The Camera (3850) May 2010

It's been around 40 years but this is still a good photography book for anyone interested in everyday photography.

In the beginning it says, " Photography is a magic act - a little black box that can trap people and wild animals, strange places and well-loved ones, and bring them all back home."

You can read through the sometimes inspiring text, or just randomly look at wonderful pictures across the ages of photography; Alfred Stieglitz from 1893, Paul Strand from 1915, Margaret Bourke-White from 1937, Harry Callaghan from 1949, Lee Friedlander from 1962.

The book breaks down into sections from 'An Art for Everyman' to 'On Making Better Pictures'. The sections are broken down into themes; 'A Sense of Place', 'Jiggling the Camera on Purpose', 'The First Candid Camera', 'The Morality Lesson', and the personal styles of 10 photographers; and simple advice, 'Use a camera you can handle easily', 'Take pictures - a lot of pictures', 'Don't be afraid to experiment'.

Wynn Bullock, another American photographer, not in this Time-Life book, uses photography as way to explore himself and the world around him. He's uses photography in a philosophical way, 'As long as I can remember, I have been filled with a deep desire to find a means of creatively interacting with the world, of understanding more of what is within and around me. It was not until I was 40, however, that I decided photography was my best way'.

Flickr Comments

amemphianblue says: A wonderous device... you find, you "clickity-click"... and then I see .-)

cactusdeaudouce says: Hi, I'm an admin for a group called mes livres-my books, and we'd love to have this added to the group!

clifsnap says: Sounds inspiring,although i wouldn't like to carry that camera around in my pocket.

twig® says: These were cracking books at the time (I've still got The Print and Great Themes) and the images often timeless.
The links to your Posterous blog are often very slow to load and sometime Safari gives up.
I've just tried your links above and the first took over a minute to load but the second almost instantaneously. Earlier neither opened up. I've tried other links which work normally so maybe there's something about Posterous!?

Blackhorse17 says: Looks like a neat book, saw it first on your blog after visiting the iPad section.

swigadelica says: u r iPad'ing?

stewpic says: I have books on photography already I am happy just clicking away no more books for me.

tonyhall says: Greg, yup, making pics is easy, making good pictures takes a little more time, making memorable pictures takes time, patience and thought.

tonyhall says: Clif, same here, having a little camera for everyday photography gives photography another dimension. This Rolleiflex SL 66 x-rayed on the cover came out in 1966, a beautiful roll-film camera. One of the first medium-format cameras I used was the Rolleiflex 2.8F TLR, when I was working as an assistant photographer in Old Compton Street in Soho.

tonyhall says: Twig, the Great Themes is another excellent one. This Life Library of Photography series produced some classic photography books.
Yes, I find Posterous takes a while to load up sometimes.

tonyhall says:
Blackhorse17, it's one of the books I find hard to let go of when trying to de-clutter my shelves of book. I rarely look inside. It seems to mean more than what is inside the covers!

tonyhall says:
Swig, I'm just imagining iPadding,
Streaming Consciousness, Imagining iPad Notes
I imagine how the iPad may compliment my notebooks and camera, how it can be used for reading books online, such as
Chris Marker: Memories of the Future
listening to lectures, such as:
The Enigma of Capital
and using flickr.
Part of a social, convivial learning environment (space).

tonyhall says: Stewart, clicking away is the way, and in a way 'photography books' can be too defining about what 'photography' is or should be.

Black Dust a.k.a. odonbd says: Nice cover, it does remind me a sort of trap machine. "I don't want my soul trapped in a picture."

^Tom says: Your links above (in your reply to swig) bring a lot of issues alive for me, but downsizing my home is taking most of my time and energy at the moment so I've 'faved' this posting as a marker to come back to. The Enigma of Capital seems to be something worth spending time on. I'm thinking about embarking on David Harvey's grand tour of 'Capital Volume 1', possibly as a winter project.

tonyhall says:
haha, The Camera does begin to look like an entrapment machine now, sucking the world onto latent film .. the next book in the series is called Light and Film.

tonyhall says:
Tom, it would be fantastic if you could see this becoming a series of lectures you listened to over the winter - Reading Marx’s Capital with David Harvey - it may also be helpful if you had a 'seminar' group you could swop notes and learn with - maybe you could start a 'Reading Marx and Beyond' Meetup group.
Talking of meet-ups, how's your move going, have you a time-frame?

tonyhall says: - thanks for the invite, I posted the pic to mes livres-my books -
and just watched a wonderful slideshow from there
www.flickr.com/groups/mes_livres-my_books/poo l/show/

^Tom says: Tony, my current estimate of time before move is six to eight weeks, after that there will be settling in, and so on, but 'Marx and Beyond' may well become a winter project. My availability for next Thursday is already doubtful.

tonyhall says: Tom, all the best with the move, it's a big commitment and challenge. Squeezing into a new space and settling down will take some time. Hopefully see you in the not too distant future.