this book both interesting and useful, but if you are new to photography, this would NOT be the book I’d start with. There are better options from Joel Sartore and Michael Freeman. However, if:

  • storytelling with pictures
  • project management of your shoots
  • use of colors to create moods
  • creating and maintaining client accounts
  • processing and storing your images

are subjects of interest to you, then this book is definitely worth it. 176 pages with lots of illustrations and examples and exercises. And there is more to be found on his website.

Related reading

Review: Mastering composition – the definitive guide for photographers, by Richard Garvey-Williams

Review: Photo basics by Joel Sartore

 

 

Review: The Photography Bible by Michael Freeman

Book review

The photography bible by Michael Freeman.
The photography bible by Michael Freeman.

I must admit that I was a bit disappointed when I opened the parcel the book came in, only to find a relatively small and not all that thick book. I had expected a big and heavy book – the bold name “bible” had created some expectations that the appearance of the book could not match.

However, as they say, don’t judge a book by it’s cover, or as in this case: by the size and weight of it. It really is comprehensive. I can understand why Michael Freeman has named this “The Photography Bible” because he really covers a lot of aspects of photography and manages to do so in a condensed way. The main blocks from the table of content are: Exposure, Light and lightning, Composition and Post Processing – distributed across 330 pages with lots of examples and so called challenges.

Challenges are exercises for you as a reader to take on to complete a chapter or an knowledge area. And the author in the foreword recommends that you follow the structure of the book from front to back and don’t just dip in here and there. I can see that great care has been made to present the subjects in a particular order and wrap it with an exercises (challenges) to enhance your learning, so I support the advice to read the book from front to back in its full and take up the challenges presented.

I can really recommend this book if you are after one of the most complete books about the basics of photography. And more than that – it is one of the few books that I have seen talk about soft and hard light, chiaroscuro lightning and not just aperture, depth of field and the like (which of course is also included). It also covers composition to a great extend – a subject that in itself could fill an entire book. So, in short, a great book if you are after a rather complete book about the basics of photography. But not a book that I would read from front to back, I more use it more as a reference when I want to study a subject in detail.

Shopping link

Michael Freeman, Photography Bible

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Related reading

Review: Photo basics by Joel Sartore

Review: Understanding exposure by Bryan F. Peterson

Review: Understanding exposure by Bryan Peterson

Review of the book Understanding Exposure by Bryan F. Peterson.

Book review

Understanding exposure by Bryan F. Peterson

The title of this book is well chosen as it is all about exposure. So for a beginner to photography I would not recommend this as a general introduction to photography, but if you have been shooting for some time and want to take a deep dive into the nuts and bolts of exposure, this is the book.

One of the things that I learned from this book is not to be afraid of closed down apertures. Bryans range for “normality” was way into my range of extreme apertures, so I have really had to work with my own convictions here. Another takeaway is how much you can do with the white balance on your camera – here I think the book (just look at the cover) gave me some insights that gave me appetite to try a different mode than auto white balance on my camera.

Bryan has several mottos, of which “you keep shooting” is one. I think he here refers to the fact that experience and persistence is key to becoming a better photographer. Another motto is “shoot the adjective, not the noun” and here asks us to look not only at the subject but also what works with the subject, for example background or the way light is shaped on its way through a fence.

I can recommend this book – not as your first buy – but certainly as one of your more advanced books. I did not find this to be an easy read, but certainly a rewarding one, if you really dig in. If you don’t feel like buying this book, try following Bryan on Instagram – he really gives some good insights to “behind the scenes” for the images he posts.

Shopping link

Brian Peterson, Understanding Exposure

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Related reading

Review: Photo basics by Joel Sartore

Review: And then there was silence, by Jan Grarup

Review: Photo basics by Joel Sartore

Book review

Photo Basics by Joel Sartore
Photo Basics by Joel Sartore

The title is very precise when it comes to this book: photo basics. It is an introduction to the basics of photography, but a very good one, probably one of the best I have read. It strikes a very good balance between covering all aspects of the basics without diving into too much detail. However, this does not imply that it is only a book about basics – there is information for both the beginner and more advanced photographer, but it is also a condensed reading, so you may want to revisit some sections several times.

The book is divided into two parts: the basics and practicing the basics, with these two parts evenly split across the 254 pages. The book is packed with beautiful photos, and there are tips and challenges for both the beginner and the more advanced photographers.

Joel’s motto is “if it is not working for you, it is working against you” – an advice related to what you decide to put in your frame. I find that what Joel has put in this book is all working for me as a photographer, and hence I can recommend this book wholeheartedly. If I was new to photography and could only buy one book, this would be the one.

Shopping link

Joel Sartore, Photo Basics

Video link

Related reading

Review: Understanding exposure by Bryan F. Peterson

Review: And then there was silence, by Jan Grarup