We are living in a time where we are bombarded with “the latest and greatest” photography gears every year. I mean, seriously, how many people even noticed that there’s Go Pro Hero 6 now, when did that happen? I’ve bought GoPro Hero 5 just a couple of weeks ago. These fancy gears do not matter if you can’t utilise them with your heart and soul. They literally render your skills useless. As a photographer, I believe buying books (especially photo books) is a much better investment compare to going crazy with upgrading your gears frequently.
I have gone crazy with gear, therefore I know what I’m talking about. But after committing myself to a minimal configuration of pretty much just a camera that I can carry with me every single day, I rarely look back at gear releases (Well ok, I still do, but not like crazy).
I personally believe that the experience of watching printed work, whether they are in a white cube or in a book, is way more nurturing than the never ending scrolling dynamics we are exposed today with the digital platforms.
There are many books out there, but you can start by buying or renting photo-books from the popular Great Masters of photography. Many times, the content of these books is not available on the internet, and if they are available, the quality is pretty lousy making the interacting experience a little bit “meh”.
We love photography, so it makes logic to give photographs themselves the deserved time to be contemplate them in a physical form. Photograpy books are expensive. Many of the books that I’ve bought are secondhands.
The Book I’ve Personally Owned
Here is one of the latest books I have acquired. It’s about contemporary photography.
The book doesn’t have the greatest of bindings, but the work is amazing, and the price is quite reasonable compared to many other books when it comes to photography. You can purchase it here from Amazon.
Photography books aren’t like novels or comics where you could just read on your phone. You should become more inspired to have a hard copy instead of an e-Book so that you can immerse yourself inside the world of photography.
