I really wish I could own prints of the all the greats I admire … Ansel Adams, Paul Strand, Edward and Brett Weston, Henri Cartier- Bresson, Robert Frank, Walker Evans, Alfred Stieglitz, Eugene Smith, Elliott Erwitt and the great Life magazine photographers, and on and on. Unfortunately I’m not independently wealthy so I do the next best thing. I buy books – a lot of them, and sometimes in batches. When I search for any positives from the pandemic getting more books is one of them.  I gaze at their contents to enjoy myself, to be inspired and most of all to learn. Ok, so what’s to learn?  Well for starters how about light, composition and where to stand when making a photograph. And then about the tools those you admire used to get the job done. This can be incredibly helpful to those just starting out, to those who are confused or have lost their way, and to those that want to sharpen their seeing and craft.

In my latest buying spree among those I snagged are Elliott Erwitt’s huge volume Personal Best that contains almost 446 photographs he personally selected as his best and favorite images from a lifetime of creative work, along with Magnum Contact Sheets, a massive compilation of contact sheets of all the great Magnum photographers, and The Waking Dream, Photography’s First Century, published by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. They’re wonderful to look at and happen to be great learning tools for photographers at any level of experience, regardless of genre of interest. These along with a favorite of mine, Ansel Adams, Examples, The Making of 40 Photographs are but several examples of what’s available that you can use for inspiration and to up your game.  Of course anything by the greats will serve as wonderful investments that will reward you on many levels, over and over again.

So, if you don’t have a library, start one! And if you have one, see if there are any holes that need to be filled. But most important of all, enjoy these gems, learn from them, and be inspired to create your own special art!

Stay safe,

Michael