Now I have to rearrange my bookshelves where I keep my precious photography art books. I was already running out of space but now I am getting close to crisis alert. I’ve already had to move my other photography works down to my workroom in the basement. Now what?  So here’s the deal, as a particular candidate for president that I like would say … there are a lot of great books out there containing work we can admire, and most of all, learn from. They often can give us something to aspire to and even help us when we have hit a roadblock.

So this week I found out about someone that was moving and had a tone of classical vinyl records they wanted to get rid of.  Naturally I wanted to get over there as quickly as possible. Seventeen boxes later it turned out to be a pretty good haul! On a hunch I decided to ask if there were any photography books. I’ve learned that audiophile/music lovers also tend to have cameras, which means they may have photography books (note: they also seem to collect fountain pens and watches, but that’s another discussion all together!).

Bingo! I was directed to an entire shelf of books. Most were the standard how to books that are pretty common, but there were also some photo art books. Now were talking! Here are a few from the large boxful I snagged for seventy five dollars: Paul Strand, Sixty Years of Photographs; Walker Evans, Metropolitan Museum of Art; Ansel Adams and Nancy Newhall, This Is The American Earth; Ansel Adams, In Color, and Eliot Porter, Appalachian Wilderness.  I know the last two books are color work, but they’re Adams and Porter …OK?  I can gladly live with that! But perhaps the crown jewel of my excellent treasure hunt … Alfred Stieglitz, National Gallery of Art. It’s a massive two-volume box set containing the so-called “key set” of over 1600 photographs given to the museum by Stieglitz’s wife Georgia O’Keeffe.

I am truly looking forward to the many hours I will be spending with these and the other books I brought home.  Every serious photographer should have library of wonderful books like these. We all have different tastes and there are enough quality books out there to satisfy all of them. Some to be had for peanuts if you’re lucky like I was. Be on the lookout and you may find some!

Make it a point to build your own library. That’s a far better investment than that uber wide angle or big honker telephoto you really don’t need … you’ll be a better photographer for it!

Stay safe,

Michael