Pictorial Book Recomendations

Tooloose_Letrek · Dec 26, 2005

It's that time of year, that I gather all my Borders gift cards and think about a book I'd like to add to my library. I really enjoy photo collections and thought I'd ask for recommendations from members here. It's tough since you don't know my taste in photography, but if you would recommend books you like, I will do the next step and research them. Here are a few of the newer books I've already purchased this year:

Mary Ellen Mark - Exposure.
Friedlander - The Museum of Modern Art
Sally Mann - Deep South
Andrew Moore - Russia: Beyond Utopia

A few that I have been considering include:

Angel's World: The New York Photographs of Angelo Rizzuto
Nazar: Photographs from the Arab World
Jack Leuders-Booth: Inherit the Land (a view of the personal lives, dwellings and struggles of families who live and work in the garbage dumps of Tijuana, Mexico.)

I'm more interested in newer books released this year.

Have you seen anything particularly striking?

Thanks.

Tooloose_Letrek · Dec 26, 2005

You guys are too slow here!

It is hours after my posting the above message and I didn't mean to do it, but I went to the bookstore just to look, and there it was, sitting on the shelf, all shrink-wrapped with my name on it, a fresh copy of [ame="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0393061116/qid=1135624982/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/002-6055980-6634465?s=books&v=glance&n=283155"]Angel's World[/ame]: The New York Photographs of Angelo Rizzuto. I couldn't be happier with my purchase.

It's a very strange book, and the word 'disturbing' seems to pop up wherever I read about it. Angelo was an oddball character with a history of mental illness, who lived in NYC in the 60s. Every day at 2 PM he'd head out of his one-room hotel room and hit the streets to photograph NY. He did some panoramas of the city but seemed to like photographing angry women and children. I think the women were probably angry because he'd no doubt stuff a camera in their face. The collection of photos is really a strange mix of images. The intro was written by Michael Lesy, the historian who did the research for another odd book, Wisconsin Death Trip. I saw the documentary film about this one.

I still have another gift card for the bookstore, so if you have any suggestions, please add them. I won't be cashing this one in for at least a week, so I can use the store discount coupon I got today.

craig · Dec 27, 2005

I would check out Irving Penn "Passage". It is my personal fave. It came out years ago. It was herald at the time. I think each sig took 13 passes thru the press. It may not be what you are looking for. Totally studio still life and portraits. He still shoots for Vogue and VF.

Tooloose_Letrek · Dec 27, 2005

It's not my style of photography, but thanks for the suggestion. I'd be curious to see the book, though, just to see a great photographer at work.

Do you like Richard Avedon? How would you compare these two photographers? I notice a new book Woman in the Mirror : 1945-2004 out this year. Both of these guys seem to be shooting in the same genre, at least some of the time. [ame="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/index=books&field-author-exact=Richard%20Avedon&rank=-relevance%2C%2Bavailability%2C-daterank/002-6697029-4064814"][/ame]