Amateur Photographer - UK (2019-10-18)

74 12 October (^2019) Iwww.amateurphotographer.co.ukIsubscribe 03303331113
‘Allof theCamerasforDummies
booksareexcellent.I havea
coupleandI havelearnedmore
fromtheintroductionsthananyof
mymanuals!I havemorebooks
ontechniqueandtheorythanon
photographers,though,tobefair;
thatshouldprobablychange.’
Seven Hills Crafts
‘AnythingbyJim
Goldberg,and
thebrilliant
LookingIn– a
comprehensive
dissectionof
RobertFrank’s
TheAmericans,
featuringeverycontactprint.You can
learna lotfromthese two.’
Garry Clarkson
‘Forme,it’sgot
tobeTheDigital
Photography
Bookseries
parts1-5by
ScottKelby.’
Basil Parylo
‘Hello,is this
planetEarth?
byTimPeake.
It’sfullof
imagesthatI’m
nevergoingto
shootmyself.’
CraigMorgan
‘It’shardtochoosea favouritebook,
butI’venarrowedit downtofour:
RankinWorksbyRankin;Flowersby
RobertMapplethorpe,Philip-Lorca
diCorcia– theMoMAcompilation
of hiswork;andWasThereThenby
JillFurmanovsky.Myleastfavourite
photographybookisOnPhotography
bySusanSontag– anddon’teven
getmestartedonWaysof Seeingby
JohnBerger!’RichardSibley
‘Theworksof BillBrandt,Ansel
AdamsandHelmut Newton.’
AndrewJ Fry
‘I havealwaysboughtbookson
Motocourse.Readinghowtheseason
wentandfollowingthemotorsports
togsovertheyearsinspires me.’
DaveLoveland
‘TrentParke’sMinutestoMidnight is
a greatbodyof work.’
Jolyon Harrison
FAV O U R I T E B O O K S
BillJay’sAlbum:
FriendsandOther
Photographers
NazraeliPress
ISBN978-1590052006
Outofprint,butavailable
second-handonAmazon
THISis a bookforphotographersand
aboutphotographers.BillJaywasthe
influentialeditorofCreativeCamera,
aswellasdirectorof photographyat
London’sInstituteof Contemporary
Arts.Forthe 25 yearsuntilheretired,
hetaughtphotographyat ArizonaState
University.Notsurprisingly,hemeta lot
of photographersin histime,manyof
thembecomingclosefriends.BillJay’s
Albumcomprisesportraitsof 100
photographers,manyof them
householdnames,takenduring
exhibitionopenings,lectures,onwalks,
in theirhousesandat BillJay’shome.
Theimagesarerelaxed– asyouwould
expectportraitsof friendstobe–
sometimesstraight,andsometimes
quirky.Eachis captionedin Jay’sown
handwriting,withsimpledescriptions
suchas‘RuthBernhardfeedingducks
andswansduringanearlywalk,March
1982’,‘RalphGibsonduringa softball
gamein May1978’,or‘JosefKoudelka
duringa stayin mycabinin theTonto
Here,FarAway
PenttiSammallahti
DewiLewisPublishing
ISBN978-1907893261
FIRSTpublishedin 2012,thisis a
retrospectivecollectionthatbrings
togethernearly 40 yearsof Finnish
fine-artphotographerPentti
Sammallahti’scaptivatingandhaunting
work.Nowif theterm‘fineart’fillsyou
withterror,don’tworry,becauseI’m
nottalkingaboutthekindthatleaves
youstaringbaffledat a gallerywall.
Sammallahticreatesextraordinarily
beautifulb&wimagesthatradiatea
trulytimelessquality.Theyarequiet,
enigmatic,andsuperblycomposed,and
inHereFarAwaytheyarealsobrilliantly
sequencedandstunninglyreproduced.
I firstdiscoveredthisbook
throughMikeJohnston’sexcellent
blogTheOnlinePhotographer
(theonlinephotographer.com),whichis
oneof thebestplacesonthewebto
readaboutphotography,asopposedto
justcameras.Fromthestartit wasin
short supply, and I had to wait nine
NationalForest,January1985’.The
imagesaresandwichedbetween
write-upsoneachphotographerbyJay.
Someof thesearesimplybiographical,
whileotherscontainanecdotesand
pearlsof hisopiniononthem.
Hiswritingis asunaffectedashis
portraits.Youwon’tlearnanything
aboutf-stopsorPhotoshopfrom
thisbook.Butyouwilllearna little
aboutsomeof themostinfluential
photographerswho’veeverlived,
andthere’sa lottobesaidforthat.
AilsaMcWhinnie,FeaturesEditor
monthsformycopytofinallyship.But
whenit arrived,I couldn’ttearmyself
away.There’snosingletheme,with
animals,humansandthelandscapeall
featuringprominently,butthere’sstill
a coherentvisionrunningthroughout
thework.Thisis a bookthatdrawsyou
intotheworldof anexceptionalartist,
andI’vereturnedtoit, awestruck,
timeaftertime.Andy Westlake,
Technical Editor
BillJay’sAlbum
consistsof
portraitsof 100
photographers
A beautifully
timelesscollection
byPentti
Sammallahti
‘Youwon’tlearnaboutf-stopsbutyouwilllearna littleabout
some of the most influential photographers who’ve ever lived’