Someone (I wish I could remember who) I was watching this summer on YouTube said that if you want to improve your photography you should look at work from great photographers, preferably in print. I had spent a lot of time watching videos about the craft of photography (getting good exposures, practicing compositions, etc.) and videos about photography gear. While shiny new gear can be oh so much fun, it really isn’t an essential part of developing your “photographic eye” which is more along the lines of the what I really wanted to study. I was wasting time and brain space learning about gear I’d never own. Videos are also viewed on a screen, (big screen, small screen, take your pick) and I’m not sure it’s the ideal place to “consume” information about photography anyway. There’s something about viewing a photo in a book or in print that is just….better somehow. What I needed to do was get my hands on some books and start reading.
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So, with that in mind, I set out to the local library to get some books. Now, high quality photobooks are often oversized, very expensive, and if you’re looking for a variety of artists it’s a bit of a niche topic for a small local library to have a lot of books about it. What was wonderful though, is that they directed me to the local university library which has a partnership with the local libraries. As it turns out, if I am a resident of the state the university is in, I can check books out from there for free! This was exciting news to me because they have a large library and a design-specific library FULL of academic writing on photography, and most importantly, large photo books from many of the great photographers from around the world.
When I started to search for books to look at in their catalogue I was overwhelmed by the options, so here is my strategy so far. Every time I see/hear someone online or in person mention a famous photographer, I look that person up and see if the images I see in a quick search online look interesting. If so, I look up their name in the university catalogue and see what books might be available to check out. Libraries are so amazing these days, you can put books on hold and just go pick them up. So that’s what I’ve been doing! It has been an educational experience and inspires me. I have discovered some images that I never would have seen just browsing online, and some of them are mind-bogglingly good/interesting/thought-provoking.
In addition to consuming work from the “greats” of the photography world, I want to deep dive into bigger, more philosophical questions like:
- Is photography art? Why?
- What makes something art?
- What makes a photo “good”?
- Why do I care so much about photography?
- What did the great photographers of the past do that made their work so great?
And on, and on, and on. I think with a lot of research like this it opens up more and more questions. What can I say? I love me a good rabbit-hole.
Anyway, as I read and observe, I’ve been recording quotes from these books in my commonplace book. For those of you who don’t know, a commonplace book is journal of quotes and information that I have found from people other than myself, and I record them for my own reference. It helps me sort of curate things I find interesting, while maintaining the credit to the original authors. It also is much, much more satisfying to look at than whatever the social media algorithm thinks I like. I also will be adding small prints of famous photographs and writing my own commentary and observations about why I think the photo is interesting to me so that I can further explore why I like certain images and not others. That is an idea I got from this video by Developing Tank on YouTube. I put all kinds of stuff into this book, it’s a lot of fun.
I could keep rambling here but the point is, reading books is good for your brain, learning new stuff is good for your brain and having a hobby is good for your brain. My brain is happy. 😊That doesn’t mean I have stopped watching YouTube, I just try to be intentional with my time there and prioritize reading books.
Do any of you have a practice that is similar to this?
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