Four Corners

Sunday 30 August 2009

Books to keep.

All are easy to access and engage with, though they're not coffee table picture books, they're books that inspire and inform. The list isn't comprehensive and by no means definitive but each of these books I return to regularly and I wouldn't be without.

None are dry or stale and each invites us to think differently about photography in one way or another.

"The Ongoing Moment" by Geoff Dyer (ISBN: 0349120110 / 0-349-12011-0)
"On being a Photographer" David Hurn and Bill Jay (ISBN: 1888803061 / 1-888803-06-1)
"Image Makers Image Takers" by Anne-Celine Jaeger (ISBN: 0500286620 / 0-500-28662-0)
"Conversations with Contemporary Photographers" Umbrage (ISBN: 1884167489 / 1-884167-48-9)
"Why People Photograph" by Robert Adams (ISBN: 0893816035 / 0-89381-603-5)
"Beauty in Photography" by Robert Adams (ISBN: 0893813680 / 0-89381-368-0)
"The Education of a Photographer" by Charles H. Traub, Steven Heller and Adam B. Bell (ISBN: 158115450X / 1-58115-450-X)
"The Nature of Photographs" by Stephen Shore (ISBN: 071484585X / 0-7148-4585-X)

"After Photography" by Fred Ritchin (ISBN: 0393050246 / 0-393-05024-6)
"Photography and the Crisis of Looking" by Chris Townsend (ISBN: 379131940X / 3-7913-1940-X)

In the beginning.

I am first and foremost a practicing photographer.

I'm also an Associate Senior Lecturer in Photography where my role is to embed the primary tenet of the course; namely the development of sustainable working practices.

At a time when our industry is in flux and the role of the photographer/media practitioner has never been more unclear. The notion of a sustainable practice is one that locates me as both student and teacher.

It's a role that requires constant re-evaluation of course content to reflect the changing practical realities of our medium, our industry and our society.

To that end it's my hope that this blog might operate as a forum for discussion in an atmosphere of shared learning and shared purpose.