1884–2019
graphy books
of the past 135 years
Bye Bye
Photography
Daidō Moriyama
Shashin Hyoron-sha, 1972
This crazy book by the doyen
of Japanese photography was
meant to tear up the rulebook
and re-boot photography
once and for all. He trod on his
photos, double exposed, added
dust and yet the whole thing
works a treat. So now this
rebellious book is part of
the mainstream.In Flagrante
Chris Killip
Secker and Warburg, 1988
This book is a powerful
documentation of life in the
deprived North East of England
shot in the late ’70s for the
next decade. His carefully
constructed images, often
on large format, evoke both
empathy with the subjects and
amazement at the intimacy
they depict. It is difficult to think
of a more striking postwar
documentary photo book.FAV O U R I T E B O O K S
Worke rs
Sebastião Salgado
Aperture
ISBN 978-0893815509PICKING just one photography book as my
favourite is an almost impossible task, but
I can easily name the book that has had the
greatest influence on my life. When Salgado
published Workers it was accompanied by
a major exhibition at the Royal Festival Hall,
which I went to see. I was still in my twenties
and up to that point had never really given
much thought to how so many of the things
I took for granted – the tea and sugar on my
breakfast table, the tuna in my sandwich, the
sulphur in dozens of the things I use every
day – were dependent upon the suffering
and exploitation of some of the world’s
poorest people, labouring in harsh, miserable
and often toxic conditions for a pittance.
Like taking the red pill in The Matrix, Workers
revealed to me for the first time the true
nature of the relationship between the
developed and developing nations, and
Salgado did so through the most powerful,
moving documentary photography I had ever
seen. Epic, beautiful, empathetic and often
biblical in scale. I consider Salgado to be the
world’s greatest living photographer, not just
for his work but for the way he lives his life
and what he does with his money, and his
work influences my own documentary
photography to this day.
Nigel Atherton, EditorThe Great LIFE
Photographers
Various
Thames and Hudson
ISBN 978-0500288368
‘CRIKEY, chez Harris is on fire’. Sorry, Robert
Frank and Cartier-Bresson, my priority is
saving this collection of photography from LIFE
magazine, covering 1936 to 2000 (when LIFE
closed). There are so many unforgettable
images in here that capture those turbulent
64 years, or are just beautifully taken. The US
photographer Steve Schapiro said a great
image excels at three things – information,
emotion and execution – and this book is full
of perfect examples. Take Eisenstaedt’s 1933
grab shot of a scowling Joseph Goebbels,
which captures the Third Reich’s mendacity
and malevolence at a time when it still got the
benefit of the doubt, or Eugene Smith’s poetic
image of a Japanese woman bathing her
daughter, disfigured by mercury poisoning.
Then there is Larry Burrows in Vietnam. While
there are a lot of hard-hitting news images,
the glamour and optimism of the postwar years
shine through too. Lisa Larsen’s portrait of
Marlon Brando from 1948 is irresistible and
poignant, along with Grace Kelly shopping
in New York. Turning the page you find her
image of Ho Chi Minh on a train (Uncle Ho
took quite a shine to her, apparently). This
book’s rich variety and wealth of anecdotes
are utterly captivating.
Geoff Harris, Deputy EditorThe printed image still holds its own in the current digital world as
witnessed in this wonderful collection of treasured publications